Why Law vs Why Commercial Law?

[Oliver Gilliland]

If at a commercial firm you're simply asked 'why law?' opposed to 'why commercial law'? Is this asking for you general interest in the area/ why you went to study it at university? or should you just assume its meant as why commercial law even if it does not specify as such? ( I also assume many peoples reasoning for why law/why commercial law would overlap which is why I was wondering if there is a difference)

 

[Helena]

Large City firms need to be sure that the applicants they recruit will be dedicated and motivated by the work and that they'll stick around until the firm has recouped that investment. The firm also hopes that many trainees will be partners in the future. So with that in mind, I think you need to answer both questions honestly. Why do you want to go into the profession? Firstly ask yourself do you know what a solicitor does day in day out and how do you know this? Do you have any experience that can back up this answer, be it actual experience or through taking to people? Why does it interest and appeal to you? Then secondly why the City? What is it about big business that attracts you or appeals to you? Do you know what a commercial solicitor does? And how do you know this? Do you know about different practice areas in City firms? How do they service clients and why do clients or companies use big City firms? Why does it interest you and why do you want to do that kind of work.
When you have the answers to these questions you will be well on your way to answering both Why Law and specifically why commercial law? Why not law in a high street firm? It needs to be genuine and honest.

I hope this helps to clarify the difference between the two questions. Good luck.
PS - There is no harm in adding at the end of the Why Law why you are specifically attracted to commercial law if that question is not addressed elsewhere because ultimately a firm wants to know why them?

 

[Oliver Gilliland]

Large City firms need to be sure that the applicants they recruit will be dedicated and motivated by the work and that they'll stick around until the firm has recouped that investment. The firm also hopes that many trainees will be partners in the future. So with that in mind, I think you need to answer both questions honestly. Why do you want to go into the profession? Firstly ask yourself do you know what a solicitor does day in day out and how do you know this? Do you have any experience that can back up this answer, be it actual experience or through taking to people? Why does it interest and appeal to you? Then secondly why the City? What is it about big business that attracts you or appeals to you? Do you know what a commercial solicitor does? And how do you know this? Do you know about different practice areas in City firms? How do they service clients and why do clients or companies use big City firms? Why does it interest you and why do you want to do that kind of work.
When you have the answers to these questions you will be well on your way to answering both Why Law and specifically why commercial law? Why not law in a high street firm? It needs to be genuine and honest.

I hope this helps to clarify the difference between the two questions. Good luck.
PS - There is no harm in adding at the end of the Why Law why you are specifically attracted to commercial law if that question is not addressed elsewhere because ultimately a firm wants to know why them?

It's not so much worrying about how to answer the question itself. It's more im worried about repeating myself as my why law and why commercial law motives and experiences overlap. Would the best approach be to just to combine the answers to why law + why specially commercial law (as you suggested if its not specifically addressed ) or answer briefly on 'why law' and expect a follow up question on why commercial law?

 

[Helena]

If the question is Why law then that is what you must address and as stated you can then say why commercial law interests you specifically as long as it is not asked anywhere else on the application. There should be no particular need to overlap these two questions - if you look at the questions as one being generic and one specific then you will formulate an answer.

 

[ariapasiphae]

If asked the follow up question of why commercial law as opposed to consulting or investment banking, what would you suggest answering? The truth for me would be the law aspect - that I truly enjoy studying academic law (especially contract) and would hope to continue through with a career that touches upon this...

 

[J Wu]

A few reasons you might choose law over IB:

1) The work is much more varied in law (day-to-day). As an analyst, a lot of work in IB is spent making pitch books/information memorandums on powerpoint, playing around with excel or doing research.

2) Law firms generally offer a broader range of practices. Banks generally offer M&A, capital markets (or growth capital at tiny boutiques like mine), restructuring, asset management and sales & trading (simple overview). When you join the bank, you don't usually get to sample multiple areas either (rotations might occur around industry teams, but not between banking divisions). The scope of work at law firms is much broader with more opportunities to explore areas such as tax, competition, project finance, real estate, white-collar crime.

3) You specialise a lot in banking (varies between banks). My flatmate is in the industrials team at an M&A-focused boutique and he focuses predominantly on M&A within the industrials sector.

4) Banks are huge (bulge bracket, mid-market, (elite) boutique all have 1000s of employees still) so for people who want to work somewhere where they won't be a number, that's a lot harder to find in banking. The alternative is going to a tiny boutique like the one I'm at (10-20 people max), but the deal exposure and learning experience is not as high quality.

5) The hours are marginally better in law. Average leaving time for most law firms is roughly 7pm/8pm/9pm, whereas it's a few hours later for a lot of banks (varies between banks and depending on culture ofc.). Many people go into IB knowing they will leave a few years down the line for a hedge fund/private equity firm/in-house corporate department. People do genuinely burn-out and the hours are not sustainable unless you really enjoy what you're doing.

This is just my take on this question, but hope this helps!