What have you been reading – Hello Magazine?

Once accused of preferring the celebrity stylesheets to the broadsheets, Anna Williams of Kaplan Law School is now a firm follower of business news stories.

Imagine my shame when my first supervising partner uttered these words. As a new trainee solicitor, my understanding of commercial issues and imperatives was flimsy. In my defence, my parents worked in the public sector, my undergraduate degree was based in the social sciences, and law school hadn't developed my business savvy. By the standards of 2012, I doubt I would have been invited to an interview at a commercial law firm.

My comprehension of the business world has since undergone a radical transformation, in part as a result of legal practice, but largely through my own desire to understand how the business world functions. In truth, my preoccupation with business stories and the world economy verges on obsessive: my right index finger will one day explode as it swipes over a page of the online edition of The Economist or the Wall Street Journal.

If you hope to persuade a recruiter of your commercial awareness, you do need to develop a genuine interest in the business world. Without one you are unlikely to maintain enthusiasm for a career in commercial law or properly understand what your clients want to achieve. Even if you intend to train as a private client lawyer, you need to be able to understand clients who are themselves business owners. A candidate who enthusiastically engages with the daily gyrations of commerce represents a future lawyer with the capacity to develop new client relationships and, perhaps, even new legal products and services. In short they represent a safer investment.

Commercial thinking can be developed in an employment setting, particularly if your role allows you access to the rationale for decisions made by your employer. For example, in the publishing industry, you might learn about the challenges faced by print media in light of the growth of online journalism. If you work in retail, logistics or warehousing during your vacations, you could develop an understanding of, say, the seasonality of demand, just-in-time purchasing principles or even the international demand for your employer’s brands. Pick any setting and there are lessons to be learned if you ask the right questions.

If most of your time is spent studying, such real-world experiences will be largely unavailable to you, so it is up to you to take the initiative and enhance your commercial understanding through reading, watching and listening to the right things. As the true horror of the post-Lehman era emerged, the quality of business journalism for the ordinary person improved. There are now print and online articles, TV and radio shows plus online video clips and podcasts that cater to all levels of understanding and curiosity. These materials deal with issues on a micro and macro scale, and cover developments right around our interconnected world.

Commercial awareness for a future lawyer might be sensibly split into two categories: things that relate to law firms as businesses themselves; and things that affect the clients for whom the firms work for. In the first category, a student should have at least a basic understanding of the purpose of the 2007 Legal Services Act, and a general understanding of what a partnership is and how law firms are traditionally structured. It will help, too, to have a sense of how legal work and clients are sourced and charged. If a student hopes to work for an international law firm then it’s essential to have a sense of what a target firm's international network looks like and why it is shaped as it is. This is easier if you have a reasonable understanding of the shape of the world economy. What are the BRICS? What is an emerging market? What are the main elements to the Eurocrisis? Why did we have a financial crisis? Why is austerity the watchword of the decade so far? What is the alternative? These topics are covered extensively in the media, often very well.

Depending on which law firms you target, you can deepen your understanding of one or two of their specialist areas: good examples are shipping; finance; energy; technology; construction; pharmaceuticals; M&A or insurance. Each of these business sectors are worlds in themselves. Learning about the major issues affecting your target firms' client sectors will help you understand what it is lawyers spend their time working on and thinking about. This process could take you on a journey into the changing global demand for natural resources; piracy; bond markets; credit ratings agencies; the creation and bust up of oil industry joint ventures; mobile or drug patents; the so-called ‘shareholder spring’; major natural disasters – all subjects handled by the print and online business press.

A last-minute splurge on business stories before interview will be of limited use unless you are extraordinary lucky. You should get yourself into a routine and then stick to it. This approach enables you to develop genuine interest and a knack for spotting themes and trends. You will eventually be able to see things from a business person’s perspective (where do the opportunities and problems lie in this story?) and develop a more connected understanding. In short, you will take on the media habits of a good professional before you become one. 

My recommendations are in the following charts. Why not sample some and see what you like. If you follow the publications’, shows’ or journalists’ accounts on Twitter you will often get advance warning of the topics to be covered.

Radio: BBC R4/World Service (or listen to its podcasts)

TV: BBC, Channel 4, Bloomberg (or catch up via iPlayer, 4OD, etc.)

Press: print or online editions

Anna Williams is a careers and pro bono adviser at Kaplan Law School.