Mastering commercial awareness as a trainee lawyer

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This article has been produced in collaboration with Mayer Brown International LLP.

In this LCN Says, we speak to Rona Ankrah from Mayer Brown International LLP about building commercial awareness. Read this article for insights on how you can demonstrate commercial awareness in interviews, how Mayer Brown helps trainees to develop their commercial awareness and how Rona approaches learning about clients’ businesses.

How would you describe commercial awareness and why is it important?

I’d define commercial awareness as the ability to understand the context that a client or an organisation operates in – that is, understanding their goals, ambitions and challenges. For example, you must think about your client’s clients and what’s fuelling their decisions – whether it’s costs or their environmental, social and governance goals.

It’s a given that a lawyer knows the law and clients will expect that you’ll be able to provide a legally sound answer. However, what differentiates one lawyer from another is the ability to understand your client and their overarching goals and aims. Commercial awareness gives a lawyer the ability to understand the reasoning behind a client’s goals. A strong commercial understanding means that if a client asks for something that’s not possible, you have the context to suggest alternative routes to help them achieve the result they’re looking for.

How did you demonstrate commercial awareness in your training contract interview?

In a nutshell, being commercially aware means that you need to have a holistic view across numerous sectors and not just one. You should understand that one piece of news will impact people and sectors very differently. For example, if you’re looking to borrow money, it’s good when the Bank of England lowers interest rates. However, if you’re hoping to save money, it’s not so good because your savings will accrue less value.

When I began my search for a training contract, to put myself in the best position for interviews, I attended a LawCareers.Net masterclass where I heard from a trainee who spoke about how she’d break down commercial awareness questions to consider different sectors. She used the acronym ‘Apple Fire TC’ and advised that anytime you’re asked a question, you need to think about how it’ll affect:

• anti-trust;
• public versus private companies;
• the political landscape;
• litigation;
• environmental concerns;
• finance;
• intellectual property;
• real estate;
• employment;
• tax; and
• corporate.

Her advice has stuck with me all these years later. During my training contract interviews, I used this acronym to consider the areas of law that’d be affected differently by a piece of news, as well as how it would impact different types of business structures. I received a very broad question in my interview, and I was able to discuss how a development might affect litigation in one way but affect employment in a very different way.

During your training at Mayer Brown, what resources or programmes have you found most helpful in staying commercially aware?

We’re very fortunate at Mayer Brown because we have an incredible learning and development team, as well as knowledge counsels in each practice area. They arrange access to a range of different resources and programmes, including MBL seminars, which are useful for building commercial awareness on the job.

The firm also arranges lots of different events with leading counsel and internal and external speakers who discuss subjects tailored to the commercial realities that our clients face. For example, when I was in my construction seat, we had several training sessions on the Building Safety Act 2022, including one from King’s Counsel. It’s always useful to hear from leading counsel who’ve used new provisions in a real commercial context. Mayer Brown also offers trainees a great deal of client contact from day one, which I’ve found incredibly useful for developing an understanding of how clients think.

What steps have you taken on your own to improve your commercial awareness outside of formal training?

It’s important to build commercial awareness into your daily habits. For example, in the morning, I'll go to the gym and on the way back I'll listen to the Financial Times (FT) News Briefing, which is a free, easy and accessible way to stay up to date with developments in the news. I prefer to take in news by listening, so a podcast works perfectly for me and helps me to start thinking commercially at the start of the day. This then means I’m able to contribute meaningfully and show my understanding of the commercial landscape. For example, I attended an online Investment Property Forum webinar about the upcoming general election earlier this year, which I later disseminated to the rest of the real estate team and found that lots of the content about the UK and US elections slotted into place with the knowledge I’d developed from the FT News Briefing and I was able to provide the team with further context to some of the things said in the webinar.

Read this LCN Says for podcasts and influencers you should follow to boost your commercial awareness. 

I’d advise aspiring lawyers to slowly but consistently build up their general knowledge of commercial issues. It's about finding the resource that resonates with you. While the FT News Briefing is how I like to take in the news, different methods will work well for other lawyers. There are so many different resources you can use to boost your commercial awareness. For example, there’s a lot of great content on LawCareers.Net’s Commercial awareness hub, which is sponsored by Mayer Brown.

Can you share an instance where advice from a mentor helped you to understand an issue better?

The teams at Mayer Brown are fantastic, supportive and so many fee-earners are willing to take time out to help juniors in their team. During my real estate seat, I was negotiating a contract, where I was acting for a landlord client. The supervising associate put some time in for me to discuss my thoughts on the contract and explained the commercial reality of what clauses I was less familiar with actually do, which helped me to make a more informed decision about which clauses I should challenge. As a trainee, your theoretical knowledge acquired through legal education makes you think there are certain elements of a contract that you should push back on. However, when someone who has practised for far longer and knows the client better takes you through the commercial impacts of certain choices, it helps you to realise what actually matters and the importance of picking your battles.

How do you approach understanding a client’s business and industry when you are new to a matter?

Firstly, I do my homework – research is key. You need to find out what you can about the client’s history, goals, challenges and what they’re proud of. I’d suggest looking at their website, social media and their filings at Companies House. All of this will help you to build a general overview of a client. If you have colleagues who’ve worked with the client before, especially if they’ve already worked on this matter, it's always good to touch base with them about what you’ve found. If a team has been working on a matter with a client for a long period, there could be new developments you’ve found from your research that may have been missed. Similarly, the team will know the client more intimately than initial research will show.

When you have client contact, keep an open mind – don’t go into meetings thinking you know everything about a client and their goals. You should stay curious and open to the idea that some of your preconceptions could be wrong because things change rapidly, and a client's goals won't be static as new legislation emerges and regulation changes.

Visit LawCareers.Net’s Commercial awareness hub to find out more about this essential skill.

Rona Ankrah is a trainee solicitor at Mayer Brown International LLP.