City firms support commercial awareness competition for third year running

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The British Inter-University Commercial Awareness Competition (BIUCAC) is running for the third time this year, sponsored by over 20 City law firms.

BIUCAC aims to even the playing field when it comes to securing City training contracts for aspiring lawyers by promoting opportunities for non-Russell Group university students. The competition will take place over five rounds starting on the 1 November 2022, with the final hosted in-person on 8 December 2022.

More than 30 law societies from non-Russell Group universities have already partnered with BIUCAC to promote and deliver the competition. The first place winner will be awarded a summer vacation scheme with Fieldfisher, with second place taking a two-week work placement with Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner. Third place will secure work experience with White & Case LLP for a week and the winner of fourth place will undertake a vacation scheme or training contract assessment centre at Ashurst LLP.

Other leading City firms sponsoring the competition are:

• Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP;
• Clifford Chance;
• Linklaters LLP;
• Travers Smith LLP;
• Latham & Watkins;
• Jones Day;
• DLA Piper UK LLP and more.

BIUCAC was formed by nine University of Essex students and founder Denis Viskovich, former head of legal at an investment bank. Viskovich has said that he started the competition due to his shock at the absence of commercial awareness in university teaching: “While I was lecturing at three non-Russell Group universities, I had many students complain to me how they had failed their assessment centres because they had not been given any commercial awareness training by their law school. Having seen the immense potential that these students possessed, I decided to do establish BIUCAC.”

Find out more about the details of the competition on the BIUCAC website.