What does commercial awareness really mean to your clients and to your supervising partner?

Charities lawyers advising the not-for-profit and social enterprise sector cover a vast area of legal ground, from wills and trusts to commercial and real estate law.

Meet Ugo Ebhogiaye, associate in the real estate team at Trowers & Hamlins LLP.

Property law (now sometimes labelled as ‘real estate’) embraces a wide range of work, including ‘real property’ such as contracts for sale, covenants and land registration, trusts over land; and commercial and residential tenancies involving issues as diverse as disrepair, possession claims, succession and assignment.

After my time at DLA Piper UK LLP, I made the move in-house to West Midlands Police. I now practice in commercial property and commercial law. Here are some of my reasons for making the move in-house and the factors that keep me in the role.

What opportunities will the increasing importance of private healthcare providers create for investors?

What will the repeal of the Property Misdescriptions Act 1991 mean for property professionals?

Recently merged Womble Bond Dickinson has taken on five new legal apprentices in its Plymouth office. The apprentices will work in the firm’s corporate and commercial, real estate and dispute resolution teams.

Krishna Patel, managing associate at leading national law firm Stevens & Bolton LLP, shares details of his journey into the legal profession, his area of expertise and the type of corporate finance work he takes on, including M&A, and his advice for you. Read Krishna’s insights in this Meet the Lawyer profile.

Maggie is a partner in Structured Asset Backed Real Estate (SABRE), having worked in the Beijing office for two years before moving to London to begin her training contract in 2001. She is also part of the Clifford Chance Partnership Council. Here she reflects on what it was like closing a transaction for the first time and, 20 years on from completing her training contract, shares the one piece of advice she would give to her past self.

Luke Deacon (he/him) studies the LPC MSc in Law, Business and Management at The University of Law’s Guildford campus.

International firm Dentons will close two UK offices – one in Aberdeen and the other in Watford – to assist with full-time working from home and reduce its real estate.

Ravi Pattani, partner at Reed Smith, explains what makes a successful application, the work of a corporate lawyer and how sector agnostics his matters are, and his advice for budding solicitors.  

Luke Gueli is an associate in the corporate team at Jones Day. In this interview, Luke outlines how the firm’s non-rotational training system works, the international work Jones Day is involved in and his role as a trainee and a newly qualified associate advising multi-national corporations on corporate transactions.  

I know that I need to understand how a law firm operates as a business to be commercially aware. What exactly does that involve?

We spoke to several aspiring lawyers whose routes into law were either put on hold, made difficult because of their background or disrupted as a result of the pandemic. This feature aims to show you that you’re not the only one having a bumpy ride into the legal world.

How will clean energy power the UK’s future?

If the banks won't lend, who will?

Pursuing a career in law is hard. It’s as simple as that. It can feel like you’re the only person not securing vacation schemes or training contracts as your peers post their new roles at firms all over LinkedIn and Instagram – and you can’t work out where it is that you’re going wrong. It’s an easy mindset to fall into but it’s vital to take a step back, reassess, breathe and go again. We spoke to several aspiring lawyers whose routes into law were either put on hold, made difficult because of their background or disrupted as a result of the pandemic. This feature aims to show you that you’re not the only one having a bumpy ride into the legal world.

So, you’ve been lucky enough to secure a training contract (well done!). But what’s next? And what are ‘seats’?