Introductory post- 'Commercial Awareness: Story of The Week'

In this section (CA:SOTW for short), you'll be seeing an in-depth analysis of a business story once a week, along with my thoughts on it. I'll go into more detail below.

*Please read and take note of the Disclaimer at the bottom of this page.*

Source: Alleksana, Pexels.com

Commercial Awareness (CA) is a term I first heard about in 2019. I kept on seeing it everywhere and was confused at what it meant at first. However, my understanding has grown throughout the years.

I love the way Bright Network defines CA: 'It's an understanding of how industries and businesses work. It's about knowing what's going on in the world and analysing the way it might impact your chosen sector and company' (including your company's clients!).

The Backstory:

As I mentioned in my introductory post to this blog (you can see the post here), the Covid-19 pandemic gave me a desire to better understand the world we live in. Many things moved online, and for many students like myself, there was worry about my future of work. Specifically, worry about how I could gain more experience during this difficult period.

Thankfully, many organisations were introducing virtual work experiences to those interested. I took part in the 'Commercial Law' internship by Bright Network in 2020. It was a great chance to learn more about the law firms taking part, legal drafting and I got to meet many amazing people.

Bear in mind that I had also been keeping up with current and global affairs more. One thing I kept on seeing was the rise in SPACS-Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (more companies were preferring to go down this route, at the time). I didn't know what they were and was curious to find out more. I did some research and naturally, it led me to other topics, such as IPO's (Initial Public Offerings) as well as Merger's and Acquisitions.

In a nutshell, I was keeping up with current and global affairs, taking part in internships, which led me to discover a little bit about the business, finance and corporate world. Commercial awareness encompasses many of these things. It's a skill that aspiring lawyers need to have and I thought it would be beneficial to develop this.

Will I end up being a Commercial/Corporate solicitor? Who knows...

Why did I decide to do this?

• One reason is to improve my Commercial Awareness. If you're a law student, you may have come across this term. It's an important skill that lawyers need to have, and I thought to myself how can I improve in this area, consistently? And this idea came to mind. Please note that I'm not an expert in all things CA, I'm still learning and growing.

• Another reason is to challenge myself. CA isn't an easy skill to develop and it takes time. I knew I wanted to do something like this, but I needed to at least grow in my knowledge first. In my case, I have been analysing business news stories more consistently since mid- Jan 2022. I've been comfortable doing something similar, for my own eyes, but I know that sharing these with you will take this a step further. By posting every week, I'm essentially keeping myself accountable to you, and I hope that you will find them useful.

• A third reason is to improve my current skills. For example, having good research, writing and time-management skills are very useful within any industry. I do want to become a better writer as well, so having an audience will help me get used to people reading my content. I'm not perfect, so if I make mistakes or you see room for improvement/feedback, please reach out to me!

How will I choose a story for the week?

• I will keep up with current affairs and read on for example, the business and political, sections of well-known news broadcasters, such as The BBC, The FT and The Guardian (which are currently my most used sources).

• I'll then choose 3 of the most interesting stories from that day and lightly analyse them.

• If I find a story really interesting, I'll choose that to be my CA:SOTW. This can be on any day of the week (except weekends).

• I'll research into the CA:SOTW and will post them every Saturday.

How will the CA:SOTW be structured?

I don't want these to be too structured, especially if there are a lot of things that can be looked into. But I do have a loose format, which goes:

• What happened?

• Why have I chosen this story?

• Some background information

• Possible factors

• Analysis: (either) SWOT or PESTLE

• My Thoughts

I may add some extra headings, but this really depends on the story for that week. I may also add links to further resources too. I am thinking about adding another element, but I'll need to think about how to implement it...but I'll stick with this for now.

Why do I only pick one story to cover?

I noticed that many platforms helping people to also grow their CA, focus on multiple stories without as much in-depth analysis. I thought it'd be interesting to look into one story and include more detail. For me, it all comes down to stretching myself and growing in this skill.

Final thoughts...

I'm not an expert in the language of 'Commercial fluency' (it's another term for CA I heard from a current trainee solicitor haha). I've improved my CA since 2019, but I'm definitely still growing and learning in this area.

My Instagram posts, will contain a condensed version of these stories too. The full analysis will be in this section of the blog.

I hope this has shed some light on this section.

If you have any comments, tips and/or suggestions for improvement, please contact me- I'd love to hear from you!

DISCLAIMER:

In no way, shape or form am I trying to give out sound legal, business or financial advice. I am not an expert- this section is just a current law student, trying to improve her knowledge of current/global affairs and commercial awareness and doing so in the form of a blog. I TLC BLOG link, am the owner of the blog and reserve the right to change how it is maintained.

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