What we covered

We then went through an example interview case study about a law firm’s role in a transaction.

We spoke about all of the different sectors of the firm that would be involved in the transaction.

We dissected the specific jobs solicitors in the sector would do (for instance, corporate solicitors to take on a project management role alongside their due diligence work. Employment solicitors may need to think about incentivisation schemes if there are any key employees with change of control clauses alongside their other work during the acquisition)

We went through the type of work a dispute resolution solicitor would do and worked through the various options available for the buyer if there was ongoing litigation. We spoke about the ways to explain each option in terms of its relative success by highlighting its strengths and weaknesses. E.g., walking away is an option that is available but it is unlikely to be chosen due to sunk costs of associated with the acquisition.

After this we moved onto the second section of the event – how to research into and confidently discuss current affairs

We spoke about several sources of information, their usefulness and reliability (for example, newspapers are a good source of information but each one can have their own biases so it is best to check several. Podcasts can be very useful as long as you actively listen and take note)

We learned the best ways to choose the news stories for our interviews and the key items to look for in every story we encounter; relevance, prevalence, and impact.

We then were given a model answer structure before going through an example news story and the way we would be expected to work through the model in order to answer the question in an interview.

To end the event, we had a Q&A session where the organisers tried to answer as many of the submitted questions as possible before the event ended.

Conclusions from the event

The event had a huge impact on me. I have a clear understanding of how to approach commercial awareness during interviews, and know the depth and breadth of knowledge that is expected of me. The case study example also highlighted how important it is to use common sense and explain everything thoroughly, even if it seems like the interviewer would already know this. It also highlighted that you should understand your argument fully to enable you to answer impromptu questions.

I also understand that interacting with current affairs should be more active. The importance of starting early and being consistent was emphasised as we would be expected to understand the story from early in its cycle to the most breaking information (even to the extent of knowing any developments that have occurred during the day of the interview).

The organisers, Jake and Peter give us a free month of access to their platforms (The Commercial Law Academy and Watson’s Daily respectively) in the price of the event. This is an incredible offer as this alone is worth more than the price of the event. TCLA has great courses available for students to attend to increase our skills in a wide range of areas such as employability and networking. Watson’s Daily provides us with, among other brilliant resources, a daily newsletter that summarises the most important news stories from 100’s of stories and multiple newspapers.