These days, graduate employers tend to look for commercial “interest” as much as (if not more than) commercial “awareness”. You won’t be expected to detail every single commercial, political and economic event that has happened over the past few years, but you will likely be expected to demonstrate an interest in business and the broader commercial factors that are likely to affect the firm and its clients.

Commercial awareness may be tested in various ways during interviews. You may be asked to define “commercial awareness” and explain its relevance to the firm’s employees. You may be asked to speak about a particular news story that has interested you or be asked point blank about a specific event that has recently occurred; however this kind of question is phrased, be ready to put forward an opinion and explain how the story or event could impact the firm and its clients. 

You may also be presented with a commercial case study or fictitious client/business scenario, which will require you to demonstrate your understanding of various business, financial and (depending on the context) legal concepts. These types of assessments may require you to complete a written report, deliver a brief presentation on information that you have been provided and/or answer a number of questions on business issues and how a firm can assist its clients. As part of this process, you may need to identify certain risks and suggest how these could be mitigated; draw out potential opportunities and suggest strategies that could be employed to capitalise on each; recommend which steps a fictitious client should take; or compare various options (e.g. potential acquisition or investment targets), then form an opinion on which to pursue and justify this decision. 

You may be provided with information on the background of a business; business accounts from recent years; press clippings about a business; information about a business’ employees and internal operations; and information about external developments relating to the industry in which the business operates. You might then be required to discuss, for example, commercial risks and opportunities, the benefits and drawbacks of different methods of expansion, the various options for financing deals, and a whole host of other key business concepts. 

However, rather than simply explaining what certain concepts mean, firms will want you to demonstrate an ability to flexibly apply these concepts to the questions you are asked or the facts of a particular case study, and assess which options are likely to be the most relevant and effective. For example, if a client is considering purchasing another company, what are the different financing options and the corresponding advantages and disadvantages of each? How can such a transaction be structured? What are the primary risks and how they can be mitigated? How can the firm help? We cover these questions, and many more.

You may also have to explain the role of the firm/different departments when advising clients in different contexts. Whatever comes up, you should be prepared to discuss commercial concepts and topics in depth. This is where we come in. Once you’ve completed this course, you’ll hopefully be equipped with the knowledge and understanding you need to confidently tackle the commercial awareness elements of commercial law interviews.

How can you demonstrate commercial awareness?

There are various ways that you can demonstrate commercial awareness in an interview. Firstly, prepare questions to demonstrate your commercial curiosity. Ask about the firm’s work and clients, ask about the business landscape, and be ready to discuss your own ideas and opinions. In addition, if you have written blogs on commercial topics or delivered presentations on business concepts, this can demonstrate your genuine interest in current affairs and the commercial world. If you've set up a side hustle, advised other businesses, or worked for a business and contributed to business processes, this will have honed your commercial acumen.

However, you may well have demonstrated commercial awareness even if you haven’t previously worked for a business. If asked to discuss a time when you have demonstrated commercial awareness, you could try to draw analogies between the fundamental processes that businesses follow, and similar elements of the roles you have taken during your previous experiences. 

These elements might include, for example, creating a product (or defining a service), branding and marketing your offering, budgeting, setting prices that allow for a profit, dealing with customers, recruiting and managing others, and so on. For example, if you have arranged a university ball, then you will likely have been involved in: 

• Creating a product (the ball); 
• Branding that product (deciding which theme to go with and how to reflect this theme through decorations and entertainment); 
• Setting the ticket price and budgeting (you will need to ensure that ticket sales and sponsorship will at least cover the cost of hiring a venue, catering, entertainment and decorations); 
• Marketing (trying to persuade people to buy tickets); customer service (responding to questions from prospective attendees); 
• Recruitment (recruiting junior executive committee members to help out); 
• Managing others (making sure team members are fulfilling their roles on time); and a range of other activities that reflect key commercial processes.