Chances are that if you are applying to a law firm, you have heard the term "Commercial Awareness", but what does that term actually mean?
A Journey
To me, commercial awareness is not a skill that you learn and then have forever, like learning how to read. Commercial awareness is a muscle that you develop that you must then exercise to maintain. The easiest way I've found to conceptualise commercial awareness is to view it as a journey that you have to continue to make between three points:
understanding what is happening in the world;
understanding how what is happening in the world affects the clients of law firms; and
understanding how law firms are affected as a business by the way their clients are impacted by what is happening in the world.
Breaking down commercial awareness in this way starts to give a more solid framework as to how you should develop your commercial awareness. In my next posts, I will explain how I approach each step of the process because I believe absolutely that we should not gatekeep access to the legal profession.
