Commercial awareness is a key skill that any future legal employer will expect you to demonstrate during the application process.

At Herbert Smith we consider it an essential competency in any of our future trainees and so assess it throughout our entire recruitment process both on the application form, in your case study and during your interview.


What is commercial awareness?

"Commercial awareness" is the ability to view situations from a commercial or business perspective. It requires the candidate to take a step back and look at a situation from different angles, asking themselves "who are the key stakeholders in this situation?, what would they be concerned about?, what questions would they ask?". Stakeholders include customers/clients, employees, directors/owners of companies, shareholders/ investors and professional advisors (eg, lawyers, accountants).

How do you demonstrate it?

This can be done through a variety of methods;

1) Work experience
Highlight any past work experience you have had that may have enhanced your commercial awareness, for example, have you ever worked within a shop/service environment? You can use your experiences here to demonstrate your awareness of customer needs and expectations.

Were you ever given the task of improving a current service or product? Did you add value to it? If so, how did you go about it, what factors did you have to take into consideration? Consider your employment history and examine the experiences you have had to pull out relevant examples.

2) Roles and responsibilities
Did you have a key role in any society committees at school or university? Were you given a financial role? A market analysis, sales role? – Any of these can be good indicators to your assessors that you have had to think about different perspectives in the market place.

Have you ever raised money for a charity, secured sponsorship for an event? What process did you go through to secure the funds?

3) Case study (see below)

How can you improve your commercial awareness?

Read newspapers, listen to the news – research any current top stories, be aware of what is going on in the business world around you. If a current topic is brought up that has been in the headlines for the past few weeks, it will look a lot better if you can join in the discussion!

Research Herbert Smith’s current activities, it is imperative that you show an interest in us, look on our website to find out what deals we are currently involved in – research one or two that are of particular interest to you, find out what stage we are at, what the implications are for both sides..? Try to think outside of the facts and figures included on a website to consider the legal implications of the situation.

How do we test it?

Application form – We will look for any indications of commercial awareness during your academic and work history. We also specifically focus one of our competency questions on this topic:

"Identify a current commercial issue which has attracted your attention recently, why do you consider it to be significant, who are the key stakeholders and what are the implications to those concerned?"

Choose an example that you have a genuine interest in, state why you feel it is a significant issue and make sure you focus on the implications for all parties involved.

Choose your example carefully, remember that it will be quite clear if you do not have a real depth and understanding of the topic, particularly if it is picked up in greater detail at interview.

Interview – The partners will test your commercial awareness during the interview process, both when talking through the case study and when asking questions around your academic history, work experience and your answers to the competency questions.

Make sure you are up to date with any recent changes or developments that may have occurred since completing the form.

Case study – You will be given a case study exercise to prepare before your interview. The case study will be a business case and you will be expected to prepare answers to a few questions. During the interview, the partners will test understanding of the commercial factors within the exercise and will probe to assess the depth of your understanding and analysis.