Lawyers share their views on the key issues currently impacting the profession
Commercial awareness can be a tricky concept to grasp as an aspiring lawyer. What does it really mean, and how can you show that you “have it” this application season? More importantly, what should you be looking out for the next time you scroll through the FT app, trying to make sense of interest rates and tariffs?
To help demystify the topic, Legal Cheek partnered with lawyers from five leading law firms and The University of Law to host ‘The Big Commercial Awareness Themes of 2025-26 — with DWF, Goodwin, Irwin Mitchell, Morrison Foerster, TLT and ULaw.’
We spoke to lawyers across a wide range of practice areas, from corporate M&A to employment, to drill down into the key themes currently preoccupying lawyers and their clients.
AI
Artificial intelligence is the topic the world simply can’t stop talking about, and true to form, our panel began by discussing this technological revolution and what it means for law firms and the clients they advise.
The panel agreed that while AI is revolutionising workflows, it is still far from replacing lawyers entirely. Instead, it is enhancing efficiency, speeding up due diligence, and reshaping how firms deliver value to clients. What they all recognised is that human oversight is still paramount.
George Weavil, partner at Goodwin, described it as “a really fascinating and fast-moving area,” explaining that his firm has rolled out generative AI tools across the business. “Being frank, it can’t at the moment replace a lot of what lawyers can do,” he said, “but what it can do is really augment what human lawyers can do and it’s massively increasing the productivity of our lawyers.”
For those entering the profession today, tools like Copilot and contract-review software can remove administrative burdens, but junior lawyers must still develop their research skills. Andy Boyde, legal director at Irwin Mitchell, noted “We’re getting to the answers probably too quickly,” he warned. “That learning and the process of reasoning is one of the most important parts of a junior lawyer’s role.”
Sarah Briscoe, director at DWF, echoed the importance of human oversight: “We’ve seen various use cases where we’ve tested it, where it’s just not the case that the output is 100% correct. Because of our obligations to clients, we need that extra layer of human effort to go through the outputs and check them.”
Vanessa Cooper, partner at TLT, invited a balanced view, stressing again that human input remains essential: “I’ve yet to use it and not felt the need to humanise what’s come out the other end, your clients are human beings. You’ll always be important to the human being who is the client rather than what you’ve done with the AI.”
From a client-facing perspective, Luke Rowland of Morrison Foerster, whose work heavily involves working with clients who develop or work with AI, highlighted that AI is driving significant strategic change: “Over the last three to five years, we’ve seen companies focus their acquisition strategies around AI, whether it’s driverless cars, robotics, or semiconductors. AI is very much front and centre of the C-suite’s mind.”
The billable hour
It’s vital for solicitors to keep their clients’ commercial interests in mind — after all, as the saying goes, you are a trusted adviser. But it’s equally important to remember that law firms are businesses too.
One issue under increasing scrutiny is the billable hour. Long a staple of the legal pricing toolkit, it’s now undergoing something of a rebrand. Boyde noted that with the rise of AI and its use in boosting productivity and efficiency, clients are likely to demand more fixed-fee arrangements that reflect how the work is actually carried out.
Briscoe added that we are in a period of transition, with her firm, DWF, already offering some fixed-price alternatives — a “hybrid offering” as she put it. However, as Cooper pointed out, the billable hour is far from obsolete and it remains an immensely useful tool, both for pricing and for gauging how much firms should charge under fixed-fee models. It is not likely to disappear overnight, but law firms are taking these developments seriously and so should you.
Interest rates and currency volatility
Rising interest rates and ongoing currency volatility continue to shape dealmaking and client strategy across the legal sector. As Weavil explained, higher interest rates have transformed the private equity landscape. For years, investors benefited from ultra-low borrowing costs, but as rates have normalised, “financial engineering is no longer enough.” Instead, firms are returning to more traditional methods of value creation, such as finding strong businesses with opportunities for organic growth and improving operational efficiency to generate returns.
Briscoe added that currency volatility is creating further uncertainty for multinational clients. “We’re finding that fluctuations are problematic for retailers and manufacturers who export internationally,” she said. “They can enter a market with a particular exchange rate and plan ahead, but if that shifts suddenly, the revenue they see coming into the business can drop very quickly.” This unpredictability, she noted, has made it more difficult for clients to forecast performance and manage risk effectively.
Changes in the IPO market
While it may have seemed timely to ask about the lack of IPOs just a couple of weeks ago, Rowland noted that we might now be seeing some green shoots in the market. For years, London’s IPO market has been struggling — it has been eight years since it last ranked among the world’s top five exchanges, reflecting the broader challenges facing the UK economy.
However, the recent £2 billion listing of small business lender Shawbrook could be the boost the equity markets need. As Rowland pointed out, more listings are already in the pipeline:
“That probably shows that some of the hard work people have done on capital markets reform and changes to the listing rules to make London a more attractive place to list is beginning to pay off. Hopefully, we’ll start to see that trend pick up.”
According to Rowland, there is reason to be cautiously optimistic, and it’s worth keeping an eye on these developments as they continue to unfold.
Changes in employee rights
Employment law is also in a period of flux. As Boyde observed, “It’s a pretty lethal combination at the moment — the cost of hiring people is rising, and so is the risk that comes with hiring them.”
Boyde explained that new reforms, such as the introduction of day-one rights for unfair dismissal and changes to probationary periods, could significantly increase risk for employers. These proposals, which are currently between the House of Commons and the Lords, may remove the traditional six-month qualifying period for unfair dismissal claims. And this is just the tip of the iceberg. “It’s a pretty grim outlook for employers,” Boyde admitted, “but much better rights for employees as individuals.”
Uncertainty is a certainty
The final takeaway from the event was this: uncertainty is the name of the game. It’s easy to feel that we’re living through unprecedented times, but as Nick Squire, lecturer at The University of Law and former partner at Freshfields, reminded us, uncertainty has always been part of the landscape, whether that be the dot-com boom or the 2008 financial crisis. What matters is how lawyers respond: “Global uncertainty gives rise to opportunities and risks for clients but equally it gives rise to opportunities and risks for law firms, and you need to be alert to those opportunities you need to adjust what you focus on to take advantage of those opportunities.”
As Squire pointed out, during the aftermath of the 2008 financial crash, many corporate M&A lawyers pivoted to restructuring, simply because that’s where the demand was. The key is adaptability and finding opportunity in uncertainty and the same approach applies today.
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