Legal Cheek Careers chats with Anna Mee, head of law at BPP University’s Manchester centre, on commercial awareness and why it isn’t as scary as it sounds
Anna Mee initially had some reservations about a career in law, which at the time didn’t immediately appeal to her. She went on to study languages at university, but a growing interest in business soon drew her back to the legal world: “I saw that what lawyers were doing was not shuffling paper behind a barrister in court, as I believed when leaving school,but facilitating all of these transactions. That is when I started applying to do law.”
Mee went on to train and qualify as a corporate solicitor at Pinsent Masons working in the firm’s Manchester office (with stints in Birmingham and working closely with the London team) on mergers and acquisitions, private equity deals and stock market flotations. A solicitor’s role, she quickly learned, is far broader than popular culture might suggest — it’s certainly nothing like the TV lawyers in Suits or Legally Blonde. “While the world of corporate law can look glamorous with big completion meetings, you’re probably not doing it in beautiful designer clothes and six-inch heels like Meghan Markle,” Mee laughs. “It is hard work”.
However, after several years in practice, Mee realised that the work which she drew the most satisfaction from was nurturing her more junior colleagues. “As I looked at my career, I decided what I really enjoyed was bringing up trainees,” she recalls. That realisation prompted a major career pivot: she left private practice to join BPP University Law School as a tutor, and today she serves as Head of Law at BPP’s Manchester centre. In this role, Mee oversees students’ academic experience and often finds herself dispensing the kind of career advice she wishes she’d heard as a student.
One concept that comes up frequently in our conversation is “commercial awareness” — a term that looms large for aspiring lawyers. Mee acknowledges that it “strikes fear into students”. Many think they must dutifully read the Financial Times cover-to-cover every day, but, she confides, “lawyers don’t actually have time to do that every day”. Instead, commercial awareness involves understanding the business context of legal work. “It’s about understanding the role you are playing and how your advice fits into the business you work in — remembering that law firms are businesses — and your client’s context,” she explains, “putting together what is happening in the real world with a business scenario”.
The challenge, then, is showing off this commercial sense in the application process. Mee warns against simply spouting buzzwords or news facts at interview. “Sometimes the temptation is just to regurgitate information,” she says. For example, artificial intelligence might be all over the news, “but you shouldn’t just tell the firm everything you know about it”. Instead, focus on answering the specific question and demonstrating relevance. “If they ask about a business area you’re interested in or the impact on a client, you need to show why that information is relevant in that context”, Mee advises. Really, the best approach involves connecting any knowledge to the firm or matter in question, rather than delivering a pre-rehearsed monologue about the latest tech trend.
Cultivating commercial awareness is ultimately a habit developed over time and experience tells us that it is impossible to cram it all in before an interview. “You will get better at showing it if you build it ‘little and often’ rather than as a one-off exercise,” she notes. One practical way to do this is by following industries or companies that genuinely interest you. “Use newsletters or follow news stories about companies you like,” she says, and then think about the legal implications of those stories. For instance, Mee herself was interested by UK sportswear brand Tala that expanded to the US only to retreat due to tariffs. “If you look at that story and think about how you would advise them, you are looking at the bigger context, not just the law,” she explains. By building up your awareness organically like this, “you will sound much more natural than if you just try to cram a complicated news story” at the last minute, she adds.
This approach goes hand-in-hand with another key skill: critical thinking. “You need it when you are a lawyer,” Mee says of analytical thinking, highlighting how it amplifies commercial awareness. When advising a client on a major transaction, “you might have to consider a Brexit vote, the US market, geopolitical instability, interest rates, or exchange rates,” she notes. That kind of critical mindset “helps you work out what you think about a situation and how it is relevant to the client”. Ask yourself: what does this piece of news actually mean for a client’s deal or firm’s strategy?
So, which commercial trends should aspiring lawyers be tracking right now? Mee’s answer is that it depends on the type of firm you’re targeting. However, one takeaway is key. “Remember that law firms are businesses themselves,” she stresses. It pays to follow the trade press (think law firm news and legal market developments) as well as general commercial news.
Unsurprisingly, technology is high on her list of must-know topics. “AI is important from both a regulatory point of view and for how law firms use it. And if you are looking at American firms, pay attention to US politics,” Mee advises.
Underlying all this advice is the idea of engaging with material you truly find interesting, rather than treating commercial awareness as a dry box-ticking exercise. “Find something you want to go down a ‘rabbit hole’ for,” Mee suggests and dive deep by reading explainers and specialist newsletters “rather than just trying to cram every piece of legislation into your head”. Crucially, firms aren’t expecting applicants to all spout the same opinions on the latest issues. “Law firms want to see that you are interested in these things and want to have an opinion, not necessarily that you have the same opinion as the interviewer,” she points out. “They want to see that you can have an interesting discussion” about the business world.
Mee is also refreshingly candid that not everyone needs to be a corporate commercial whizz. “Don’t see it as a boogeyman,” she says of commercial awareness anxiety. If you truly have zero interest in the business world, perhaps “corporate commercial law is probably not the area for you”. “Law firms want to see your interest, and if you aren’t interested, it will show,” she adds bluntly. One thing she strongly cautions against is trying to fake it. “If you use AI to write your commercial awareness answers, you will get shown up in an interview and you won’t get the job,” Mee warns. “And if you do get the job, you’re going to hate it.” “If you are more interested in how families are made, then maybe a different area of law is for you, and that is okay,” she says, noting that it’s better to be honest with yourself about where your passions lie.
In her role at BPP, Mee is putting these principles into practice in the way future lawyers are trained. “In the classroom, we are constantly getting you to think about how to advise a client in a particular context, which flexes the muscle of commercial awareness,” she explains. Students work through realistic case studies across all their subjects, and BPP’s SQE Master’s programme even includes a module called “Essentials for Practice” that integrates legal knowledge with real-world scenarios. Outside the classroom, BPP’s careers team provides unlimited one-to-one coaching on interviews and applications, and runs workshops to help students build up their commercial acumen.
More broadly, Mee emphasises that pure legal knowledge isn’t enough to stand out as a lawyer today. “Being an excellent lawyer is not about being able to regurgitate the law or naming cases and statutes,” she points out. Clients can easily find out basic legal information themselves — what they rely on lawyers for is judgment and contextual advice. “They need you to apply the law and make it relevant to their specific context,” she says. In an age where AI can automate routine tasks, this human judgment is more crucial than ever. “To stand out in a world where AI is growing, you have to be able to apply information on both a localised and macro scale,” Mee adds. And never forget the human element, she reminds us: “It is a people business and I think sometimes we can forget that!”.
Mee has one final piece of career advice for those preparing to join the legal profession: be organised. “You need to be able to balance your workload, and that skill starts with intense law school courses,” she says, noting that the heavy grind of study is good preparation for the juggling act of practice. Everyone has their own methods to stay on top of things, but “remember to be a whole person,” she urges. Being organised isn’t just about colour-coded revision timetables — it also means carving out time for other activities, “things that aren’t about work but make you an interesting person”.
These pursuits will make you more resilient and, frankly, more pleasant to work with: “All work and no play makes you a dull person,” Mee quips. And her final practical tip for law students in the thick of it all: “Make sure you sleep — it’s important!”.
Anna Mee will be speaking at ‘How to demonstrate your commercial awareness — with BPP’, a virtual event taking place next Tuesday (10 February 2026). Secure your place!
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