Your QM Law For All Society Newsletter
Welcome to the third issue of our newsletter, Unorthodox
We're back again with more opportunities, commercial news stories, and upcoming events.
As the weather gets colder, the nights get longer, and the Halloween decor gets stashed away, we hope you'll enjoy our third newsletter by yours truly, the LFA newsletter team.
What's going on in the world?
These are our top interesting stories in the legal and commercial world that you may want to follow up on!
1) Covid vaccine's impact on global stock market Drug companies Pfizer and BioNTech have announced that their trial Covid vaccinate was 90% effective, which has prompted a flurry of activity in the global stock market. The news has pushed the FTSE 100 to 6,186 points which has been FTSE's biggest one-day gain since March. On Wall Street, the benchmark S&P 500 index jumped to a record high of 3,645.99. Many of the most pronounced stock market gainers were the companies most affected by Covid restrictions, whilst companies that most benefited from lockdowns retreated from some of their gains. Bank of England's chief economist, Andy Haldane, has said he was hopeful that the prospects of a vaccine would deliver a quick boost to the economy and avoid the "stop-start" cycle between lockdown and reopening. What does this mean? With the prospects of a vaccination improving the economy, how will this affect law firms? Have a closer think about the sectors which have been most impacted by Covid-19; retail, aviation, tourism etc. Now think about the niche law firms which specialise in these areas, or the law firms with these practice areas, what is the potential for client demand now? Key terminology FTSE 100: Financial Times Stock Exchange Index. It is a list of the 100 largest listed companies on the London Stock Exchange. A listed company meaning anyone can buy stocks in the company. Learn more here S&P 500 Index: It is a list of the largest publicly traded companies in the US. Learn more here 2) TikTok was given an extension on its sale deadline by the US Major social media and tech companies have been all over the news for security concerns, antitrust issues, and questions over political advertising. Facebook and Google’s one-week post-election embargo on political advertising has been extended, the Competition Commission of India ordered an deep investigation into Google unfairly extruding competitors with its strong links between Google’s mobile app and payment service, and much more. However, the most recent development on the scene is the extension given to ByteDance to restructure ownership of TikTok. What does this mean? Trump has been trying to get TikTok banned in the US since August over security concerns about TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, being ‘a mouthpiece’ for the Chinese Communist Party. A new proposal was made to sell TikTok to a new American entity, owned by Walmart, Oracle and ByteDance’s current US investors. However, the Committee on Foreign Investment has now extended the deadline for the sale of TikTok to November 27th. Banning of the app in the US would have major implications, with the app reaching 100 million + monthly active users in the US. The ban raises concerns about the curtailment of freedom of speech, and the harm that could be caused to the US economy if bans on US companies are made in response. The US and China aren’t strangers to banning each other’s companies, which has had major repercussions for companies such as Huawei. What questions do you need to be asking? Consider what aspects of a company need to be reconsidered when restructuring a company and the practice areas that would be involved. How will employees and shareholders be impacted by TikTok’s ownership change? 3) Biden wins 51% of votes in the US president election
The uncertainty of the US presidential election results brought a lot of anticipation, not just in the US, but here in the UK too. The elections took place on Tuesday 3 November and resulted in Joe Biden being elected as the 46th president of the United States. What does this mean?
The US and UK have been close allies for many years, from the World Wars, right the way through the Cold War and beyond. To maintain good relations between nations, the relationship between the leaders is vital. However, there is already a raised concern of tensions in the US-British relations. Alongside their (already) very different political standings, there is an incompatibility of personalities between the two leaders. As mentioned in the Financial Times, Biden has already called Johnson "a physical and emotional clone of Donald Trump" and has made various comments towards Johnson's decision to continue pursuing Brexit. What questions do you need to be asking? Consider how the change in leadership can affect relations between the UK and US and in what aspect. How will the leader's relations affect British trade with the US? (Especially in the context of Brexit)
Opportunities
Here are some great events to learn more about the legal industry, and interact with people in the legal profession:
Make sure to double check if the firm recruits on a rolling basis as due to Covid-19, some firms have changed their recruitment policies.Feel free to get in touch with the committee regarding any queries about applications. Even if we can't answer your questions, we have an extensive network with campus ambassadors and trainee solicitors at these firms who will be glad to help you!
All about law firms With over 10,000 law firms in the UK, a question that students often ask is, "how to differentiate between law firms?"
Hopefully, this clears things up a little... Magic Circle: (Allen & Overy, Freshfields, Linklaters, Clifford Chance, Slaughter & May). Big deals, big clients, big money. Be prepared to work long hours and not see family and friends often Large Commercial: (Norton Rose Fulbright, Simmons & Simmons, Ashurst, Dentons etc.). Not a huge difference in terms of the work you do here and at magic circle firms; corporate and finance deals dominate the work. Again, be prepared to work long hours US Firms in London (Baker McKenzie, Jones Day, Kirkland Ellis, Latham & Watkins, Shearman & Sterling etc.). Famously, they pay very high salaries, but this means that trainees are given a lot of responsibility, work very long hours and lots of international work Mid-Sized Commercial: (Macfarlanes, RPC, Travers Smith, Reed Smith, Stephenson Harwood). Size of deals and cases means trainees aren’t just doing administrative work. The atmosphere is a bit more intimate as typically there’s a smaller trainee cohort Smaller Commercial Firms (Withers, Vinson & Elkins, Leigh Day, Wiggin, Farrer & Co). These firms specialise in areas as diverse as media, insurance, energy, shipping, family, intellectual property, fashion and sports Regional Firms: (Burges Salmon, Osborne Clarke, TLT, Freeths, Hill Dickinson). Applicants have to demonstrate a long-term commitment to living in that area. Tends to focus on regional clients, but often there is no disparity between the work you do in the capital and regionally National and Multi-Site Firms: (DLA Piper, Addleshaw Goddard, Pinsent Masons, Irwin Mitchell): They have massive operations with office networks spanning the length and breadth of the country and overseas. Be prepared to move around High Street Firms: If big corporate jargon and deals does not entice you, then consider your local high street firm. You’ll be given huge responsibility from day one as they do recruit smaller intake. But be prepared for a not so glam salary.
Our top podcasts to tune in to:
Thinking Commercially by Bright Network: A brand new podcast by Ben Triggs and Chris Stoakes
The LittleLaw Podcast: discusses applications, work culture and key commercial stories.
Clifford Chance Podcasts: a mixture of recordings of events and deep discussions of politics, tech and other key topics hosted by experts from across the firm.
Law Pod UK: a podcast hosted by barristers at One Crown Office Row. It covers developments across aspects of civil and public law in the UK.
Linkubator: Linklaters’ trainee-led podcast that brings you current important topics in the legal technology and innovation space
Our partnership with Mindfull Learning
Mindfull Learning (ML) is founded by Yan-Kelvin Monney, a future trainee at Herbert Smith Freehills. He has brought together a group of future trainees various firms from the magic and silver circles as well as US firms. ML has provided products and services to help aspiring commercial lawyers. They help deliver bespoke services such as:
CV/cover letter reviews
Vacation Scheme/Training Contract applications masterclasses
Commercial Awareness masterclasses
Watson Glaser masterclasses
Interview coaching and mock interviews
ML offer fully comprehensive e-guides such as a commercial law assessment centre e-guide and a commercial law applications e-guide, which includes 22 successful vacation schemes and training contract applications. Both guides include detailed advice and guidance from future trainees at prestigious law firms.
As a member, you can receive up to 40% discount on all ML e-guides and up to 25% discount on ML services.
In addition, there's an opportunity to be selected as a brand ambassador for ML and you'll receive a free CV review and up to four free cover letter reviews. Please email us for further information.
If you receive an internship or vacation scheme off the back of one of ML's products, you are entitled to free coaching and mentoring throughput your internship or vacation scheme. In addition, if ML receive 30 sales from our society, we will receive a free masterclass of our choice!
To access your discount code and not miss out on this fantastic offer, please email us to receive your exclusive code.
We would like to dedicate a section of our newsletter to our members. We want to celebrate any of our members' achievements so please let one of the newsletter creators know (Ela or Anita) and we'll include it in our upcoming issues. Achievements like obtaining work experience, vacation schemes, mini pupillage, or just anything you are proud of that you may want to share!
We hope to see you all achieve great things :)
If you haven't already, please join our WhatsApp group chat to be connected with other students in a similar position to you. We frequently share cool events to attend, advice and anything we think our members will find useful therefore don't miss out on being part of this community!
Our next issue will include
Introduction to Chambers
An interview with a family lawyer
Our top commercial news stories
Upcoming legal events to sign up to
More application deadline reminders
Top podcasts to be listening to
Upcoming society events
Advice of the day
Look out for our next issue as there's plenty more cool stuff coming!
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