The St Andrews Law Review is thrilled to announce our partnership with City Career Series this year! Read on to find out more about City Career Series and the crucial resources it offers aspiring bankers, lawyers and more!
What is City Career Series and what do they do?
City Career Series offers a comprehensive range of resources which are directly relevant to support you through the recruitment processes for a wide variety of City careers – not just law! Its resources have been collated and designed to offer the exact kind of assistance you need in your pursuit of a City Career.
City Career Series provides guidance through each stage of the process – whether you are just starting out and researching careers; working your way through applications; preparing for interviews; gearing up for your internship or preparing for the world of work.
Why City Career Series?
City Career Series’ writers have progressed successfully through the graduate recruitment process and have secured careers at a range of top City firms across different industries. Collectively, they have attended over 100 interviews and internships. This ensures that the information provided is tried and tested, comprehensive, concise, easy to follow and accurately reflects City firms’ current requirements and expectations of candidates.
What does City Career Series offer?
City Career Series has a vast variety of resources to support your application journey as well as suggestions for other books you can explore. These are all centred around supporting you through a variety of City careers and developing a broad commercial understanding.
They have two handbooks catering specifically to aspiring commercial lawyers. First, the Commercial Law Handbook offers a solid grounding in the legal, commercial and financial knowledge required for commercial law interviews and internships. This includes explanations of the key terminology and jargon and detailed advice and insights covering:
Commercial awareness and case study interviews and assessment centres guidance
Tips on how to gain insights into the legal profession
What "commercial awareness" means, why it is relevant, how it might be assessed and how to build it
The role of commercial lawyers, more specifically trainee solicitors, and the main commercial law practice areas
Core commercial law principles, including explanations of how contracts are formed, how contractual terms can be used to allocate risk and how security can operate to protect lenders and facilitate corporate borrowing
Strategic challenges and commercial considerations relating to starting, running and growing a business
Different methods of financing and selling businesses, including the benefits and drawbacks of loans, bonds and IPOs
The M&A process, complete with an overview of the key parties that are typically involved and the various issues that can arise
Basic economics concepts and financial accounting principles, plus an introduction to Microsoft Excel
Key transactional documents and contractual clauses commonly used by commercial lawyers
How to convert internships into full-time jobs
Second, the Training Contract Handbook takes commercial awareness to the next level. It includes expert contributions from dozens of trainees and associates at a range of market-leading City firms and also offers comprehensive insights and insider tips from leading City trainers and authors. It covers a variety of topics such as:
a detailed insight into what trainees do including practice area overviews, example trainee work logs and a summary of the challenges trainees face
insider tips on managing your workload, interacting with supervisors and demonstrating initiative
expert guidance on how to effectively approach legal and business research, presentations, proofreading and written tasks
summaries of fundamental commercial law principles and contractual protections, including contract formation, the allocation of risk, limitations of liability, restrictive covenants, boilerplate clauses, security and insolvency
explanations of hundreds of key legal concepts and contractual clauses, including definitions of the terminology, jargon and acronyms you will likely come across during interviews, internships and in practice
advice on how to project manage the M&A process, including an insight into auctions and bilateral sales, the role of key legal practice areas and signings and completions
comprehensive insight into complex due diligence exercises and document review processes, including an overview of the role of trainees and the key issues to look out for
detailed explanation of key transaction documents, including engagement letters, non-disclosure agreements, sale and purchase agreements, shareholders’ agreements and loan agreements
insight into the work carried out by dispute resolution teams and an overview of key methods of dispute resolution.
explanations of key litigation documents and processes, including advice on how to coordinate large scale document reviews.
practical guide to Microsoft Word, Outlook and Excel
For City Career more broadly, the Application, Interview & Internship Handbook offers a comprehensive guide to:
boosting your employability
researching careers and firms
networking and LinkedIn
writing successful CVs, cover letters and applications
tackling competency, strengths-based and motivation questions
enhancing your commercial awareness
preparing for interviews and assessment centres (including virtual assessment centres)
converting internships into graduate jobs
Similarly, the Business Writing Handbook provides guidance in professional writing in commercial contexts, including practical tips on how to write, structure and present business emails; formal letters; client reports and presentations; webpages; newsletters and meeting notes. It includes illustrative examples throughout of what to do and, more importantly, what not to do.
What can St Andrews Law Review’s Followers look forward to?
City Career Series has generously offered all Law Review followers an exclusive 10% discount with the code “STANDREWSLAWREVIEW22” in their online store (which features a range of their handbooks) through their Commercial Law Academy subscription.
We will also be running raffles on the Law Review’s Instagram to offer 10 lucky followers the chance to win either a free 1-month subscription to the Commercial Law Academy or a copy of one of their incredible handbooks.
City Career Series also hosts a number of member-only free webinars to which the Law Review’s followers can enjoy exclusive access. We will also keep you abreast of free events and opportunities throughout the year through our Instagram.
Finally, be sure to check out City Career Series’ sister company – Commercial Law Academy – who we will also be working with this year. If you are interested in support specifically for a career in commercial law, Commercial Law Academy has everything you need.