Philip
Wang

I was placed 7th out of 4117 students at the British Inter-University Commercial Awareness Competition, commonly referred to as BIUCAC. The Nottingham Trent Commercial Awareness Society partnered with the student-led BIUCAC committee to organise and host the competition alongside 40 other universities.

BIUCAC set a range of challenges for us contestants to complete. We had to write a 1000 word essay based on a fictional risk mitigation question on the semiconductor industry. Then we had to answer some multiple-choice questions and three short questions on the Bank of England and two longer questions on monetary policy and negative interest rates. I also had to hold a presentation on anti-competitive abuses by large tech firms. All the oral questions had to be answered in front of associates and partners from law firms sponsoring the event.

A key skill to succeed in this competition is confidence in public speaking. As a student at Nottingham Law School, I was fortunate to have so many opportunities to practice my public speaking. Both as part of my course and moots organised by the mooting club where I was a member. These experiences helped me stay composed when answering questions.

Another skill is effectively breaking down complex concepts. Having participated in the Global Week moot, a human rights moot held by the law school, I realised that the strongest arguments are those understood by everyone in the room, law students and spectators. Knowing this, I made sure to present it in a format that makes terms and concepts easy to understand.

Before the competition, I was not familiar with the PESTLE analysis. It is a common writing structure used to identify risk to a company and advising how to mitigate those risks. I found that using it in the competition was an interesting way to introduce writing structures from other disciplines to us law students.

Also, it made me realise that law studies are not a one-stop-shop to gain the skills to succeed as a solicitor. The partners of the sponsoring law firms made it clear that being able to identify risk and mitigation advice was a major part of their day-to-day work. This opened my eyes to learning things from other subjects to complement my understanding of the law.

On a separate note, I would like to thank the NTU Commercial Awareness Society for kindly organising this event. Having a forum to discuss business news with other like-minded students is an invaluable resource to develop your commercial awareness. They have some great events and opportunities lined up so show your support by joining the society.