Interview with Veer Shah, founder of the Commercial Café, and third-seat trainee at Travers Smith

In this interview, Eleanor Teh speaks with Veer Shah, a third-seat trainee and founder of Commercial Cafe.

Hi Veer! Could you please give us a short introduction about yourself, and your journey into law? 

I am a career changer, with previous roles as a secondary school teacher and in an edtech company as a consultant. I decided to change careers to corporate law because I wanted a challenging and varied career that combined my interests in law, business and the economy. My pathway to law involved an undergraduate degree in Economics in 2011, followed by a conversion course to law in 2020. I completed two vacation schemes in 2021, when I was offered my training contract which I began in 2023 after completing the legal practice course.

About the Commercial Café  

Q1. What is the Commercial Café, and what motivated you to start this project? Commercial Café is a not-for-profit organisation that aims to support diverse aspiring solicitors to develop their commercial awareness by running 10-week interactive workshop and mentoring programmes. I decided to start the project because I wanted to create an environment that supports diverse aspiring solicitors to practise analysing and talking about commercial issues – I feel that reading the FT is more challenging than being able to analyse and confidently discuss stories and trends.

Q2. What are some challenges you have faced as Founder of the Commercial Café, and how did you overcome them?  

Making sure that I find the time to prepare and deliver the sessions can be challenging to balance with a busy trainee solicitor role. However, I find running Commercial Café to be very rewarding and am currently trying to build up a team to help me to continue to build the project.

Q3. How is the Commercial Café improving diversity and inclusion in the legal field, and in what ways will it continue to develop in the future?  

Commercial Café hopes to contribute to improving diversity and inclusion in the legal field by offering individuals from underrepresented backgrounds an opportunity to proactively develop their commercial awareness and by helping them to build a network early in their career. I hope to develop the project by offering more sessions and delivering more one-off workshops to reach a wider range and number of applicants.

 

About Travers Smith 

Q4. What attracted you to training at Travers Smith, and was this reflected during the time you were working as a trainee there?  

I primarily chose Travers Smith because of the high quality of work available and the inclusive culture of the firm. All my interactions with the firm prior to joining demonstrated that it offers a uniquely collaborative, friendly, and nurturing environment, which differentiated it from other firms for me. This has been reflected in my day-to-day experience, and the unique room-sharing structure really helps with this.

Q5. Which seats have you trained in, and what does your day-to-day look like respectively?  

I have trained in financial services & markets (regulatory), investment funds and corporate M&A/equity capital markets so far. Every day is very different but has typically consisted of conducting legal research, helping to write client advice notes & emails, helping to project manage transactions and drafting various ancillary documents to a transaction.

Q6. Given the current policy changes made by the Labour government (e.g. closing the equity loophole), how do you see this impacting law firms in terms of its clients, and its business strategy?  

This is complex and multi-faceted question – various recent headline-grabbing policies such as the budget in the final quarter of 2024 will undoubtedly have an impact on business sentiment well into 2025 as the extent of the policy changes come into full view. However, I do think that global geopolitics, unrest and changes in administration complicates the picture. It remains to be seen whether there will be any stability on offer for law firms and their clients, or whether the economic environment will become ever more turbulent.

Commercial Awareness 

Q7. What does ‘commercial awareness’ mean to you, and what is the best approach to sharpen it?  

At its core, commercial awareness entails developing an understanding of (and being able to analyse) the main factors currently impacting a law firm and its clients. This includes political, economic, social and legal factors that might represent a threat or an opportunity for the law firm and for its clients. It also entails building an understanding of how laws firms operate as profitable and successful businesses.

Q8. What is the best way to answer ‘commercial awareness’ questions in applications and interviews? (Such as – Discuss a news article/trend that you have recently come across.)  

I don’t think there is any best way to answer this question, however, I think it’s important to move away from descriptive answers and towards answers that carefully analyse the impact of a news story or trend on the law firm, the industries it operates in and the clients it supports. I think it’s also important to follow a set of topics that genuinely interest you – that way it’s easier to stay engaged and demonstrate a deep understanding of the topics being discussed.
    

Q9. How do you apply ‘commercial awareness’ in your day-to-day as a trainee? Why is it an essential skill for aspiring lawyers?  

Day-to-day, I think that the relevance of commercial awareness relates to building an understanding of the practical impacts of the legal advice that is being provided to clients. This includes aspects such as trying to understand why a client is making a particular business decision so that the most appropriate legal advice can be provided – this is why it is such an essential skill for all lawyers.

 

Finally, a question to wrap up the interview

Q10. What is one thing you wish you knew as a university student?  

I think it’s important to recognise that a career is not linear – as my own career journey shows!