Together with

Table of Contents

• EDITOR’S RAMBLE 🗣

• FEATURED REPORT 📰

• IN OTHER NEWS 🗞

• AROUND THE WEB 🌐

• STUFF THAT MIGHT HELP YOU 👌

EDITOR’S RAMBLE 🗣

Hey, it’s Laura here (I write for LittleLaw).

I’m taking over this week’s Ramble to talk about the SQE.

See, I started the SQE prep course at BPP a month ago. After spending time travelling in the US and South America, I wasn’t exactly thrilled about returning to academia. But I thought once I bought a shiny new planner and some nice pens, my usual motivation would kick in.

…but, it didn’t.

I want to be a corporate lawyer because I enjoy working out how a client can achieve their objectives within the parameters of the law.

But the SQE doesn’t really teach you that. It’s mostly about memorising facts, not solving real-life problems.

It’s hard to be interested in memorising things like:

• which property is exempt from inheritance tax, or

• the deadlines in litigation proceedings, or

• how to address a judge in each court.

And at 23, I didn’t expect Quizlet (where I keep my flashcards) to be my most-visited website.

A friend of mine finished the SQE about a year ago. He told me, “If you can’t find the content interesting, you may as well be good at it.”

What he meant was this: the better you get at something, the more you enjoy it.

He’s right. Memorising flashcards isn’t thrilling, but I do enjoy getting answers right in class. It feels good to see my score go up each time I try a new set of exam-style multiple choice questions.

So if you’re struggling to feel excited about the SQE (or really anything else that feels like a slog), try focusing on getting a little bit better each day.

You might not love it right away. But once progress starts to show, the motivation often follows.

- Laura

FEATURED REPORT 📰

🚀 Google–Wiz deal (what you need to know)

What’s going on here?

Google’s parent company, Alphabet, announced the purchase of a cybersecurity startup called Wiz for $32 billion.

The deal will be Google’s biggest acquisition ever — more than double what Google paid for Motorola back in 2012.

But not everyone was happy. Right after the news came out, Alphabet’s share price dropped by 4%.

What does Wiz do?

Wiz is a cybersecurity company.

Essentially, it helps businesses protect themselves online, especially those using cloud services.

Its tools find weak spots that hackers might use to launch attacks, letting companies fix problems before they become serious.

Why does Google need Wiz?

Google is one of the top three companies offering cloud computing services, along with Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft. But when it comes to built-in cybersecurity, Google is behind. AWS and Microsoft have stronger security tools, which is one reason why they lead the global cloud market.

By buying Wiz, Google gets a top-tier cybersecurity system without having to build it from scratch — and it plans to include Wiz’s tools in every cloud deal. This could make Google Cloud more appealing to big companies that worry about cyber threats.

Why did Alphabet’s stock fall after the deal?

Investors weren’t thrilled about this acquisition. Here’s why:

💸 A steep price jump: Last year, Google offered to buy Wiz for $23 billion, but Wiz said no. Now, less than a year later, Google has raised its offer by 40%. That’s a big jump, and many don’t think Wiz’s value has grown that much in such a short time.

📊 Paying far above market rates: Most software companies are bought for about 10 times their yearly revenue. Wiz is aiming to hit $1 billion in revenue this year, but Google is paying $32 billion — about 30 times that. Investors are asking: is Wiz really worth that much?

💰 A big dent in Alphabet’s savings: This deal will use up around one-third of Alphabet’s cash. That means less money for unexpected costs or rewards for shareholders. Some investors now worry this could lead to smaller dividend payments this year.

What are the next steps?

Google tried to buy Wiz once before, but the deal fell through. The worry was that competition regulators — like the U.S. Federal Trade Commission — would block it.

This time, the deal still needs approval from regulators. But it’s more likely to go through now. That’s because the new Trump administration is seen as being more open to big tech deals than the previous Democrat government was.

Which law firms are involved?

Google is using Freshfields and Cleary Gottlieb.

Wiz is using Fenwick & West and Cravath.

How can you use this in your applications?

This deal is a great example of “opportunity cost”. Google is paying 30x Wiz’s annual revenue, partly because Wiz is giving up the chance to go public. In your applications, you can highlight how this shows companies often weigh up different exit routes — and the cost of giving one up.

In written tasks or interviews, try asking: If my client chooses this path, what are they giving up? That kind of thinking stands out.

You can also link the deal to wider trends. For example, changes under the Trump administration have made big tech deals more likely to be approved, while market instability caused by new sanctions has made IPOs riskier. That context helps explain why Wiz chose to sell, and shows how political shifts impact business strategy — especially useful if you’re applying to US-focused firms.

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IN OTHER NEWS 🗞

• 📺 The UK’s biggest media companies — BT, IMG, ITV, and the BBC — have been fined £4 million for breaking competition rules. They were caught sharing secret info about how much they paid freelancers, like camera and sound crews. This is illegal because it can lead to companies agreeing to pay workers similar (often lower) rates, instead of competing to offer better pay.

• 🤖 US law firm Cleary has bought Springbok AI, a London-based legal tech company. The CEO of Springbok and 10 AI experts are joining Cleary as part of the deal. The law firm’s goal is to build custom AI tools for the firm and its clients. Instead of hiring a team from scratch, Cleary just bought one — giving it a head start in the legal AI race.

• 💸 Herbert Smith Freehills has been fined £465,000 for breaking UK sanctions rules. Its Moscow office paid £3.9 million to three Russian banks that were under sanctions, without checking properly with the London HQ. The payments happened while the firm was shutting down its Russia operations in 2022. It’s the first time a law firm has been fined like this since the war in Ukraine began.

• 📉 EY is shaking up its UK legal arm. It plans to focus more on corporate law, company secretarial work, tax disputes, and immigration — and cut about 30 jobs in other areas. This marks a big shift from last year, when EY said it wanted to triple its number of UK and Irish lawyers. That plan now seems on hold, as the firm pulls back from growing its legal market share.

AROUND THE WEB 🌐

• 🐾 Vicepaw: A school in Italy has officially named a cat as their assistant head

• 🌞 Holidays: This tool helps you take the longest breaks while using the fewest days of annual leave

• 🧲 Haha: Collaborate on a fridge magnet poem

STUFF THAT MIGHT HELP YOU 👌

• 📹️ Free application help: If you're applying to commercial law firms, check out my YouTube channel for actionable tips and an insight into the lifestyle of a commercial lawyer in London.