Writing a law school personal statement is always a struggle. It’s a struggle because this essay requires time and effort in order to make it interesting. Career Center has some helpful tips that could help you with your essay writing. Read this article and learn some of the tips taken from a notable sample law school personal statement.
Write a sample law school personal statement intro that grabs attention
State your general reasons for pursuing graduate study and introduce yourself to the selection committee. Make it interesting; the committee members will read many applications, so be sure that you give them a sense of your particular talents, individuality, experience, and uniqueness.
The opening paragraph of your essay should be very compelling. You need to state the reason for your application. It is also an advantage if you write about your experiences and skills that make you a notable applicant.
Give a clear background of who you are in your admissions essay
Concentrate on those experiences that have served as a foundation for your upcoming graduate work. Describe your community and family background and tell how your interests in, and knowledge of, your chosen field developed. Describe any personal attributes and qualities that would help you complete your graduate study successfully, examples are very helpful. Focus on your determination to achieve your goals, initiative and ability in developing ideas, and capacity for working through problems independently.
The purpose of writing a personal statement for law school is to reveal the real you to the admissions committee. This is why you have to include your interests, experiences, and other interesting things about you in your essay.
Talk about how qualified you are
Describe those experiences that will serve as a foundation for your forthcoming graduate work. Discuss (1) your expertise and accomplishments in your major field, (2) your undergraduate studies in general and how they relate to what you intend to do in graduate school, (3) specific learning experiences that demonstrate your motivation and inspiration for continued study, and (4) other relevant experiences such as jobs, internships, community activities, volunteer experience and other related experience.
You have to sell yourself through your personal statament. To effectively sell yourself, you have to highlight the qualities that make you worthy of a slot in your dream law school.
Discuss your goals and objectives in your admission essay
The Hunters College Reading and Writing Center recommends that you should:
Briefly state your educational objectives and career goals. Do not hesitate to indicate if your plans are tentative.
You have to include your short-term and long-term goals. Giving the admissions panel an impression that you are a person with a clear direction can give you more chances of success on your application.
To sum up everything, you have to give a clear background of yourself. You also have to include your goals. It is also an advantage if you talk about your qualifications. Aside from keeping these tips in mind, you should also read notable sample law school personal statements and observe how they are structured.
When you are going to write a personal statement for law school, you have to equip yourself with knowledge and tips on how to write an admission essay that would grab the attention of the admissions panel. Online Law Schools Information has some interesting points that are reflected in many notable sample law school personal statements. Read on to know some of these points.
Do some research because excellent sample law school personal statements are well-researched
The notable sample law school personal statements you read online are products of effort in researching and writing. It is really necessary to know more about the school where you want to apply.
Learning about the law school will help you to tailor your essay to the specific school you are applying to. When researching about personal statements, you should check out the school’s homepage to see if they provide any tips or suggestions on essay writing. Also, look for some sample law school personal statements so you can get a better idea of what the personal statement looks like, how it reads, and how the themes are developed.
However, you must be careful to avoid stuffing your essay with so much information and also you must avoid plagiarizing the sample essays you read.
Ask for the aid of language experts because they can help you remove any technical error.
You can ask your former teachers and peers to help you with the proofreading of your essay.
One of the best sources of help when writing personal statements or any type of essay is a language expert. An expert in English can help in proofreading and editing your law school personal statement to ensure that there are absolutely no language mistakes. You may want to ask for help from an English or Literature teacher in college or high school. Another choice is to get help from a tutor or consultant who is willing to look through and edit your paper.
You have to accept the criticisms of others regarding your work. You also have to weigh the comments and opinions about your essay before altering a thing. Aside from this, you can also read books that could guide you when writing. This Law Admissions page shares a useful insight.
Have other people who know you well read the statement and critique it. There are books available to help you write an effective personal statement, although you should be careful following a canned outline to still make it a personal statement.
Indeed, you should avoid following the outline from those materials rigidly. You can be a little creative if you want. You can make explorations in writing. Just make sure that you don’t overdo it. Again, do some research before you write your essay. You also have to read books and ask for other people’s opinions.
Contrary to what some people think, litigation is not the be-all and end-all of legal practice. Sure, bulk of the bar-passers go into litigation and client representation as a career. But there are also tons of other options for the practice of law. So if you’re not up for the courtroom drama, below are some alternative career options you can consider:
Politics and public service
Lawyers who wish to hold public office and venture into politics can kick off their political careers by getting elected as a district attorney. From there, lawyers can aim for the position of state attorney general, and move further up the political ladder by getting elected or appointed. Lawyers also have the option of joining the US Department of Justice, or get appointed by the US President to hold a position in the US Attorney’s Offices. Know though that pursuing a political career often requires a certain level of popularity not just in the community of legal practitioners, but also in the academe and law organizations.
Policy-making and legislation
Lawyers can also secure employment in legislative sectors by serving as consultants to senators and members of the Congress. See not all politicians have extensive knowledge on the history of laws and legal procedures, and this is where lawyers can help. Working in the field of legislature entails helping politician conceptualize and draft bills and policies.
Private legal consultancy
Every company and corporation needs someone with significant legal background and knowledge to take care of the legal aspects involved in their industry. Labor and industrial laws should be taken into consideration in the operation of companies and corporations. Lawyers can work as corporate consultants and become the point persons for drafting contracts and legal agreements, as well as ensuring that the company’s nature of work is in compliance with labor and industrial laws.
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The legal industry is a field that makes little or no room for poetry. Presentation of facts should always be concise and direct to the point. One document where concise writing should be practiced is the legal brief. Legal briefs are the documents that showcase the legal arguments presented in court, as well as case summaries. The ability to write concise legal briefs, without emitting pertinent information, is important in the realm of law. So much so that most law schools even require their students to take legal writing courses in their first year in law school.
Legal briefs are important documents because these show the progress and developments made in the legal processing of cases. Below are a few tips which can also serve as a guide for legal practitioners, law students, and paralegals in crafting clear and concise legal briefs.
Always maintain brevity and conciseness
If you’re tasked to write a legal brief and it’s your first time to do so, don’t fret. Most courts follow a template that dictates how legal briefs are formatted and structured. The US Supreme Court, for one, enacted a set of brief-writing rules in January 1990, which is being followed to this date. For federal appeal cases, however, a different format is followed in writing legal briefs. The FRAP, or Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure, is a handbook that details how legal briefs on federal appeal cases should be written. From page margins to document length, the FRAP outlines the rules that should be followed when writing briefs.
Presentation of Questions
The key to succeeding in this part of the legal brief is to avoid writing loaded or leading questions. Learn to practice neutrality in presenting facts, while still writing your questions in a way that reflects the side you are arguing for.
Drop the pretty words
As mentioned, there’s no room for poetry in law. Drop the “fluffy” words and present cold, hard facts in a clear manner.
Accuracy in stating facts
Brief writers should be careful about presenting “facts.” If the information is contained in the case records, you can rest assured that is considered factual. But if you’re merely stating claims and declare them as factual information, you’ll affect the consistency and credibility of the legal brief.
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Though you’ll learn significant amount of law jargon throughout your stay in law school, there are some terms associated with law firms that could still sound foreign to you. To avoid giving off the impression that you’re an “outsider” to the realm of law, here are a few terms used in law firms along with their definitions:
Pro Bono
This term literally translates to “for the good of the public,” but is used in law firms and offices to refer to the provision of free legal service to clients. To do something pro bono means to do it for free. Contrary to what many people think, pro bono service and hours do not just come from the goodness of lawyers. The American Bar Association actually requires all lawyers to render 50 pro bono hours each. Although the ABA has a set requirement for ABA hours, the state bars have the authority of lowering this number according to their discretion.
Summer Associate
Summer associates are law students employed by law firms as interns. The duration of service for summer associates is three months. If they perform well as interns, the firm may invite these students to stay as associates or guarantee their employment with the firm after they graduate.
Partner
Law firms are rarely owned by just one individual. Ownership is usually shared with one or two other persons called partner or partners. Equity partners own part of the law firm and is entitled to a cut from the total profits raked in.
Associate
This is the title lawyers get once they’re hired by a law firm. Entry-level positions for lawyers come with the title as associate, and can be further categorized into junior associate and senior associate.
Billable hours
Billable hours are what sustains lawyers’ subsistence. Because lawyers get paid by the hour, the more hours of service rendered means more income for the lawyer. Billable hours refer to the time periods wherein legal service is rendered to the client in exchange for a certain fee. Associates are sometimes ranked, albeit informally, according to their billable hours.
Paralegal
Paralegals are those equipped with the knowledge and expertise to work in the law industry even though they don’t have law degrees. Paralegals are usually hired to help lawyers conduct research, prepare documents, and provide legal advice to clients under the supervision of a licensed attorney. In the US, the National Association of Legal Assistants and the National Federation of Paralegal Associations can certify and register paralegals to increase their chances for employment.
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While transcripts, grades, and recommendation letters are given significant weight and importance by admissions committees and law schools, your personal statement essay can help increase your chances of getting admitted. The importance of that single document can be seen in the number of sample law school personal statement essays you can find on the Internet, as tons of student look for guidance to come up with a well-crafted essay.
While the grades will show your academic skills and intellectual prowess, some admissions committees of law schools look for applicants’ ability to relate with, and contribute to, the academic community they belong to. The extracurricular activities you engaged in during college shows the areas or fields you’re interested in, thus giving the committee a glimpse of who and how you are as a student and as a member of the academic community.
School publication
Excellent communication skills is required AND valued in law school. This is why having held a position in your school’s publication can give you an edge over the other students applying for law school. Membership in your college or university’s publication also shows that you’re interested in discussing the views and opinions of other people, as well as interest in the pressing issues that your academic community faces.
Joining the staff of your school publication, or having your articles published therein, also shows that you can eloquently express your thoughts and principles in writing — an ability that will prove to be useful in law school and in your post-graduate legal career as well. You can check sample law school personal statement essays to see how contributing to your school’s publication can increase your chances of getting admitted into law school.
Non-profit and community organizations
Membership and participation in non-profit and community organizations dedicated to specific causes can also help increase your chances of getting into law school. Especially for those planning to specialize in environmental law, gender equality, human rights, and the like, your involvement in related organizations speak of commitment and passion. If you read through sample law school personal statement essays, you’ll also see how applicants dedicate a part of their essay to discussing their extracurricular activities and involvements.
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Law reviews are journals or papers edited and distributed by the students of a specific law school. Although mainly staffed by law school students, law reviews usually consist of articles and features authored by students, judges, law professors, and legal practitioners. As you will Students, however, are also free to publish their own articles in the form of notes or comments. Law reviews are an effective venue for students and those in the legal community to discuss issues related to law and the judiciary system.
What are the different types of law reviews?
Law reviews are differentiated by the content they include. As mentioned, most law reviews tackle topics related to policies, politics, and the judiciary system, but there are also law reviews that only tackle specific topics and issues as decided by the specific law school they belong to. Considered as specialty law journals, these specialized publications are popular because they provide more focus on issues and topics pertaining to specific branches of law.
Who can hold a position in law reviews and journals?
Holding membership to a law school publication such as reviews and journals scores major points when included in law graduates’ resumes. Many law firms prefer their employees and lawyers to have experience working in or writing for their specific law schools’ publications. This is why many students sign up for membership in law school publications, and aim to have their articles published therein. To screen applicants, most law reviews conduct writing competitions. And as with most organizations, the upper classmen students are the ones who usually hold the editorial positions, while the younger ones are usually given staff positions.
What is the importance of joining a law review?
Law journals and reviews are effective platforms for legal discourse in the academe. These are venues where information and opinions can be shared among students, legal practiitioners, and members of the academe. And the fact that students are given the chance to publish their own articles also means that law reviews can also serve as a venue for students’ opinions to be expressed.
Holding a position in your law school’s journal or review lends you an edge over other law graduates — something that you will greatly benefit from once you’re in the rat race to secure employment and pursue a professional career in law.
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Most law students go into law school with the aim of going into legal practice and pursuing a career in the judiciary. For most students, the acme of a legal career is securing the position of Supreme Court justice. This is why US Supreme Court justices are a source of inspiration and motivation for many law students. Below we discuss three famous US Supreme Court justices who have made an impact on the country’s judicial system and process:
Antonin Gregory Scalia
Antonin Gregory Scalia is known for his vigorous support for textualism in statutory interpretation. Scalia is considered as a core member of the Supreme Court’s conservative wing, and he is opposed to the idea of a living constitution. Furthermore, he believes that the Constitution should be regarded as a legal document that prescribes how court rulings should be made. His formalist approach is against the idea of viewing the Constitution as a living organism that should be interpreted in accordance to the changing times.
Scalia is a product of Harvard Law, and even held the position of Notes Editor of the Harvard Law Review. While pursuing a political career as a public servant, he also taught at Georgetown, Stanford, and the University of Chicago. He is the US Supreme Court’s second most senior Associate Justice, and has written a book called Making Your Case: The Art of Persuading Judges, which is endorsed by The Federalist Society.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
Chief Justice Holmes is known for having authored The Common Law, and for clearly setting the scope and limitations of the freedom of speech. Holmes got an undergraduate degree from Harvard before participating in the American Civil War. Holmes then returned to Harvard to study law after being wounded in battle.
President Roosevelt nominated Holmes for position of US Supreme Court Justice, which he assumed on December 8, 1902. Holmes also spent a year teaching at Harvard Law, before he became the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts. Holmes served as Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court from December 8, 1902 up to January 12, 1932.
Benjamin Cardozo
Chief Justice Benjamin Cardozo was nominated by President Hoover in 1932 after the death of Chief Justice Holmes. Cardozo got his law degree from Columbia School, after which he practiced law and eventually snagged one of the seats in the Supreme Court of New York in 1914. Cardozo has written valuable texts used in the study of law, including The Nature of the Judicial Process, The Paradoxes of Legal Science, and The Growth of the Law.
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If you read through sample law school personal statement essays, you’ll see that passion for a certain field or profession is among the top reasons why people go to graduate school. Just by reading sample law school personal statement essays, you’ll also see that many people also go to graduate school because of the promise of higher income once they have that MBA degree slapped onto their CVs and resumes. But what if you’re passionate about law and business administration and equally want to pursue them both? The solution is to pursue a joint degree, which in this case is caled JD-MBA degree.
What are JD-MBA programs and how does one apply?
As mentioned, JD-MBA is a joint degree in the fields of law and business. Those who successfully complete the program’s requirements and graduate are awarded with a Juris Doctor degree in law and a Master’s degree in Business Administration. The pursuit of a JD-MBA degree is ideal for those who are interested in practicing law within the context of business and the corporate world.
Graduate schools started offering JD-MBA programs because of the growing number of people who wish to pursue both fields after undergraduate school. Considered by many as two of the most lucrative fields and industries, the existence of a graduate program that combines law and business administration is advantageous not only to business and law schools, but also to students. Harvard, Stanford, and University of Memphis are just three of the schools that currently offer JD-MBA programs to their students.
Common requirements in applying for JD-MBA programs include scores to applicable tests, college transcript, recommendation letters, and a personal statement essay. For the latter requirement, you may have to structure it differently because you’re pursuing a joint degree and not just any Master’s degree. It’s advisable you browse through sample law school personal statement essays and look for those tailored towards joint degrees.
What are the benefits of studying law and business at the same time?
One obvious benefit of pursuing a JD-MBA degree is the time and money you’ll save. By enrolling under a JD-MBA program, you basically halve the time you’ll spend in graduate school if you pursue both fields separately. A JD-MBA degree is also beneficial in that it provides a kind of safety net for individuals should they fail to succeed in any one of the fields. If you feel that practicing law isn’t your forte, you can pursue a career in business and finance because of your MBA.
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The career and placement departments in many law schools have linkages and connections with various law firms to help their students find careers when they graduate. Especially for top law firms, the competition for internship and employment can get quite fierce. And though these law firms are the ones doing the chasing to get knowledgeable lawyers, they too are well aware that many are clamoring to secure employment with them. This is why many law firms stand firm in their standards and requirements for hiring lawyers.
Notable academic performance
Grades and academic achievements are among the prime criteria that law firms have for selecting and hiring applicants. Because grades deal with figures and numbers, these are the easiest ways to gauge an applicant’s abilities and intellectual prowess. Some law firms explicitly state that they will only entertain applicants who are in the top percentile of their class, while some state minimum required GPA figures that applicants must meet.
If you don’t belong to the top percentile of your class and your grades aren’t that impressive, don’t worry. The selection process of most law firms look beyond grades and figures and into the skills necessary for lawyers to succeed.
Communication and negotiation skills
Lawyers are notorious for their impeccable elocution and persuasive arguments. Needless to say, lawyers are expected to have excellent communication and negotiation skills because bulk of their work often revolve around litigation and negotiation. Written communication skills are also essential because lawyers are also often tasked with preparing memos, briefs, contracts, and other legal documents.
Strength of character and staying power
The dog-eat-dog world of law and legal procedures require someone who has strength of character to stay in the firm. While a sense of humanity and client sensitivity are admirable traits, lawyers have to constantly keep their personal emotions at bay to be able to deal with cases objectively and logically.
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