PS Tip 87: Law personal statement

Law personal statements are an interesting case, because unlike many other courses, writing is a vital skill for success in the industry. With that in mind, the way you plan, structure and write your personal statement is extremely important – more so than almost any other course.

The processes and tips you’ve read so far are just as relevant to law statements as they are to any other, and if it’s your intention to study law at university you should pay very close attention to them – particularly those tips relating to the writing and editing processes, as that’s where your statement will really start to come together.

Another thing to consider is that your own personal research on the subject will be highly valued… and everybody knows that. With that in mind, feel free to quote books and texts that you’ve read, but try not to use the same quotations as everyone else. If you’ve read any unconventional texts, particularly if they relate to legal systems elsewhere in the world, you could draw some very interesting parallels or note marked differences between that system and our own. For instance, the differences between adversarial and inquisitorial systems make for some very interesting observations, as do the intricacies surrounding the so-called ‘presumption of innocence’.

You have your own areas of interest, and it is a personal statement after all, so make it personal – to you.

Beyond this, universities always like applicants who have done their best to find out what working in the industry is like. Work experience at law firms is renowned for being an experience in making lots of tea and coffee, but notwithstanding this, it is still an opportunity to learn, so try to get the most out of it. Corner your experienced colleagues and ask them as many questions as you can – gaining real insights into the industry will give you lots of ammunition for your personal statement as well as preparing you well for your desired course.

One final point on law statements is that it’s quite a specialist area, and while I can (and do) write them, I’m not a qualified lawyer. If you want the very best law personal statement, you are probably better off with a top specialist legal writer.

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