Sample Law Personal Statement.
Having reached the final year of the deeply intellectually and professionally enriching experience of my BA in Law and Politics, through which I have had the chance to fully get to grips with the philosophical and conceptual sides of law, my attentions are now turning towards furthering my legal-career ambitions. I entered university with a strong intellectual interest in the law; that interest has now evolved into an commitment to take the path towards full qualification as a lawyer, before going on to a career in legal practice.
Completing a dissertation on the hidden nature of white-collar crime has helped give me a sharper awareness of what really draws me to the legal profession: the desire to root out the criminal activities of those who are all-too-often in a position of ‘respectability’, influence or power that shields them from facing the consequences of flouting the law. I am particularly eager to follow a career path that will allow me to act on behalf of those who lack the resources to defend themselves against or to pursue wrongdoings committed by powerful people or organisations. The biographical root of this motivation is my father’s own legal experiences; a self-employed builder, he has often been frustrated in his attempts to obtain satisfactory legal representation. It is my hope that in becoming a lawyer I will be able to represent those who unfortunately feel alienated and powerless when faced with legal disputes.
In continuing my studies in law there are a number of specific areas that I am especially interested in pursuing further. My research into white-collar crime has given me a real enthusiasm for developing expertise in the criminal justice system’s handling of issues relating to corporate crime, an area in which there is increasing demand from companies and governments for legal experts. The other area of law that I am particularly drawn to is family–and specifically cohabitation–law.
My interest in Gow v Grant sprang initially from my summer 2012 work experience at a top law firm, where I worked in the field of family law and regularly attended family disputes at Hamilton Sheriff Court. I relished the challenge of digesting the Cohabitation Bill under the supervision of qualified lawyers, with this task providing me with an invaluable window into how legal professionals approach such challenges. Through being involved with various elements of different client cases I developed a better understanding of the central importance of confidentiality in this type of legal practice. I also gained a better sense of the important procedural elements of legal practice and their relationship with underlying legal principles. This placement built on the professional legal experience I gained through working with the legal advisor of a business consultancy; through this position I came to appreciate in particular the level of scrutiny that goes into appraising documents such as contractual agreements, based around attempting to foresee any potential legal issues that could arise from the agreement in question.
The range of my current legal interests means that at present I am flexible as to which branch of law I would ultimately like to practice. Two options that I would be delighted to explore further are either practicing family law or specialising in corporate crimes, perhaps through gaining work experience in this sector in the United States before going on to setting up a legal practice that specialises in advising small and medium businesses on compliance with business law. But regardless of whether I follow one of these paths or another one entirely, my key priority is gaining solid legal training through a graduate-entry degree.
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