Law school personal statement analysis by CEG Law School Admissions Specialist Amy Stein.
Dissecting a few law school personal statement examples is an excellent way to start off your law school essay writing process. You’ll better understand how to write a law school personal statement by reading some examples (like those below) that got their writers into their dream law schools.
To set you up to write a strong law school essay, we’ll provide brainstorming exercises and content outlines to help you show your best side in your personal statement while directly addressing what law schools are looking for, and questions you may have such as how long a law school personal statement should be and what kind of law school personal statement structure to use. Each of the law school personal statement examples below take slightly different approaches to their structure.
Let’s dive in.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
(click to skip ahead)- What are law schools looking for?
- Law School Personal Statement Example #1
- Law School Personal Statement Example #2
- Law School Personal Statement Example #3
- Law School Personal Statement Example #4
- How to Write A Law School Personal Statement
- Further tips to revising your law school personal statement
What are law schools looking for?
We’ll dive into detail in our How-to section below after we analyze some law school personal statement examples, but as you read, keep in mind that in your personal statement, there are a few key qualities to make sure to demonstrate with your story and writing:
Judgment
Clarity
Brevity
As you look through the personal statements below, notice the different ways each essay demonstrates those three qualities. Also, pay attention to how each author chose a topic/approach that allowed them to demonstrate
How their personal values/background/story/accomplishments connect to their desire to attend law school
How they’ll contribute to the diversity of a law school (note that “diversity” is used in the broad sense here—not just diversity of race, but of thought, experience, point of view, etc.)
How they’ve already developed some of the skills necessary to being a good lawyer
We’ll talk about these things more in the How-to section after the example personal statements.
Law School Personal Statement Example #1
Note: Below we’ll present a successful law school essay in full, and following that we’ll break the essay into sections, with in-depth analysis piece by piece so you can best understand how to craft your own essay.
Overview:
Many students do not apply directly to law school after graduating from college; admissions committees are familiar with seeing essays from so-called returning students. This essay from a student who worked for a number of years before applying to law school demonstrates effectively how her career in the medical field led her to want to become a lawyer.
Full example personal statement:
Ever since I was a little girl, I thought that I wanted to work in the medical field. To me, those who did were superheroes. As I grew older, I began to pursue my desire to be in the medical field so that I too could one day be a superhero. When I started my healthcare career a few years ago, I was eager and optimistic. Unbeknownst to me, the field would come to drastically change, and I would uncover disheartening truths about the healthcare industry that would make me question my ambitions.
In 2020, the world began to battle COVID-19, and healthcare hasn’t been the same since. By personally working on the front-line during the COVID-19 pandemic, it became quite apparent to me that the healthcare system is broken. This pandemic has shed light on just how inadequate the public health industry is. The unfortunate truth was revealed that healthcare is, at its core, a business. Providers in the private sector are often faced with the dilemma of wanting to treat a patient who truly needs their help but being limited by the rules and regulations of the corporation they work for. Even the widely utilized COVID-19 test requires insurance at most private companies. If a patient does not have medical insurance, they are forced to pay exorbitant amounts for this necessary, potentially life-saving test. Despite the fact that providers and staff are empathetic to the patient’s situation, unless the patient is able to pay the business, there is not much they can do to help.
Furthermore, burnout has reached new heights among healthcare professionals in the United States since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. With the high patient volume that many clinics are seeing, patients are often turned away at the door due to a lack of resources and staffing. The demand placed on medical personnel during this pandemic has surpassed the expectations placed on them in the past, causing an unfortunate decline in patient care. Medical providers are asking for help from a system that will not answer their call. The healthcare industry has not only failed its providers, but it has proven to be ineffective in its ability to give adequate care to patients with nowhere else to turn.
I believe that unless action is taken toward improving such an overwhelmed industry, the patients and medical providers are going to suffer. It is this new outlook on the healthcare industry that has motivated me to pursue a career in health law. I want to work to fix this fragmented, unjust system. I want to protect the patients’ and providers’ rights. Medical providers should not be forced by their employers to turn patients away because of their socioeconomic status. And, patients should not feel as though they have nowhere to turn when they are in desperate need of help. Studying health law will give me the tools necessary to construct public policy that can address the fundamental issues that are plaguing the healthcare industry today. It will allow me to defend policies that promote greater access to more affordable and higher quality healthcare. It will also give me the opportunity to protect providers from any legal liabilities they might be subjected to due to the regulations placed on them by their employers.
I know that I have what it takes to succeed in this pursuit of an education and eventual career in health law. My background in the study of biology and my direct work with patients and providers will bring a unique perspective to my future law school community, as well as the legal profession. By pursuing an education in health law, I intend to enter a profession that aligns with the interest and knowledge I have discovered and developed through real world experience.
By being involved in health law, I will be able to accomplish things in healthcare I had not even imagined when I began my journey in healthcare years ago. I believe it will give me an opportunity to ensure patients receive quality care at a level that is unencumbered by the rules and regulations of the business that is healthcare. A career in health law is the solution to ensuring that a patients’ inalienable healthcare rights are respected, and that the medical providers can administer the care they know to be medically necessary. I know that as a future proponent of health law, I can and will become the superhero I had once hoped to be.
Paragraph-by-paragraph analysis:
Paragraph One: Introduction
Ever since I was a little girl, I thought that I wanted to work in the medical field. To me, those who did were superheroes. As I grew older, I began to pursue my desire to be in the medical field so that I too could one day be a superhero. When I started my healthcare career a few years ago, I was eager and optimistic. Unbeknownst to me, the field would come to drastically change, and I would uncover disheartening truths about the healthcare industry that would make me question my ambitions.
ANALYSIS
This is a solid setup for the essay’s narrative—the writer lets the admissions committee know from the outset that she has had a significant career before applying to law school. The reader immediately knows about the author’s background and passion for healthcare. The last sentence detailing the writer’s disillusionment with healthcare foreshadows her desire to go to law school. The superhero analogy is one that resonates, especially in a post-COVID world in which those in the medical field were frequently referred to as superheroes.
Paragraph Two: Background/Preparation
In 2020, the world began to battle COVID-19, and healthcare hasn’t been the same since. By personally working on the front-line during the COVID-19 pandemic, it became quite apparent to me that the healthcare system is broken. This pandemic has shed light on just how inadequate the public health industry is. The unfortunate truth was revealed that healthcare is, at its core, a business. Providers in the private sector are often faced with the dilemma of wanting to treat a patient who truly needs their help but being limited by the rules and regulations of the corporation they work for. Even the widely utilized COVID-19 test requires insurance at most private companies. If a patient does not have medical insurance, they are forced to pay exorbitant amounts for this necessary, potentially life-saving test. Despite the fact that providers and staff are empathetic to the patient’s situation, unless the patient is able to pay the business, there is not much they can do to help.
ANALYSIS
While it has become relatively common in recent years for students to submit essays detailing how they have personally been impacted by COVID, the broad perspective that the author provides is something that an admissions committee would find impressive. First, she worked on the front lines during the pandemic, which inherently lends credibility to her statements. She nicely highlights the inherent dichotomy between the kindness and compassion of front-line workers and the business aspects of medicine, and how the former impacts the latter. This paragraph also provides further effective background information, so the reader is starting to understand why she wants to leave the medical field and pivot to law school.
Paragraph Three: Expanded Background + Values
Furthermore, burnout has reached new heights among healthcare professionals in the United States since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. With the high patient volume that many clinics are seeing, patients are often turned away at the door due to a lack of resources and staffing. The demand placed on medical personnel during this pandemic has surpassed the expectations placed on them in the past, causing an unfortunate decline in patient care. Medical providers are asking for help from a system that will not answer their call. The healthcare industry has not only failed its providers, but it has proven to be ineffective in its ability to give adequate care to patients with nowhere else to turn.
ANALYSIS
Here, again, the dichotomy between compassionate medical care and business concerns is highlighted. It acknowledges the almost insurmountable problems faced by providers—“Medical providers are asking for help from a system that will not answer their call.” This is not only good writing (a foundational legal skill), but it also continues the setup of why the author wants to go to law school.
Paragraph Four: Pivot/Bridge to Law
I believe that unless action is taken toward improving such an overwhelmed industry, the patients and medical providers are going to suffer. It is this new outlook on the healthcare industry that has motivated me to pursue a career in health law. I want to work to fix this fragmented, unjust system. I want to protect the patients’ and providers’ rights. Medical providers should not be forced by their employers to turn patients away because of their socioeconomic status. And, patients should not feel as though they have nowhere to turn when they are in desperate need of help. Studying health law will give me the tools necessary to construct public policy that can address the fundamental issues that are plaguing the healthcare industry today. It will allow me to defend policies that promote greater access to more affordable and higher quality healthcare. It will also give me the opportunity to protect providers from any legal liabilities they might be subjected to due to the regulations placed on them by their employers.
ANALYSIS
There’s a nice initial payoff and pivot here—as readers, we see the dots connecting her shift into health law, based on her experiences in the opening section. Her interest in improving conditions for both providers and patients reflects a good grasp of the field and understanding of broad policy issues. Being able to spot issues in this way demonstrates that she has the analytical skills that she will need to succeed in law school. Again, her passion for the subject comes through. She has painted a very clear picture of herself as a thinker and healthcare advocate; this leads one to believe that she can easily transfer these skills to a career as a legal advocate.
Paragraph Four: Further Pivot/Bridge to Law
I know that I have what it takes to succeed in this pursuit of an education and eventual career in health law. My background in the study of biology and my direct work with patients and providers will bring a unique perspective to my future law school community, as well as the legal profession. By pursuing an education in health law, I intend to enter a profession that aligns with the interest and knowledge I have discovered and developed through real world experience.
ANALYSIS
Effective as it is, much of this essay has discussed the policies that have made the student want to go to law school, rather than directly discussing her attributes. This is actually the most personal paragraph in the essay, and yet the reader feels that they have learned much about who the student is in the preceding paragraphs.
Paragraph Six: Conclusion
By being involved in health law, I will be able to accomplish things in healthcare I had not even imagined when I began my journey in healthcare years ago. I believe it will give me an opportunity to ensure patients receive quality care at a level that is unencumbered by the rules and regulations of the business that is healthcare. A career in health law is the solution to ensuring that a patients’ inalienable healthcare rights are respected, and that the medical providers can administer the care they know to be medically necessary. I know that as a future proponent of health law, I can and will become the superhero I had once hoped to be.
ANALYSIS
This student wants to use her prior career to help her in her future career as a lawyer—the essay provides a clear roadmap of where she has been and where she wants to go. Her reasons for wanting to go to law school will make compelling sense to the admissions committee. She touches on her background in biology and her interest in helping both patients and providers. She ties the essay together nicely by referring back to the superhero analogy from the opening (a technique often referred to as “bookending”), and one is left with the impression that she will easily transition from being a medical superhero to a legal one.
Law School Personal Statement Example #2
Overview:
Unlike other graduate schools which ask you to prepare a statement of purpose that focuses on your past academic experiences and what your areas of intellectual interest will be if you are accepted to the program, the law school statement of purpose is much more focused on you as an individual—what aspect of your character or past experiences will help you become a successful law student and ultimately a successful lawyer?
The essay does not have to be overly complicated—a simple, clear piece of writing that gives a sense of who you are, what your values are, and why you want to be a lawyer is an effective path to take. On a technical level, a grammatically correct, well-edited piece is critical since writing is an essential skill for potential lawyers. Substantively, the piece should tell a story about who you are and what matters to you—what are you passionate about?
The essay below is a nice example of this approach.
Law school essay example:
Filotimo. This little eight-letter, four-syllable word eludes explanation. I can’t quite put my finger on an exact definition, and neither can Google Translate or any Greek-American dictionary or translator. Nevertheless, I will do my best to define it: filotimo is a Greek word that embodies the foundational Greek principles of honor, duty, dignity, hospitality, and warmth.
Living through the values of filotimo means being selfless and helping others, not in expectation of reward but in the fulfillment of a sense of duty and virtue. Prior to even knowing such a word existed, these were the values I grew up with in the Greek-American community and the pillars with which I have unconsciously structured my life.
The root of my passion for filotimo comes from my parents: two natives of a small island in the Cycladic cluster of the Aegean Sea, Andros. Every summer, we vacation to Greece to relax and reunite with family on our breaks off from school. Andros is my home away from home. But in the endless summers I spent soaking in the sun and strolling through the towns, I often blissfully got swept up in the winds of oblivion, ignorant to the urgent state of affairs in my little hometown, as I was clouded by my youthful naïvité. The island was in a financial slump, not only because of the notorious country-wide recession, but also because of the island’s ongoing struggle to allure a tourist crowd and make enough during the summer months to support the locals for the entire year. With every passing summer, I slowly became more aware of the unstocked shops that no longer sold my favorite Greek chocolates, and I noticed the pharmacy disappear on one corner of the agora while the butcher shop disappeared on the next. The community and the people I grew up with who gave life to the island were packing their bags and boarding up their buildings to find jobs elsewhere. What once was my hometown’s steady breath was now a vanishing gasp for air.
While others gave up, my parents took this crisis as a call to action. As board members of the Andros Society of USA, a Greek-American organization devoted to forging a community of Andriotes across the United States, they kick-started fundraising efforts and charity galas to raise money and help the locals in their time of need. Through their selflessness and passion for filotimo, they inspired me to be a part of the effort towards reconstructing the island and giving back to a cause that hit close to home. I have sold numerous raffles and ads for our society’s journal, consistently promoted and raised awareness on social media platforms, and, above all else, invested countless hours towards creating a better future for my home away from home. At our last gala alone, I was a major player in the effort that raised over $30,000 to fund medical supplies for the island’s only hospital.
I have devoted myself to doing everything I can to help others, both abroad, through the Andros Society’s major philanthropic efforts and locally, through my church community, to give back to soup kitchens and natural disaster relief programs. Essentially, choosing a career in law satisfies not only my passion for academia but my drive for helping others and putting the values that I was raised with into practice. Whether it’s being the person who will stand up for a small Greek community in the middle of the Aegean or the person who will stand before a court in the state of New York to defend a client or a company, filotimo is what I put into practice in everything I do. For these reasons, I am confident that my dedication to contribute towards a greater good and my passion for living by the values of filtotimo will be invaluable in my future as an attorney.
ANALYSIS
Choosing to organize the essay around a Greek word that embodies ideas and principles that are important to the author is significant on multiple levels—she lets the reader know from the outset how important her identity as a Greek-American is to her; she also highlights the personal qualities that are important to her and that she believes she embodies. This is a little different than some of the other essays we see where the reader sets up a roadmap of why they want to go to law school. This author’s approach is refreshing and makes the reader want to continue reading to find out where her filotimo journey will take us.
She continues the journey by describing how her parents are immigrants, making her a first generation American, which is of interest to admissions committees. There is a nice contrast between her idyllic summers in Andros and her growing understanding of the economic hardship the country was facing.
As is typical in most law school statements of purpose, the first couple of paragraphs are used to set up the core idea in the essay. The next two paragraphs nicely detail what she did to help others—following the example set by her parents. Although these activities are not directly related to law, they do demonstrate a desire to help others and her ability to organize and mobilize others, both of which are skills of an effective lawyer.
This essay helped the author successfully apply to law school, but there are some ways the essay could be made even stronger: While this essay gives an excellent picture of who the applicant is as a person, it could more clearly draw the parallel between the experiences described and her reasons for wanting to attend law school. For example, she mentions her passion for academia in the last paragraph but that is not tied to anything else in the essay. While she does say she will stand up for people in court the way she stands up for her town, she could have drawn a clearer parallel between her passion for helping those in her community and whom she wishes to help as a lawyer. This would further help the admissions committee to see where her interests as a lawyer lie.
Law School Personal Statement Example #3
Overview:
This essay was also written by a student with significant work experience prior to applying to law school. As in the other essay by a returning student (Example 1, above), it does an excellent job of explaining what the prior career entailed and how the experiences she gained in that career are what encouraged her desire to be a lawyer working in the field of family law. This is a powerful story that is well told and would clearly grab the attention of the admissions committee.
Below, we’ll offer paragraph-by-paragraph analysis again.
Paragraph One: Intro via narrative experience
In January 2021, I spent nearly six hours sitting in Bliss County Family Court with one of my clients, a single mother of a toddler, while her abusive, estranged husband sat across the room. It was the day of their custody hearing, and my client had been agonizing for weeks about whether she would be granted sole custody of her daughter. I reassured her and reminded her that she was her child’s only caregiver and provider — and with good reason, on account of her husband’s alcoholism and physical and emotional abuse.
ANALYSIS
Lawyers are storytellers—whether you are trying to convince a judge or a jury that your client should win, or trying to negotiate with an adversary to get the best deal for your client, it is often the attorney with the most convincing story who wins. Admissions officers know this, so if you can demonstrate strong storytelling skills in your essay, that will make a strong impression because the reader will believe that you will be able to transfer those skills to your law student experience. This six-line paragraph does such an excellent job of laying out the client’s difficult situation without being melodramatic. It also clearly shows the student’s role in assisting and reassuring her. It is a very effective start to the story.
Paragraph Two: Narrative continued
When my client asked me to accompany her to the courthouse, I told her I would only be able to wait with her, because as a non-lawyer I did not have any authority to speak on her behalf. She understood, and I realized she wanted me there as a moral support. She was afraid her husband would try to manipulate her into some informal custody arrangement, and she thought that as long as I was there, he would not approach her, and she would not be tempted to acquiesce to his hypothetical demands. She was right, and the outcome of the hearing was in her favor. I was happy for my client and relieved that her daughter would remain in the right hands. And although I was glad that I could be of help to my client, I felt frustrated that I could not advocate further for her that day.
ANALYSIS
This paragraph does a really nice job of developing the narrative, especially by illuminating the author’s feelings and core values driving her decision to attend law school. Again, she clearly and effectively conveys her client’s concerns and the reasons why she wanted her there. More significantly, the student also conveys her frustration at the limitations of what she could do to help the client. This is the next step in laying the foundation for why she wants to go to law school.
Paragraph Three: Expanded Background + Values
On paper, my role as a case planner for a child welfare agency is about checking boxes: assessing the condition of the child’s home; checking for suspicious marks or bruises; requesting medical and educational records; and making referrals for community-based services. In reality, the job is all that plus more: waiting with parents in courthouses, welfare offices, and schools; grocery shopping with a family struggling to make ends meet; reading mail to an illiterate mother; hugging a crying toddler; discussing the importance of safe sex with a rebellious teenager; listening to the many trials and tribulations of primarily low-income people of color dealing with generational trauma; trying to support and advocate for them in any way I can; and feeling defeated when I can only do so much for them within the confines of my position.
ANALYSIS
This paragraph continues what she had done in the prior one but through a broader lens—laying out what she can do for her clients overall and again the limitation of the position because she is not a lawyer. This development from the specific to the general continues to tell her story in a very effective way.
Paragraph Four: Pivot/Bridge to Law
I value being a point of contact for the families I have served over the past two and a half years. I believe it is meaningful work to direct a person asking for help to a resource or organization that can better support them. But I dream of a future where, when a 12-year-old tells me she wants her aunt to adopt her, I can help them on that journey. Or when a mother asks me for advice on how to respond to her abusive ex’s petition for visitation with their children, I can formulate a plan with her and advocate for her in front of a judge. Or when an undocumented parent asks me for legal assistance, I can confidently provide it to them rather than give them information for Legal Aid and hope for the best. These exchanges are real, and they reaffirm my intent to practice family law every day.
ANALYSIS
This paragraph does a really nice job of recognizing and honoring her work with families; it says much about her character that she so clearly values the opportunity that she was given, which is an important characteristic for a lawyer. She also clearly demonstrates how this social work position was the first step in a journey. The examples she gives shows the admissions committee that she has thought through very carefully the reasons why she wants to become a lawyer and what she plans to do with her legal education. This kind of reflective approach will make this essay stand out.
Paragraph Five: Conclusion
My desire to pursue family law did not begin with my work in child welfare. It first occurred to me when I was a freshman journalism student with a vague interest in law, and it was a future I could envision for myself. On the cusp of graduating, I found an opportunity to work in child welfare through the nonprofit Fostering Change for Children. I spent July 2018 with my cohort in an intensive child welfare training at Columbia University’s School of Social Work and subsequently started my role as a case planner. This work is challenging, at times grueling, and emotional; yet above all else, it is restorative and fulfilling. Nowadays, I view family law as a vehicle to be a stronger and more effective advocate for resilient children and the parents and caregivers who work within their capacities every day to keep those children safe and healthy. I believe that an education at XXX Law and an opportunity to participate in the school’s Child Welfare Clinic would build on the strengths I have developed in my current role and provide a pathway to become the advocate I strive to be.
ANALYSIS
Remember, an important part of the essay is to let the Committee know more about you. This paragraph shares more of her history and interest in the family law field. It specifically references the Child Welfare Clinic at the school to which she is applying. Referencing specific courses or clinics or academic centers that the school offers shows the reader you have done your homework and figured out why their school is a good fit for you, rather than just submitting a generic essay.
Law School Personal Statement Example #4
When I first moved to the Deep South, I was applying for a visual anthropology MA program. Armed with a DSLR and VideoMic Pro, I documented the local Black Lives Matter movement in North Carolina. But social justice work quickly drew me in, and within a few weeks, I turned from an observer into a participant. Within four months, I found myself standing arm-in-arm in a crowd of activists, surrounded by riot gear police and the National Guard, demanding change during the Charlotte Uprising following the shooting of Keith Scott. I remember marching past the towering Mecklenburg County Jail to see the long rows of rectangular cell windows. Dozens of cell lights began to flicker. The inmates seemed to be saying that they knew we were out there fighting for their rights. After that moment, I decided to dedicate my life to concrete, practical approaches to criminal justice reform through law and advocacy, insteading of pursuing visual anthropology.
As a documentarian and organizer in Asheville, I worked deeply within anarchist circles to execute and document acts of civil disobedience, like police station sit-ins, demonstrations outside city officials’ homes, and road blockades. I not only learned that water-based sunscreen is preferable to oil-based sunscreen (it’s easier to clean out of your eyes if you get pepper sprayed), I also learned that having radical politics can alienate a lot of people, including those you’re trying to help.
For example, it was difficult for our “affinity group” (the building block of anarchist organizations) to collaborate with moderate black organizations in order to make improvements to the police department because many anarchist organizers I worked with wouldn't compromise their radical beliefs. This was incredibly frustrating for me. I remember one morning calling my dad, who runs a nonprofit, and mentioning the difficulty I faced. With a laugh, he told me he's spent the last 30 years of his career compromising.
Footnote: I grew up volunteering for my father and stepmother’s nonprofit, which serves primarily youth of color in South Florida. I first witnessed the impacts of mass incarceration on family members by working directly with these kids (many with incarcerated parents): from teaching them acting, to accompanying them when they visited their imprisoned parents, to interviewing them about their personal stories. During this phone call with my dad I realized that he and my step-mom have to compromise often in order to effectively help people. This was a turning point for me.
My affinity group couldn’t surmount challenges we faced because we refused to work within the city’s legal framework for ideological reasons. But navigating the legal system is often necessary to help those impacted by the justice system or to work to reform it. This is why I want to attend law school. As a future public defender or lawyer working on reformative policy, the lesson in compromise I learned organizing will better equip me to work with judges and prosecutors in the courtroom or to write effective policy that reconciles the goals of seemingly disparate interest groups.
Columbia Law School is the perfect place to prepare me for this challenge. Columbia’s unique social justice curriculum (classes like “Lawyering for Change,” the “Racial Justice Litigation Workshop,” and the “Law and Organizing for Social Change Externship”) will pair well with my statistical research and programming background when creating innovative, data-backed policy solutions to criminal justice problems. In fact, scholarship by Columbia’s Philip Genty into the collateral damage of the criminal justice system on families very closely relates to the kind of independent research I hope to engage in and publish in the Columbia Journal of Race and Law. Building upon my volunteer work with the Children of Inmates program in South Florida, where I interacted with children of men facing life sentences, and my work canvassing for voter rights restoration for those with felony convictions, I am eager to participate in the “Challenging the Consequences of Mass Incarceration Clinic” where I can develop my skills in and understanding of litigation-based solutions to federal prisoner confinement and innocence claims. Because, to family members of inmates, those also impacted by the criminal justice system, criminals are much more than just flickering lights.
Word Count: 696
Tips + Analysis
Connect where you’ve been to where you’re going. Ideally, your personal statement helps readers
A) to understand some core aspects of who you are and
B) to see how part of your personal story and experiences have set you up for the next step in your path: law school. Specifically, how certain aspects of your experiences and subsequent world view connect with the type of law you hope to pursue.
Doing this allows a reader both to feel more connected to you personally and to understand your deeper motivations—things they can’t get from your transcripts or test scores. Notice how, in the essay above, the author’s experiences in the body paragraphs directly set up the legal focus at the end of the essay, and why the author and Columbia belong together. Speaking of which…
Show why you + [X law school] belong together. It’s a great idea* to show that A) you’ve done your homework on the program and B) that you and that particular law school fit together perfectly in values and focus. Spend time researching the school, its professors, its classes, and its mission, and demonstrate why those things fit with your goals and focus. This paragraph should change for every school you are applying to. (*Unless you’re applying to a school with a separate essay prompt directly asking why you are applying to that particular program, in which case, avoid repetition).
How to Write A Law School Personal Statement
From the examples above, you’ve probably noticed that there’s no single way to structure and write a law school personal statement, but that they do share certain key characteristics. Writing a personal statement for law school is fairly similar to writing a personal statement for an undergraduate application, with two big distinctions:
Stylistically, you want your law school personal statement to be more direct and less poetic. UC Berkeley Law has a few savage paragraphs of advice ominously addressed “from a past admissions committee member” that nicely summarize the stylistic approach one should take in a law school personal statement (and what not to do).
Your concluding paragraph for your law school personal statement should be like a tiny “Why This School" statement, IF the school doesn’t have a separate “Why This School” essay. There are three reasons why this is important.
First, it allows you to end your personal narrative by directly connecting to the school. It’s like answering the “So what?” of your story and bringing it full circle.
Second, it helps you demonstrate interest in the school.
And third, it shows that you are prepared and have done your research.
Writing a law school personal statement can seem more difficult than it needs to: The goal of the essay may not feel super clear, or maybe you’re unsure if you’re striking the right balance between getting personal and telling the reader why you’re awesome. The guide below will help.
Three-Step Law School Personal Statement Writing Process
Writing your law school personal essay generally follows three main steps: topic selection, structure, and revision.
So below, we’ll explore:
Finding your topic.
Structuring your content.
Revising the details.
Step One: How To Find A Great Topic for Your Law School Personal Statement
The best topics for a law school personal statement allow you to address four different areas:
Your personal background and outstanding accomplishments that have driven your desire to attend law school
How you’d contribute to the diversity of a law school (note that “diversity” is used in the broad sense here—not just diversity of race, but of thought, experience, point of view, etc.)
Experiences you’ve had and obstacles you’ve overcome
Why the school is particularly suited for your career goals (but again, if the school asks for a separate essay on why you want to attend that law school, don’t repeat yourself)
Important note: If you have a unique background or are from an underrepresented population, and your experiences feel central to your personal story, we’d generally recommend saving that content for your diversity statement if the law school requires one, and focusing on another central story in your personal statement, unless you can write about it in a way that doesn’t sound repetitive.
Another important note: You don’t need to think about why that school is particularly suited for your career goals (factor #4) when picking a personal statement topic. You can write that section afterward, by researching the school and connecting details of what the school offers to your narrative/experiences/interests/passions.
Here is an example outline of a law school personal statement (example 4, above) with a topic that hits these four goals. Notice that each of these sentences can be expanded to become a paragraph of the essay:
While applying for Visual Anthropology MA programs, I documented Black Lives Matter groups and protests.
But I was pulled into social justice work and I found myself working as a community organizer for a racial justice campaign in an anarchist community in Asheville, North Carolina [#2 diverse and unique].
But we had a hard time making a difference because many folks in our affinity group were alienating the people of color we were trying to serve because of their radical politics [#3 obstacles].
I was only able to see the solution to this obstacle by drawing on my previous experience working in nonprofits [#1 measurable impact].
Through this, I learned the importance of compromise when trying to affect change [#3 overcoming obstacles], and so I want to go to your law school and study Critical Race Theory and criminal justice policy reform [#4 Why Us section] so that I can better affect change by working within the system.
Step Two: How to Structure Your Law School Personal Statement
Below, we’ll discuss two structural approaches for your law school personal statement: narrative structure, and montage structure.
Which will work best for you depends on your answer to this question:
Do you feel you have faced significant challenges and obstacles in your life, and/or is your application to law school driven by specific, chronological experiences?
If “yes”, try narrative.
If “no”, try montage.
Narrative structure for a law school personal statement
Here’s a commonly used narrative structure (used in screenwriting) that you can easily adapt for your law school personal statement. You’ll find it used in the law school personal statements above. Basic narrative structure is as follows:
Status Quo: How life was before some important catalyzing event.
Inciting Incident/Status Quo Change: Something happened that changed everything.
Raise the stakes: Other things happened that made things worse or more intense!
Moment of Truth: A key event or decision that led to a resolution of the primary conflict.
Outcome/New Status Quo: Ways that life is (and you are) clearly different from the beginning.
Now look back to that example outline in the previous section. Notice how each of those five sentences hit each of these plot points, like a micro-story. Each can be expanded to build out an essay that will maintain a clear, logical flow.
Some helpful tips:
Focus on your actions in response, not the challenges/obstacles. Your reader cares about the obstacles. Kind of. But what they really care about are the actions you took in response, the things that show your values, growth, and insight.
Here’s another, even simpler way to think of narrative structure:
Something happened in my life
I did something about it
I learned something from the experience/s.
To think of this in concrete terms, each of these three steps should each comprise about 1/3rd of the essay (depending on if a school has a separate section for “Why That School”, or if you need to include it in your personal statement). Many people make the mistake of only focusing on the first 1/3rd. But law schools are most interested in hearing about the second and third parts—what did you do, who have you become, and how does this drive your desire to become a lawyer?
Haven’t Experienced Any Big Challenges In Your Life? Try montage structure
If you haven’t experienced many big challenges in life, or you don’t feel that there are clear chronological experiences that drive your interests in law, there is a different structure for the law school personal statement we call montage structure that doesn’t rely on a central conflict to tell your story. It involves writing about different parts of your life in a way that uses your career goals as a focusing lens or thematic thread, tying those seemingly disparate experiences together.
To build a montage outline, pull out a piece of paper and draw three columns on it.
Step One: In the first column, write down your career focal point (for example, corporate contract law).
Step Two: In the second column, write down the top three or four values and/or skills that you think will be important for the type of law that you’d like to go into (for example, the ability to read logically complicated texts).
Step Three: In the third column, write down as many experiences you’ve had as you can that illustrate each of those values or skills (for example, taking tons of classes in philosophy, writing a mathematics thesis, or being a programmer).
Structuring this type of essay involves thinking about your essay backwards: you first get clear on your career focal point (which you’ll put toward the end of the essay), then figure out the skills and values that fit that career, then you brainstorm experiences in your life in which you’ve already exhibited those skills and values.
In your essay, you will connect these three things (your experiences, the values/skills/insights they illustrate, and how they set you up for your chosen career path) by talking about your experiences, then the values and skills you gained from them, then your career focal point where these skills will be useful. The reason you want to write it in this order is so that you surprise the reader more as you continue to answer “so what?” to the information you are giving the reader. The paragraphs can function like this:
Paragraph 1:
I had experience A.
Specific details of experience A that illustrate/taught me lessons and values.
So what? (As in, insight you gained, ideally ones that surprise the reader a bit.)
Paragraph 2:
I had experience B.
Details of experience B that illustrate/taught me lessons and values.
So what? (As in, insight you gained, ideally ones that surprise the reader a bit.)
Probably 1-3 more paragraphs like that (depending on your word count limits).
Then, a clear transition, that says roughly:
“These lessons/values/skills/insights above will be important in my law studies.”
Then your final conclusion paragraph:
Essentially “This is why your law school will be perfect for preparing me for my practice in this type of law.”
A note on the power of “so what?”
The idea of answering “so what?” is both to show your reader that you can reflect deeply on your life experience and to connect this life experience to your future law study.
Here are two variations on how to structure a montage approach to a law school personal statement:
Pick one skill or lesson and then illustrate 3-5 ways that you gained or learned it.
Pick 3-5 values/skills/lessons and then illustrate how you gained or learned each.
A few tips:
Make your connections unusual and your values specific. There are lots of other people who are going to be describing how their student government experience developed their value for “leadership” or how that nonprofit internship instilled in them the value of “wanting to help people.” These values are also a little bit vague, so you’d want to refine them. But showing the reader how you learned to “compromise on policy while maintaining your values” while managing a political campaign or “learning when it’s actually healthier to quit” when training for a marathon are slightly unusual connections that can not only help you stand out but will show some depth to your personality. #dontbebasic
Don’t rehash your resume. If you’re going to offer details from an experience that you listed in your resume, then make sure that they are not already listed in that resume. We’d even go one step further and argue that, if the resume already communicates, implicitly or explicitly, that you have that skill or value, then don’t use that as a paragraph in your personal statement. For example, if you won a debate competition and listed it on your resume, don’t talk in your personal statement about how it strengthened your public speaking skills—that’s already really obvious. However, if you talked about how your debate experience taught you the importance of trust, that has potential to be an interesting and unusual connection.
Law School Personal Statement Example Structures
Here is a simple outline structure for a law school personal statement example:
Paragraph 1: The experience I had -> The lesson I learned or skill I gained. -> How this connects to what I want to study.
Paragraph 2: The experience I had -> The lesson I learned or skill I gained. -> How this connects to what I want to study.
Paragraph 3: The experience I had -> The lesson I learned or skill I gained. -> How this connects to what I want to study.
Paragraph 4 ("Why This School" section): Here are the things at your school that will help me study this.
Alternatively, you could wait to connect your lessons to what you want to study for the end. This creates a kind of “surprise!” effect, where all of your experiences and values suddenly explode with deeper meaning once you reveal the type of law you want to study:
Paragraph 1: The experience I had -> The lesson I learned or skill I gained.
Paragraph 2: The experience I had -> The lesson I learned or skill I gained.
Paragraph 3: The experience I had -> The lesson I learned or skill I gained.
Paragraph 4: How these three lessons/skills connect to what I want to study.
Paragraph 5 ("Why This School" section): Here are the things at your school that will help me study this.
Here is more detailed information on how to use montage structure, as well as an example essay. (Although it uses an undergraduate applicant’s essay, the structural principles are the same.)
Regardless of which structure you choose, the conclusion paragraph (the "Why This School" section) will be the same, with minor differences to fit what comes before it in the body.
Step 3: How to Revise Your Law School Personal StatemenT
For revision, work big to small:
Is this the right overall topic/approach? (Unless you have very little time before deadlines, don’t be afraid of exploring new topics/jettisoning ideas)
Is this the right structural approach?
Are these the right/strongest examples?
Are the details effective?
Last stage: grammar/mechanics/word count.
This big-to-small approach is the best way to ensure you don’t waste time tweaking language in sentences that you end up chopping completely anyway.
Further tips to revising your law school personal statement
Try connecting the beginning of the essay to the end of the essay in a thematic or symbolic way. This is a literary technique called “bookending” (used in some of the examples agave) that provides a sense of closure to the reader.
An example from the personal statements above: Example essay 4 begins with a story about being at a protest and watching the lights of the local prison flicker in response to the crowd’s chanting. The middle of the essay talks about a challenge faced, a lesson the writer learned, and then why a particular law school is suited for the writer’s goals. And then the writer ends the essay by saying that the whole reason the writer wants to go to law school is to help those prisoners flickering their lights on the night of that protest. This technique brings the whole essay full circle.
Pro tip: You can experiment with bookends after you’ve already written the essay. We’ve worked with applicants who waited until the very end of the writing process to create a bookend.
Read the essay out loud to someone. This is the best way to check for sentence flow and structure.
The best people to ask for feedback on your law school personal statement:
A law school admissions consultant. Because they will have the full wraparound expertise.
Someone who has gone to law school. Because they will have a better idea of what a law school is looking for.
Someone with writing experience. Because they will be able to help you refine your content/structure/phrasing.
Someone who knows you well. Because they may be able to pinpoint details you are missing and should include.
If you’d like to contact us about support on your law school applications, you can contact us here.
Take care, and best of luck.
