Editing your Law School Admissions Personal Statement

Law schools put enormous emphasis on the law school essay when deciding which applicants will be accepted and which will be rejected. This makes it very important that you take care as you complete your law school personal statement.  It must be a compelling essay that will help you stand out in the crowd of other applicants. Lawyers write professionally and are orators. You must demonstrate excellent writing skills and command of language. This is why the editing step in this process must not be shortened or over-looked.

Effective communication skills are essential for every legal professional. You want your statement to very clearly communicate what you have determined you want the admissions staff to know about you with clear sentence structure and accurate spelling. Submitting poor grammar and spelling and sloppy structure is like going to an interview with dirty fingernails and unwashed hair…It will not present you in a good light.

Now you have completed your rough draft. An essay that presents your ideas accurately and articulately will require several drafts, with time to think between versions, so now you should set it aside the first draft for a few days, then read it again several times and at least one reading should be out loud. Ask yourself if your statement presents you as a person who is resourceful, intelligent and resilient. Does it communicate what you desired it to?

Checklist for editing your law school personal statement:

• The essay should have an introduction, paragraphs with topic sentences, and a conclusion.
• The introduction must be strong and grab the attention of your audience. Admissions committees have read hundreds of personal statements and they can spot a good one in seconds. Your introduction is the first impression the admissions committee will have of you, and it is often the last part of the essay that you write. Perhaps it is a question that will be answered within your statement. The introduction should tell the reader what they will learn about you.
• Does the narrative progress logically and does all of the content support your theme? Every sentence and each paragraph should flow smoothly throughout your essay, providing evidence that supports a your statement’s theme. Make sure that every sentence is clear…leave nothing for the reader to guess. Your words and structure should show strength and purpose.
• The final essay is normally about two pages long. Make sure that the length meets the requirements. Most well-written statements should be no longer than two or three pages – double spaced. Your margins should not be less than 1″. Use 12-point font, or if you simply must you may use 11-point in the Times font.
• Does the statement use clear and concise language? One primary function of the statement is show that you are a good communicator.
  • Think of your personal statement as an interview, so be sure that you are “talking” to the reader.
  • The tone should be expressive, enthusiastic, expressive and optimistic. The tone should convey the seriousness of the topic and writer.
  • Do not use clichés, slang, or contractions.  Do not use too many big words or “legalese.”
  • Your statement will be stronger if you use fewer adjectives and adverbs.
  • Use active verbs…for example: “The child threw the ball.” not “The ball was thrown by the child.”
•  Avoid using passive voice which could lead to loss of clarity and impact. Sentences written in active voice are more powerful. (Passive voice occurs when the subject receives the action of the verb and is acted on by someone or something. An example of passive voice is: “The candy was eaten by Joey.” Active voice  is when the subject performs the action of the verb, such as, “Joey ate the candy.”)
• Does the conclusion summarize the points you want to convey? Does it re-affirm your intentions?
  A strong conclusion will refer back to the introductory paragraph and will restate our main thesis in a different way. Your conclusion should pull the different parts of your essay together, rephrase your main ideas and interpret the importance of your topics.
• Proofread! Carefully check grammar, spelling and syntax. Please do not rely on “spell check”
  Pay attention to grammar and detail. For example, a comma splice is a common error, where the comma before an “and” is omitted when joining two sentences.

Show your edited draft to a friend or two but limit the number of drafts that you show to them. Ask them if it sounds engaging and sincere. Try to be objective when hearing their comments and listen carefully to their reactions. You want to determine if your essay communicates to the reader what you desire it to convey.

Show the edited draft to an adviser. Ask your adviser for recommendations on content and style and hear what their impressions are of your work.  You will ask this same adviser to review a completed final draft.

After you have had the personal statement reviewed, you will then consider your revisions. The goal is to improve the strength of your work and to clearly express the thoughts that you want the law school admissions staff to remember. Your law school admissions personal statement is now nearly complete and ready to submit. Have your adviser review the completed essay.

A final consideration…  You might want to tailor your personal statement to each law school to which you are applying and make specific references to that particular school or specialty of that school. This will demonstrate your knowledge and commitment to that specific law school. However, please be careful! A common mistake is to send a statement to one school that was intended for another school. Harvard Law School does not want to read about your enthusiasm for Yale Law School!

Tags: Law School Admissions, law school personal statement, personal statement