PS : Can I write about more than 1 area of law I am interested in?

Chrissy Jimenez

Hi everyone,

I am in the midst of writing my personal statement and I discuss two experiences that lead me to two different types of law, family and real estate. I am interested in these two types but should I choose to write only about one in my PS? Will it make me look indecisive if I have not fully decided which area I want to choose?

Any help would be appreciated. Thank you!

AudaciousRed

You don't have to decide which area of law you want to go into just yet. Some PSes don't even talk about law, although I think tying your desire for law school in is a great idea. It sounds like you have some really good reasons to study those areas of law, and it certainly wouldn't hurt to share that story if it works well in a PS!
Best of luck to you!

Chrissy Jimenez

@AudaciousRed thank you so much, you are great. best of luck to you as well!

bananabo

I think it all depends.

If you’re not 100% sure that you want to go into both family and real estate law yet, you can still write about both experiences but maybe instead of saying “..this is why I want to go into family law and real estate law…”, you can keep it more generalized and say, “..from these experiences, this is why I want to be a lawyer...”

However, if you are 100% sure you want to go into those areas, I think it would be very beneficial for you to explicitly say you want to go into family and real estate law, especially if you are applying to schools that specialize and have programs in those types of law.

If you’re leaning more towards one type vs. the other, I would write about only one of the two experiences so that you can really express you’re true interests in that specific type of law.

I can see how writing about both experiences can come off as making you “look indecisive”, but I think ultimately it all comes down to how you approach it. Be genuine and write about what is passionate to you. Obviously, I don’t know the specifics, but I really hope this helps!

Good luck!! (:

Chrissy Jimenez

@bananabo really helpful advice, thank you so much! I was thinking of just writing about 1 type of law but honestly, I am not sure I will end up practicing either family or real estate. The core of my essay is about divorce and resilience so I figured it made sense to talk about why I would like to go into family law but I am also a real estate agent so I would also consider real estate law. However, I like what you said about generalizing but does it make sense to write about 2 specific fields of law then generalizing? Thank you!

bananabo

I may be interpreting wrong, but when you say you want to write about family law, I’m getting the impression that you’re going to write about your knowledge in that area of law via your experience with divorce (or that you’re going to write about your knowledge in real estate law via your background in being a real estate agent). And to me, that wouldn’t make sense to write about your knowledge in a certain type of law if you’re not sure you’re going to specialize in that during law school.

What I mean about generalizing is that instead of structuring your essay as “I have dealt with divorce, so this is why I want to go into family law” or “I am a real estate agent, so this is why I’m interested in real estate law”, my advice would be to structure it in a way where it’s more focused on your experience/realizations rather than what your qualifications are. For example, you can talk about the moment where you realized you wanted to be a lawyer (tell the story about your decision to shift career paths from being a real estate agent to a lawyer or how your experience with divorce taught you the importance of knowing the law, etc.). You can talk about both experiences of being a real estate agent and divorce, but only if you can tie those two together in a way so that your essay is cohesive.

Again I may be interpreting wrong, but from what you’re telling me, it seems to me that your personal statement is targeted more towards your qualifications rather than who you are as a person. I would stray away from talking about WHY you’re qualified to go into a certain type of law because all that can be shown in your resume. Your personal statement should be an opportunity for you to show what your resume, lsat score, and gpa can’t.

If you haven’t already, I would suggest watching the YouTube videos that 7sage has on personal statements because I found them to be a really helpful starting point!

Chrissy Jimenez

@bananabo I see why you would interpret it that way given what I said but I did not want to give away too much information on this post. But my PS does not indicate my qualifications whatsoever, it is mostly my experiences that led me to want to pursue law. My PS is about my parent's divorce which originally was what I wanted my whole essay to be about. However, their divorce is what sparked my initial interest in law. But along the road, I mentioned my real estate license because it was a result of my own choice and autonomy, something that I struggled with due to my parent's divorce. This also ties into a landlord/tenant lawsuit I have witnessed personally that led me to want to become a lawyer even more.
I see what you mean by it working only if it's cohesive, I think that's maybe what I'm struggling with. I know I want to be a lawyer from these 2 experiences but I definitely think I will generalize it in the end instead of stating which area I want to pursue. I have already finished a first draft. I'm not sure now how to make it work exactly because it would be hard to describe these two specific experiences then concluding it by saying I just want to be a lawyer. Thank you again for your response.