Law Schools, Personal Statement Example

My interest in law may come as a surprise since I come from a diversified business background with an already established career in finance and accounting. The decision to pursue law is not sudden but instead has been a gradual process, influenced by my lawyer friends as well as my own personal growth and maturity. I have always been a thinker and even though I did very well at my jobs but my work responsibilities didn’t have much room for thinking. My friends tell me I like intelligent discussions and am really good with logic. Spending countless hours with my lawyer friends and engaging in all kinds of discussions including legal, political, historical, and business has convinced me that my personal interests and strengths are best suited to legal field.

During my academic career, I strongly believed in free market capitalism with minimum government regulations. I had little reason not to because American economic system has served the country so well for so long and America is the envy of every other country on the planet. But the recent financial crisis forced me to reevaluate everything I believed about free market capitalism with minimum government intervention. I started pondering over how legal profession can assist our elected officials with more effective financial regulations that are carefully constructed rather than panic-driven response to the shortcomings within our financial system. At the same time I am also interested in as to how legal profession can help the general public better defend its interests and rights against corporate leaders who fail in their professional and moral responsibilities. The government deserves credit for vigorously pursuing some white collar crimes during the last decade but most of them were extreme examples and have done little to improve the professional and ethical standards in Corporate America.

Law appeals to me because the profession is not only challenging but also holds great promise to make difference in the society. As someone with extensive experience in finance and accounting, I am quite knowledgeable about how companies prepare financial statements and often take advantage of financial loopholes and flexibility in accounting standards that have a reasonable potential to lead investors. But historically, government has done a poor job of staying ahead of the financial industry and most regulations have always been a response to some financially catastrophic event rather than a preventive measure. One solution to government shortcoming may be for corporate lawyers to come forward who are expert in both finance and accounting as well as financial regulations and bring problems into government’s attention before they turn into a major crisis. I have read extensively about the causes of recent financial crisis and I believe the crisis was preventable if only the government had better understanding of the financial industry practices. In fact, there were few industry watchers who expected the crisis to happen and called for regulations but they were never listened to. Eventually, I hope to use my financial and legal expertise to promote closer working partnership between the government and the corporate legal profession.

I am really excited about the possibility of pursuing my J.D. at University of ?? and hope to be a valuable contributor towards impressive learning opportunities for which the University of ??’s Law College is famous for. Please do not hesitate to let me know should you have any questions. If possible, I would really appreciate a face-to-face meeting opportunity with you in order to learn more about the University of ?? Law College and how I can be a valuable member of the Law College community.