Any help is appreciated.
During my research on how to write a personal statement for admission into law school, two themes are present in almost every school's requirements. Why am I choosing to go to law school, and what makes me believe I will be successful. I have two reasons for both questions that stand out and show that I will succeed in law school and within the legal profession.
First, and this is the most important reason, I am trying to provide a better life and future for my children than I had. Motivation comes from many different sources for everyone. Some sources of motivation are stronger than others. For me, and I would imagine almost every loving parent feels the same, no reason for doing anything is stronger than my desire to raise my children in the best possible environment and with a bright future prepared for them. I grew up in less than favorable conditions, and college, or preparing for a professional career in general, was never something that was a priority. That is until I became older and more mature and saw that it is highly unlikely to get anywhere in this world without a higher education. By completing law school and going on to becoming an attorney, not only will I show my children that education is important, but I will be in a much better position to help with expenses for their education.
Another driving force behind my decision to pursue a legal career is the fact that mediocrity is not for me. I am no stranger to hard work. The entire time I was pursuing my bachelor's degree, I was employed with a full time job. I went to school full time. I still managed to complete the requirements for internship work, volunteering, out of state trips, and the other rigorous aspects that the Law, Justice & Society program at Lipscomb University demanded of me. At one point, I was working between 55-60 hours a week, I was enrolled for 12 credit hours at Lipscomb, 3 hours in which I was volunteering at Room in the Inn as a GED tutor, and I was a coach for my son's little league baseball team. Even though time was difficult to manage, I kept my eye on the prize. Receiving my bachelor's degree was the first step in my plan to pull myself, and my family, out of living in a paycheck to paycheck scenario. Law school is the second step.
The reasons why I will succeed within a legal career can also be viewed as reasons why I am choosing to attend law school. I will succeed because I am an analytical and logical thinker, I research everything that I need to know, and my argumentative skills are well above average. In my Conflict Management course at Lipscomb, we had a mock trial/ role play type of exercise to prepare for. I was to play the role of the attorney on the side of the defense. The case was about sexual harassment in the work place. I was to interview the prosecution's witnesses, and saw in the depositions we were given an opportunity to exploit one of the witnesses. Through my line of questioning, the witness committed perjury, and our side won the case. It was a culmination of the research I had conducted, a logical way of thinking and questioning to get the witness to admit to the conclusion I had arrived at, and an argument that could not be refuted. The skills necessary for attorneys to be successful are skills that I have always had. I don't know if it's possible to teach someone to think logically, at least not to the level that someone who has been thinking this way their whole life has attained. It is these abilities that have led me to this path, because if I don't use these abilities in a career where they are most needed, I am selling myself short.
