Common mistakes on application forms.....

[Alice G]

What helped me was to take a step back and properly reflect on what I wanted from my career in general. Sitting myself down and asking ‘what do you want from your career’ led me to very generic words like ‘challenge’ and ‘client facing’. But then I asked myself why I enjoyed these things, which tied in with what I’ve enjoyed from my experiences to date. Once I clarified that, I asked myself ‘how will commercial law give you that fulfilling career,’ and that’s when my understanding of what a commercial lawyer does, and motivations to do it myself, made more sense.

It takes time, but working from a very broad starting point helped me as I could more easily establish my motivations and how they aligned with a career in law. It’s a case then of structuring your answer to ensure those motivations come across, rather than just reiterating what a lawyer does. After all, a recruiter knows what a lawyer does. They’re not interested in hearing that, they want to know what motivates you to become one.

I’d encourage you to try the exercise and see if it works for you! Start broad, without even thinking about the law, and then hone in on why commercial law.

Great advice, well said!

 

[Alice G]

Thank you! So would it be a good answer to say my experiences of client facing work gave me satisfaction because I was able to.... etc.

This is the right track yeah - you just need to consider that extra layer - why do you like the idea of client facing work as opposed to someone who handles issues more remotely. When you consider the alternative to what you are trying to say, sometimes it can really help you.

 

[JW]

Frequently, I see candidates say they find X practice area/deal/use of technology 'exciting' or 'fascinating'. This is a redundant sentence. Always try to explain why it's exciting or fascinating to you.

Hi Jaysen!

I hope this doesn't come across as a silly question, I am maybe overthinking it. If you were talking about why you find a business story interesting, what is the 'why' element that firms are actually looking for? Is it the general topic, the area of law, the type of parties involved etc... I am just unsure as to how to express what my interest is!

Thanks!

 

[Jaysen]

Hi Jaysen!

I hope this doesn't come across as a silly question, I am maybe overthinking it. If you were talking about why you find a business story interesting, what is the 'why' element that firms are actually looking for? Is it the general topic, the area of law, the type of parties involved etc... I am just unsure as to how to express what my interest is!

Thanks!

In this case, it would be why you found the particular business news story interesting. That said, you are free to take this into any direction you want (e.g. it may be that you found it interesting because of something specific to do with the parties or the implications etc.).

 

[Jessica Booker]

Hi Jaysen!

I hope this doesn't come across as a silly question, I am maybe overthinking it. If you were talking about why you find a business story interesting, what is the 'why' element that firms are actually looking for? Is it the general topic, the area of law, the type of parties involved etc... I am just unsure as to how to express what my interest is!

Thanks!

They aren’t looking for anything in particular, just your personal interest. So it just needs to be linked back to you (something you have previously done that’s aligned, something you follow, something you have studied).

 

[Jessica Booker]

Seasons (spring, summer, autumn, winter) are not capitalised!

 

[Amy_22]

Hi everyone,

Here is a useful style guide the University of Oxford - https://www.ox.ac.uk/sites/files/oxford/Style Guide HT2016.pdf

It is really helpful for looking up certain grammar rules like capitalisation, I hope it might help some of you.

Hi guys

Thank you for all your help and advice so far! The tips have really improved my writing style.

In relation to capitalisation when referring to the firm I am applying to, can I capitalise the Firm as it's a substitute for the name? When discussing the Firm's Real Estate sector or department, would the Real Estate be capitalised? When referring to awards generally in real estate, I presumed capitalisation wasn't needed here, please could you confirm?

I am also struggling with the choice of learned vs learnt! In some examples from the recent webinars, I note 'learned' was used. Google seems to think 'learned' is more common in the US, while 'learnt' is more commonly used in the UK. In one favoured more in UK applications?

Thanks in advance,
Amy

 

[Jessica Booker]

Hi guys

Thank you for all your help and advice so far! The tips have really improved my writing style.

In relation to capitalisation when referring to the firm I am applying to, can I capitalise the Firm as it's a substitute for the name? When discussing the Firm's Real Estate sector or department, would the Real Estate be capitalised? When referring to awards generally in real estate, I presumed capitalisation wasn't needed here, please could you confirm?

I am also struggling with the choice of learned vs learnt! In some examples from the recent webinars, I note 'learned' was used. Google seems to think 'learned' is more common in the US, while 'learnt' is more commonly used in the UK. In one favoured more in UK applications?

Thanks in advance,
Amy

Firm wouldn’t be capitalised in this context. It was always be “firm” unless it was used in title of the award was ”Law Firm of the Year”

Capitalisation of departments again depends on context. Generally it is not needed, the exception being if it is the formal name of the department or in a job title. If you are ever unsure, look how the firm lists the department on its website beyond headlines (e.g. in the body of text).

Learnt and Learned are both technically correct. Learnt is used more in British English while Learned is used more in US English.

Just to confused matters, learned can also be an adjective as well as a verb. So in British English you could use learned to describe someone who is knowledgeable.

 

[Amy_22]

Firm wouldn’t be capitalised in this context. It was always be “firm” unless it was used in title of the award was Law Firm of the Year 2020”

Learnt and Learned are both technically correct. Learnt is used more in British English while Learned is used more in US English.

Thank you, Jessica!

 

[Jessica Booker]

Thank you, Jessica!

edited with updates

 

[Alice G]

Thank you, Jessica!

@Jessica Booker is entirely right on the above and I always used to favour 'learned' in my applications so I don't honestly think it matters too much - so long as you are consistent you will be fine with respect to that

 

[Ali2020]

If the application question has capitalised the word "Solicitor" and "Trainee" - with a capital S and T, should I also capitalise these words in my answer?

Thanks!

 

[Jessica Booker]

If the application question has capitalised the word "Solicitor" and "Trainee" - with a capital S and T, should I also capitalise these words in my answer?

Thanks!

Again, depends on the context it is written. If it is clearly a title belonging to someone, then it is ok to capitalise it. Otherwise it shouldn’t be.

I’ll be frank, most law firm application questions are not the best examples of how the write (and that’s not just about capitalisations).

 

[Ali2020]

Again, depends on the context it is written. If it is clearly a title belonging to someone, then it is ok to capitalise it. Otherwise it shouldn’t be.

I’ll be frank, most law firm application questions are not the best examples of how the write (and that’s not just about capitalisations).

The question is written like this:
What motivates you to pursue a career as a commercial Solicitor? Explain how you would add value as a Trainee.

Perhaps I shouldn't copy the question

 

[Jessica Booker]

I am always surprised how many people get this wrong....

Russell Group - two L's, not one.

 

[Alice G]

I am always surprised how many people get this wrong....

Russell Group - two L's, not one.

Good flag Jess! Seen this a bit myself too

 

[Jessica Booker]

The question is written like this:
What motivates you to pursue a career as a commercial Solicitor? Explain how you would add value as a Trainee.

Perhaps I shouldn't copy the question

yeah, neither of these words should really be capitalised.

 

[Ali2020]

Thanks!

yeah, neither of these words should really be capitalised.

 

[Jaysen]

Been a while since we added to this thread!

Sometimes candidates submit applications to us that are really over the word count. Often, this is the case, where a candidate is trying to adapt a longer, existing answer to meet a question with a much shorter word count.

While I don't mind cutting things out, I would just flag that this often makes an application weaker than it can be. There's a big difference between reusing an application and cutting it down to fit the question, and rewriting an application answer from the ground up.

If you write an answer from the ground up, you have the opportunity to structure a new answer around your best achievements and really make every word count. However, if you're just cutting down an answer, you often lose the flow of your writing, and the ability to sell some of your achievements.

 

[Alice G]

Just to add into this thread myself too, I have seen quite a lot of applications with unnecessary use of 'have' when the candidate is referring to the past tense. For example, 'I have played' would be best if trying to signal the number of years you have played a sport/instrument and do so still in the present tense but 'I have played' when seeking to situate something in the past tense is not necessary - you would simply need 'I played'.