Hi guys I have 2 random questions-
Would it be particularly bad to reuse part of your 'Why commercial law' answer in your 'Why this firm in particular' answer?
When answering why firm x in particular, could you draw comparisons between firms you've attended an open day for and why you're drawn to this form more.. or something like that?
Hey
@jojo23 , these are really good questions that often came up for me as well, when I was applying. I don‘t have too much to add to
@Ram Sabaratnam ’s wonderful response, but these are a few things I found helpful as well;
I believe it’s totally fine to reuse an answer for both questions, however, do so
sparingly and in a way which brings out different variations of the same experience. For example, if I included that working in-house insurance sparked my passion for commercial law due to being able to see things from the clients perspective, my answer to why X firm would be different. For example, I would then cement it with how working in-house insurance and delivering a training on competition law to all personnel at the firm sparked my passion for exploring X firm‘s renowned
competition law practice. So you see, I’ve used
two different arms of the same experience to solidify both answers in a way which adequately shows demonstrated interest.
In relation to the second part of your question, I believe this is fine as well, depending on how you phrase this. For example, a lot of responses I have read from candidates which implement this approach, often leads to an indirect slandering of the other firms which they attended open days at. Thus, the way in which you tackle this is by referencing the difference in the scope of their work. For example, say you attended open days at X and Y. If firm X is largely transactional and firm Y is more disputes-focused, then when applying to firm Z who is also disputes focused, you will reference the differences in both areas and why the latter appealed more.
Another thing I did often was to include how attending X open day sparked my passion for commercial law, and repeating the contents of the day in more detail when discussing my motivations for that specific firm (or again, a firm which has a strong expertise in its line of work). By expanding on the contents of the day, such as presentations by trainees, the firm’s trainee offering, or even mock case study workshops, I trust that you will be able to approach both questions in a different light and show this breadth of exposure that is needed.