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Message: <blockquote data-quote="James Carrabino" data-source="post: 94977" data-attributes="member: 16764">By the way, to everyone following this thread:I am going to post each week's tips separately in comments below (in addition to updating the main post at the top) so that forum users will see when the thread has been updated! The updates will represent the most common mistakes that I see in the applications I review during the previous week - I hope that my post can serve as a checklist of what not to have in your application when you are proofing it before submitting!DECEMBER WEEK 1Non sequiturs‘I developed my legal research skills in my law firm internship last summer. As part of my role in compliance, I worked with other team members to…’ – it then becomes clear by the end of the sentence that the role in compliance is a completely different job from the law firm internship. The reader needs to go back and work out that one point was not explaining the other – they were actually two completely separate points. This is particularly confusing, so make sure to signpost your answers and use paragraphs to clearly delineate your points.Not truly explaining each point‘My previous job in investment banking means that I will enjoy and thrive in a corporate finance seat.’ I know what you mean, but remember that when a recruiter is reading at pace, poorly explained sentences like this one muddle your point in the reader’s mind. Your banking job does not mean either of these things by itself. If you disliked your banking job, then you probably will not enjoy corporate finance, and if you got fired for poor performance, then you probably will not thrive in this seat either. Make sure to back up every claim you make with a thorough explanation.Not answering the questionWhen a question asks about the personal qualities that would make you a good trainee solicitor, these are not the same as the skills which would make you a good trainee solicitor. Personal qualities include things like motivation, resilience and integrity, whilst skills include research, writing and language skills. Things like analysis or attention to detail could possibly cover both, in my opinion.The question ‘What makes a good trainee?’ is NOT asking you why you are a good candidate. If you really, really, really want to highlight a certain skill that you possess to a high degree, then you may do so in a brief comment at the end, but do not make this the focus of your answer.Trying too hard to relate one’s answer back to law, commercial law or the firm, when the question does not ask you to do so‘Tell us about something you are interested in so that we can get to know you better’. Do NOT try to relate this back to law or the firm unless it is a key component of your interest. I have seen answers by candidates attempting to relate their interests in hockey, baking and literature back to commercial law and it simply makes no sense. These are excellent examples for this question, but they simply do not relate to law and it would seem insincere to try to make them relate to law, plus it’s simply not necessary to do so.Wasting words‘I am very passionate about becoming a lawyer at an international commercial law firm.’So many candidates introduce their answer with a statement like this. It really does not say anything of substance and wastes words that you could be using to actually demonstrate this to the reader. Remember show, don’t tell – if your passion is not evident from the rest of your answer, then you can bet the reader won’t be convinced by virtue of this statement alone.Using too few words‘I relish commercial law’s application of client-facing, business-tailored legal technology expertise in a team environment, drawing upon the integrity and resilience abilities gained from my leadership experience and pro bono passion.’ This is an exaggeration but a lot of candidates do stuff like this - there are like six sentences worth of points to make here which simply don’t make sense in one sentence. This is less effective than making one of those points really well and making fewer points overall.I see these American spellings all the time, when we advise candidates to use British spellingProgram (UK spelling is programme)Practice (when used as a verb, UK spelling is practise)While (UK prefers whilst)Using ‘z’ instead of ‘s’ e.g. ‘maximize’ (UK is ‘maximise’)UK spelling likes hyphens in compound words, e.g. co-ordinateIn the UK single quotation marks ‘’ are preferred to double “”</blockquote>

Verification: Our company is called, "The Corporate ___ Academy". What is the missing word here?

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