Why do you want to be a solicitor at an *international law firm*?

[Am92]

Hi all. Obviously, this is a standard question. However, I note that firms differ in how they phrase the question - some firms simply ask "why a commercial solicitor", and others "why a commercial solicitor at an *international* firm". All the firms I'm applying to are "international firms", so I am wondering what specifically is expected from this turn of phrase.

Should I spend the entire answer linking things back to the cross-jurisdictional aspect of the firm's work? There is a 350 word limit, and so I was going to talk about my interest in cross-border work for a good chunk of it (~150 words). However, I do also want to write my other reasons which aren't necessarily specific to an international law firm. These are things like the variety of work, the opportunity to build long-standing relationships with clients, etc.

Any advice would be much appreciated!

 

[Dheepa]

Hi Amy,

I think the "international firm" addition is simply asking you to link your motivations for why commercial law back into the kind of work that firm does in particular. You could think of it as why commercial law + why international work but you would still need to have a balanced answer. The cross border work point would suffice and even then I don't think it's necessary to spend a good chunk of your answer on it. You don't want to make it seem like your only motivations for being a commercial lawyer is the international exposure so yes, you should definitely be including any of your other motivations.

Just wanted to caution that reasons like variety of work can be very vague/generic (although I appreciate that you are probably simplifying your motivations in the post) so just make sure that you're really able to evidence why that aspect of the job is interesting to you. I'm also not entirely sure that "opportunity to build relationships/interest in the nuances of language" is specific enough to commercial lawyers as these things are very easily applicable to other roles in any line of work.

Hope that gives you some ideas!

 

[Lumree]

Hi all. Obviously, this is a standard question. However, I note that firms differ in how they phrase the question - some firms simply ask "why a commercial solicitor", and others "why a commercial solicitor at an *international* firm". All the firms I'm applying to are "international firms", so I am wondering what specifically is expected from this turn of phrase.

Should I spend the entire answer linking things back to the cross-jurisdictional aspect of the firm's work? There is a 350 word limit, and so I was going to talk about my interest in cross-border work for a good chunk of it (~150 words). However, I do also want to write my other reasons which aren't necessarily specific to an international law firm. These are things like the variety of work, the opportunity to build long-standing relationships with clients, etc.

Any advice would be much appreciated!

Irrespective of the word count, I find the rule of three is always quite good to follow for this question. I personally would select my three main reasons for why commercial law, split the word count as evenly as possible, and ensure they align with what the firm does/can offer (but you don’t have to specifically refer to the firm unless it’s comfortable to do so in the paragraph)

 

[Am92]

Hi Amy,

I think the "international firm" addition is simply asking you to link your motivations for why commercial law back into the kind of work that firm does in particular. You could think of it as why commercial law + why international work but you would still need to have a balanced answer. The cross border work point would suffice and even then I don't think it's necessary to spend a good chunk of your answer on it. You don't want to make it seem like your only motivations for being a commercial lawyer is the international exposure so yes, you should definitely be including any of your other motivations.

Just wanted to caution that reasons like variety of work can be very vague/generic (although I appreciate that you are probably simplifying your motivations in the post) so just make sure that you're really able to evidence why that aspect of the job is interesting to you. I'm also not entirely sure that "opportunity to build relationships/interest in the nuances of language" is specific enough to commercial lawyers as these things are very easily applicable to other roles in any line of work.

Hope that gives you some ideas!

Thanks Dheepa. I was going to talk about 'variety of work' in the sense of learning about different client organisations, how they function, their opportunities and challenges etc. As regards 'the nuances of language', I would have thought that being interested in the application of law i.e. the nuances of language to determine a party's rights/obligations and covering risk, and being interested in how this interacts with commerce is a fairly specific reason...? Building long-lasting client relationships (as opposed to say, family or criminal law where cases might be a one-off) was, to me, a genuine reason. I will have a think though.

 

[Dheepa]

Thanks Dheepa. I was going to talk about 'variety of work' in the sense of learning about different client organisations, how they function, their opportunities and challenges etc. As regards 'the nuances of language', I would have thought that being interested in the application of law i.e. the nuances of language to determine a party's rights/obligations and covering risk, and being interested in how this interacts with commerce is a fairly specific reason...? Building long-lasting client relationships (as opposed to say, family or criminal law where cases might be a one-off) was, to me, a genuine reason. I will have a think though.

Okay I see where you're coming from with your points now! Sorry for the premature caution, and yes those first two do seem specific enough! Still think that the relationships point is a bit generic in that it could be applicable to any non-law related job (I'm thinking things like consulting, banking etc.) but I appreciate that there could be differing views to this.

 

[Am92]

Okay I see where you're coming from with your points now! Sorry for the premature caution, and yes those first two do seem specific enough! Still think that the relationships point is a bit generic in that it could be applicable to any non-law related job (I'm thinking things like consulting, banking etc.) but I appreciate that there could be differing views to this.

Thanks Dheepa, I'll definitely have a think about how to use that point/change it to make it more commercial law specific!