In addition to a resume and a cover letter, many firms require you to answer a few relevant questions that assess your analytical skills and suitability for the role. Similar to a cover letter, these responses add to the impression that the recruiter has of you in respect to your professionalism, written ability and research into the firm.
Typical questions that I have seen in the written application include:
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Why do you want to join this firm?
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What skills and attributes would you bring to this position?
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Why are you interested in pursuing commercial law?
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What areas of law interest you and why?
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Tell us a recent industry disruption that you think would impact the firm and its clients.
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How have you handled a recent setback and what did you learn from it?
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What do you think are the major obstacles for this law firm in the next 5 years?
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What are your achievements and extracurricular interests?
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What are some of the challenges do you think lawyers will face in the next decade?
In this article, I will delve into how to structure your response to a typical question that you often see in the written application – why commercial law?
Why commercial law?
Many students find it difficult at first to build a strong response to this question. In fact, most students are uncertain whether they want to pursue a career in commercial law at the time of clerkship applications. Now that is fine, but your response cannot exactly reflect this. This question is a very important one to recruiters as it ultimately dictates whether you have the desire to work in the legal profession and possibly stay at the firm in the long-term. Combine this with the thousands of applicants looking to secure an opportunity in the legal industry, and it is easy to see that a response that sits on the fence simply would not make it through to the interview stages.
Most students are uncertain whether they want to pursue a career in commercial law
1. Create a compelling narrative
The best way to show your interest in commercial law is to draft it like a narrative. At the same time, the way this interest manifested must gradual and reasonable to demonstrate that your interest in pursuing law is long-term passion. To meet this middle ground, your passion should ideally draw on your years of schooling and relevant legal-related experience. The longer and more in depth your story is, the more compelling it becomes.
If you are a penultimate student applying for clerkships, I would recommend that your story should begin from the point in time that you chose this degree in university. I have referenced my interest in law from as early as my childhood.
2. Be Specific
To demonstrate how your interest manifested and later developed, a compelling narrative should be specific. Rather than stating that your work experience generally made you interested in law, look to pick out certain aspects of your professional and extracurricular experience to build a convincing narrative as to your passion in the legal industry. If you have relevant legal experience either as a paralegal or a competition in legal skills competitions, definitely look to include these in your response.
In being more specific, I would recommend going beyond the question of “commercial law” and address specific practice areas in law that you are interested in. Being able to point to a particular practice area demonstrates that you have thought about your passion in law and the area you would like to work in years down the track. Note that in order to be compelling, it should be written with reference to any relevant legal experience or subjects you have completed in university. For example, I had a strong property law mark and relevant experience in real estate and infrastructure. These experiences formed the basis on my argument for why I was passionate about law, and more specifically, interested in real estate and infrastructure.
3. Tailor to the firm
Many students forget that the written application is here to assess your interest in the firm. As with every aspect of your written application, you should be linking your response back to the firm. Whether it is demonstrating relevant research into what the transactions that the firm has worked on in your area of interest or the awards and milestones that the firm have achieved, this should link back to your passion for commercial law and how the firm can support you in realizing this.