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Sample Personal Statement for International & Comparative Law
As a 21-year-old girl, I have heretofore devoted my life-consuming
efforts to two essential tasks—the playing of the violin and the study
of law, both of which I love and wish to perfect. With more than ten
years’ efforts of practicing, I have reached Grade 10, the highest
level for a non-professional violinist. The greatest benefit of my
musical dedication is that it has permitted me a heightened experience
of the beauty of harmony and lead me to believe that harmony and order
are also the two ideal conditions that human societies should aspire
for. For the realization of such an ideal, I am prepared to dedicate
equally persistent efforts that I devote to the violin playing. This
constitutes the underlying emotional motive that I chose law as my
specialty when undertaking my undergraduate program. It is also this
emotional ideal that guided me throughout my study efforts during the
4-year undergraduate program at the International Economic Law School
of Shanghai International Studies University. It is still this ideal
that motivates me in my current application for an advanced degree
program in International and Comparative Law (LLM). My objective is to
develop myself into an accomplished lawyer versed in international law
through your highly respected degree program. The foundation that I
have established through my past academic training makes me confident
that I am pursuing a worthy objective on the right track.
To some extent, the LLM degree program in International and
Comparative Law that I am applying for is an extension of my
undergraduate program in International Economic Law. On the other
hand, my interest in comparative legal systems is also related to my
undergraduate experience of doing a course project on studying British
and American contract laws and comparing it with that of China. This
experience of doing in-depth research on different systems of contract
law not only reinforced my already serious interest in law as a whole,
but also deepened my understanding of specifically British and
American laws (especially contract laws) and the differences between
the Continental Legal System and the Anglo-American Legal System
pertaining to contract laws. By the time this important project was
completed, I found myself both interested in and potentially capable
of undertaking theoretical analysis in comparative law studies. It is
precisely based on this important experience that I are qualified for
embarking on advanced studies in international and comparative law.
Another contributing factor to this major decision-making on my part
is the fact that, at the time when I was learning International Trade
Law and British and American Trade Law, China was concluding its
final-stage negotiation and joined the WTO. I immediately realized
that those two courses would be of special importance because they
were closely associated with what was happening and what will happen
in the economic life of China. The valuable knowledge they impart
would be extensively applied and prove immeasurably useful to our
country. As China becomes increasingly integrated into the
international community, there calls for a large number of scholars
and practitioners of international trade law. This bred in me the
determination to become an international jurist who specializes in the
arbitration of international trade disputes and other trade disputes
under the WTO framework. In the summer of 2002, I did internship as an
assistant lawyer at Baker & Mckenzie International Law Firm Ho Chi
Minh Office and this experience proved crucial in reaffirming this
determination.
My internship at Baker & Mckenzie International Law Firm Ho Chi Minh
Office is by far my most memorable part of legal practice, which I
sure will produce a far-reaching impact on my future career
development. In the course of this internship, I not only experienced
how legal processes were actually operated but also developed a
profound understanding of Vietnam’s legal system and of the WTO rules.
I was made responsible for translating the materials for the Vietnam
Department of Baker & Mckenzie and preparing the Memo for the Dell
Company for its business development in Vietnam. I collaborated with a
colleague to write an investigatory report for Frederick Burke, one of
Baker & Mckenzie’s international partners, concerning the US-Vietnam
Bilateral Trade Agreement and provided detailed exegeses for the
report. In addition, I attended the Seminar on Seminar on Vietnam-US.
BTA Arbitration and the Seminar on US-Vietnam Bilateral Trade
Agreement (BTA) and Its Impact on Vietnamese Fruit Exporters launched
by the Supreme People’s Court of Vietnam. This internship has given me
all the necessary background for undertaking comparative law studies
(focusing on Vietnam law, Chinese law, and American law). I also
benefited importantly from working under senior lawyers with
international experiences and I evolved the secret wish that one day I
might be able to work the way they do. This led to a clearer vision of
my course of future career development.
To be a jurist, especially to be an international jurist, means to
choose a career in which one has to constantly challenge his or her
limitations and to keep improving his or her professional qualities.
On account of this fact, I have made full use of my time and energy to
satiate myself in the quest for knowledge, to make the most out of my
undergraduate education. I am familiar with all the major western
classics in law, including the more recent works such as Richard A
Posner’s Economic Analysis of Law and The Problematics of Moral and
Legal Theories. In addition to doing good coursework, I have
demonstrated a deep love for extracurricular life to which I devoted
with great enthusiasm. Therefore, my undergraduate program has been as
rewarding as it is multifaceted, consisting of important achievements
in coursework, research, social practice, project internship, charity
involvements, part-time jobs, as well as various hobbies. Especially
worth mention is the prize-winning treatise that I submitted on the
occasion of Law Treatise Contest of Shanghai International Studies
University. Entitled To Preserve or Not to Preserve, That is the
Question—The Evolution of British and American Consideration System in
Historical Perspective, my treatise was evaluated and commented as
“displaying considerable originality in perspectives,
thought-provocative, raising challenging issues for China’s reform in
its contract law apart from presenting penetrating views into the
British and American consideration system and its necessary reform.”
It was published in the Journal of the Law School—Voice of Law.
Another fact that should be pointed out is that Shanghai International
Studies University, formerly Shanghai Foreign Language Institute,
attached paramount importance to the study of English language. My
English proficiency allowed me to deal with international legal
services and to communicate with the international lawyers with much
facility during my internship at Baker & Mckenzie. I also have some
English teaching experience. I taught preparatory IELTS courses in the
Shanghai Branch School of Singaporean Orchard Language College. In
this regard, I should be competent for a TA position.
In my future program, I would like to proceed according to this plan.
First I would concentrate on the study of American law and learn
methodologies in doing comparative legal studies. After laying this
foundation, I would focus on comparative studies of American and Asian
laws (particularly Chinese and Vietnam laws). In the second stage of
my LLM program, in connection with international trade law, I will
concentrate on International Organization, International Investment
Law, European Union Law, WTO Legal Framework, Competition Law,
International Trade Regulations & Customs, WTO Disputes Resolution,
General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs, and the domestic legal reforms
of China and Vietnam after WTO entry. I would also like to do some
internship in which I expect to experience American legal practices
directly. Based on my discoveries during the internship, I will select
a particular subject that may become the focus of my dissertation, a
subject that offers creative perspectives. After completing LLM
program, I will seek employment at an international law office in
China where I work as an international jurist specializing in dispute
resolution related to WTO rules. Apart from that, I will also be
interested in teaching at a law school in one of China’s prestigious
universities.
The trend of global economic integration is irreversible. In this
globalization process, many new legal problems will arise. The
ultimate objective of globalization is that it can benefit all
participants in this process through cooperation. The sad fact is that
the global economic order cannot be always as perfect and as idealized
as we wish. Nevertheless, that is precisely what legal practitioners
are meant for. They make efforts to help the world get infinitely
close to the harmonious and ordered state that I aspire for.
I believe that my entire lifetime is destined for this ideal.
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