What skills, qualities and attributes would you bring to the role?

I volunteer as a student advisor at the Queen Mary Legal Advice Centre. I interview clients to corroborate case details and draft succinct advice letters outlining the client’s legal rights as per their situation. My advice letters have been reviewed by practising solicitors which meant that I had to maintain attention to detail and develop adept drafting skills. A commercial solicitor needs to be proficient at legal research, drafting and attention to detail. Through my experience, I have developed these important skills. 

I am the brand ambassador for Clyde & Co at my university. In this role, I proactively organise events and connect with students to share insights about the firm. I have an active presence on social media with 450 Instagram followers where I regularly promote the firm’s opportunities. I was commended by the firm for having the highest number of mailing list sign-ups in the first month. Through this, I’ve learnt to take ownership of my work and exceeded expectations to produce results. I can take high levels of responsibility and perform to the best of my capabilities in this role which is crucial to the role of a trainee. 

I work part-time as a Residential Assistant. During the start of the term, I had to work long hours due to a shortage of staff and balance multiple tasks like setting up rooms, managing deliveries, and organising events for residents. I ensured that over 2000 students had a comfortable move-in experience into residential halls. Through this role, I learnt how to stay resilient under pressure and balance multiple tasks efficiently. Trainees take on several tasks each day and require adaptability and resilience to thrive well. I’ve developed these attributes through my experience which I could use to my advantage as an aspiring solicitor. 

Our thoughts

Positives

• Some great/relevant transferable skills are covered, including research, drafting, attention to detail, initiative, balancing multiple tasks, and resilience.
• The applicant generally evidences how they have utilised or developed each skill, which makes the answer more convincing.

Potential points for improvement

• I don’t feel like the paragraphs flow particularly well. Paragraph 1 reads a bit like a collection of separate statements, none of which directly answer the question. 
• Perhaps a more direct and concise approach would have worked better (i.e. getting to the point more quickly), for example by kicking off with something like “Firstly, I would bring strong attention to detail, researching skills and foundational legal drafting experience to the role. I honed these skills whilst working as a student advisor at the Queen Mary Legal Advice Centre, which involved researching legislation and case law and producing legal advice letters for clients.” 
• In paragraph 1, the applicant mentions interviewing clients, but doesn’t then link this to communication or client-facing skills (which would have been an easy win). Interviewing clients doesn’t necessarily demonstrate the skills focused on, namely attention to detail, research or drafting.
• Paragraph 2 deviates from the question a little too much. “I have an active presence on social media with 450 Instagram followers where I regularly promote the firm’s opportunities” doesn’t answer the question (i.e. it doesn’t discuss specific skills, qualities and attributes), and this extra context isn’t really necessary. In general, there are a lot of words used to make the point that the applicant can take ownership over their work and go the extra mile.
• I’m not sure that the example in paragraph 3 clearly demonstrates the need for resilience. 
• Paragraph 3 also arguably wastes words (the final two sentences) – perhaps the paragraph could have been phrased more concisely, for example: “Finally, through my experience working part-time as a Residential Assistant, I developed the ability to effectively balance multiple tasks whilst remaining composed under pressure. For example, during the start of the term, I had to work long hours due to staff shortages and project manage a broad range of tasks, including setting up rooms, managing deliveries, organising events for residents, and ensuring over 2,000 students had a comfortable experience moving into residential halls”.

We cover which skills are necessary for lawyers and why in our Introduction to commercial law course. We also cover how to discuss skills and experiences in our Writing successful applications course.