A Law

Student’s
guide
By: Talodabioluwa Olu-Odugbemi
& Michelle wong
 Acknowledgments
Michelle: I’m so grateful for the opportunity to thank everyone who has shaped
me into who I am today. Thank you to my family - my grandma ( ) and grandpa
( ) for raising me with infinite patience and for sacrificing everything they have
for me; my mom, 경미, and my dad, River, for their love and selflessness and for
always pushing me to be a better version of myself; my brother Daniel for being my
best friend and my eternal support system; and 할아버지 and 할머니 for being my
biggest cheerleaders and for their wisdom and advice since the very beginning. My
extended family (Kuma, Kufu, Celine and Kurt) for all of their love and support
throughout the years. My friends who have stood by me through every struggle
and challenge - it means more than you may know, and I’m so thankful for their
friendship. My teachers and professors at CDNIS, HKU and Cambridge who
believed in me and my potential. I wouldn’t be where I am without their patience
and guidance. Dami and Franki for doing such an amazing job with the visuals; I’m
constantly in awe of how talented and dedicated they both are. Lastly, I want to
thank Dabi for having the biggest heart, the best jokes, and for inspiring me
endlessly with her wisdom and passion for life - there’s honestly no one else I would
rather write this book with.

Dabi: First of all I want to thank God, because without Him none of this would be
possible. Next, my amazing parents – my mom, Vesiri, for her endless love, constant
support for all my ideas, and for her prayers; and my Dad, Olu, who has sacrificed so
much for my education, loved me at all stages of myself, and has poured all of
himself into me – I hope this makes them proud. My grandparents (GP and GM) for
their love, prayers and guidance. My aunties and uncles who have always treated
me like one of their own (the Edwards, the Fasanyas, the Kolades, the Tinuoyes, the
Isaacs, etc.). My friends (DOS, Lonbridge, Good citizens, Thug(s)lettes… literally too
many of you guys to name) who have become my family – I am infinitely grateful
for you all. My incredible teachers and supervisors, who have guided me and
encouraged me over the years. Dami and Franki for bringing so much creativity
and fun to this project – without you guys, this ebook would fully just have been
black and white. Last but not least, I want to thank Michelle for just being the most
incredible person. You are one of the smartest people I know and thus quite
possibly the most equipped person to write this book. But you are also the kindest,
most genuine person ever. This book wouldn’t have been remotely possible
without you, so thank you for agreeing to do this with me.
 Special Thanks
This book would not be possible without the incredibly generous help of our friends, who have
not only given us so much encouragement throughout the process, but have also shared with
us their experiences, tips and tricks, and sample essays and answers. When you read the Guide,
you’ll see that it’s all very much from the heart – it’s genuine, vulnerable, and doesn’t sugarcoat
anything, which hopefully gives you a more accurate and realistic picture of what law school is
like. They also come from different backgrounds and have diverse interests and personalities,
so we hope that by including them in this Guide, you’ll be able to find something that resonates
with you
We really want to thank the following people (listed alphabetically by first name):

Hi! I'm Aadishi, a first-seat Trainee Solicitor at Cleary

Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton. I graduated from UCL with
a First Class LLB degree and am a Dean's List
awardee. Studying law helped me find my passion
and niche and I hope to use it as an instrument of
change as my career progresses. Outside law, I love
travelling and my ideal vacation involves beaches,
octopi and scuba diving. I am a big foodie and write
food reviews in my free time (but brunches are my
favourite). I am an avid reader and truly believe that I
am the product of all the impactful writing I have
read so far. Most days you will catch me reading
something new or telling you about it!!

I’m Boma George from Lagos, Nigeria. Although I’ve

always vaguely known I wanted to do law (thanks
parents), my law journey started in earnest at sixth
form. I did the IB with Dabi at Sevenoaks School,
where I joined the law society. I then did law at
Oxford, and applied to first-year insight schemes at
several Magic Circle firms with the help of Rare
Recruitment. Off the back of one of these schemes, I
secured my TC with Clifford Chance in the summer
after my first year of uni. I have just finished the LPC,
and I’m now looking forward to starting work as a
trainee in CC’s Project & Infrastructure Finance group.
I’m always happy to help and answer any questions
about getting into law, so feel free to contact me on
LinkedIn with any questions you may have!

Emmanuel is a law graduate from Cambridge. He

spent three years studying at Cambridge and spent a
year studying Spanish law in Madrid. Emmanuel is a
future trainee at Clifford Chance
 Eseosa moved to the UK from Nigeria when she was
16 years old and attended Sevenoaks School in Kent.
She then went on to pursue a law degree at the
Univerity College London and graduated with First
Class Honours. She is currently studying at the
Nigerian Law School to become a barrister and
solicitor of the supreme court of Nigeria and is a
future trainee at Clifford Chance LLP.

Gabriel is a law graduate from the University of

Cambridge since 2019. He has secured a training
contract with Freshfields Brukhaus Deringer in Hong
Kong. His interest in law lies in dispute resolution and
commercial litigation. He has work experience in this
area of law at various law firms in Singapore, UK and
HK before he secured his training contract. During his
time at Cambridge, he was an active member at both
the Singaporean Society and Cambridge Law Society.
During his free time, he likes to run, read and draw.
Please feel free to reach out to him at
mufc888@hotmail.com for any queries or
collaborations

Hi there! I’m Ikenna, an aspiring lawyer by day and a writer by night. I

am an LLB Law graduate from the University of Exeter, and recently
completed the LLM Legal Practice Course at BPP Law School Holborn
London. Following a keen interest in emerging technologies in
commerce, I am currently an MSc Management student at Imperial
College Business School, looking to specialise in the area of innovation.
I have interned at a range of companies from the financial software
industry and other start-up companies to global and high-street law
firms in Lagos Nigeria and London, UK. I am now a future trainee
solicitor at international law firm, Dentons LLP.

Alongside building my career, I am a self-published author and poet. I

also write for an online platform called BAME Nation, which I
cofounded and manage alongside my co-founder, to inform law
students from BAME and international backgrounds about the
commercial world and what to expect as lawyers.

Hi! I’m Oyinkansola Oladapo. I am a Law graduate

from the University of Durham, looking to pursue a
career in public health. I am currently working at a
healthcare consulting company in Lagos, Nigeria.
Outside of my day job, I run a lifestyle and educational
health & fitness page called The YTO Fitness Hub
(@ytofitnesshub_ on Instagram), aimed at redefining
society’s perception of health and fitness.
Saif was born in the USA and comes from a low
income background. At 14, he moved to the UK after
the passing of his parents and attended a
low-achieving state comprehensive. He ultimately
secured a place at the University of Cambridge and
achieved a First Class degree in Law. He is now a
trainee solicitor at Clifford Chance’s London office.

Toni Adejuyigbe attended Day Waterman College

from 2009-2014, serving as the Social Prefect in his
final year. He completed his A Levels at Malvern
College before studying Law at St Hilda’s College,
Oxford. He is currently a Trainee Solicitor at
international law firm Latham & Watkins LLP.

Toni is a keen negotiator and has competed in several

negotiating competitions, most recently
representing Oxford at the 2018 International
Negotiation Competition in India where he was
awarded a silver medal. His interests include running,
photo-journalism and fashion.

I’m Francesca but most people call me Franki! I grew up in

Singapore but have spent nearly all my adult life in
London. After studying Biology at Imperial and Business
Management at London Business School, I now work for a
mobile game studio in London.

Outside of work and academics I spend a lot of time

learning various crafts like baking, sewing and digital
illustration. This project has been so much fun to work on
with Dabi, Michelle and Dami. While I’m not an artist, I
have found a lot of joy in creating these doodles. If you’re
interested in seeing more of my doodles follow me on
Instagram @doodlebar.menu. I’ve learnt a lot working on
this ebook and I’m sure you will too!
 Why should you read this?

Hello! My name is Michelle (Yik Yu) Wong, and I

studied my B.A. in Law at Newnham College,
University of Cambridge from 2016-2019. I am
excited to start my training contract with
Latham & Watkins LLP’s Hong Kong office in
September 2020.

This is a concise, carefully-thought out

distillation of everything we learned after three
years of continuously trying, failing, getting
back up and trying again. We didn’t have a
guide like this when we started and had to
figure it out on our own. How do I choose the
right law school?

When I actually get to law school, why does it seem like everyone else is thriving while
I’m struggling so hard? How do I take effective notes: do I have one Word document for
lectures, one for textbook notes, and one for supervisions, or do I combine them? How
do I structure problem questions and draw analogies with some cases and distinguish
others? What is this essay question really getting at and how can I structure my answer
to answer the question directly but in a nuanced manner? What do I have to look out
for during an interview for a training contract, and how can I perform my best during
my vacation scheme?

We were so fortunate to have had advice from seniors, friends, family, professors and
law professionals throughout our time, and through trial and error, we worked out a
system that works for us, and we hope that we can share this with you. However, we
appreciate that everyone is unique and functions in very different ways, and there are
many paths to “success”, however you want to define it. These are merely our
experiences, but hopefully they will point you in the right direction and inspire
intentional approaches to studying and job-seeking

This book is a culmination of research and personal experience, because we want to be

real with you that going through law school is not easy. We scattered personal
anecdotes, including both our challenges and mini triumphs (read on to find out about
how I went from writing 2:2 and low 2:1 criminal law essays all year to getting two 78s on
the exam) throughout to show you how normal it is to struggle. When I was calling my
grandma three or four times a day crying about how sad I was in first year, I never
thought I would get to where I am today. Throughout law school, I’ve not only
developed a more critical, logical and analytical method of thinking (I was recently told
by a high school classmate that my non-law related project proposal is “such a law
student proposal”. whatever that means), but also developed the ability to make
persuasive and reasoned arguments based on evidence. I’ve debunked myths I’ve
created and known about myself for as long as I can remember, and was forced to
adapt and confront myself in ways I’ve never done before. It is wild and difficult, but as
with everything else in life, it’s the journey and the reflections throughout that make it
so memorable.

We understand that this could be a daunting or alien process, but we survived (as did
all previous graduates) and so will you. We hope that our little tips and tricks will keep
you company from the time you think about applying to law school, to the time when
you are in law school, to the end of your training contract application process. For those
who don’t want to apply to training contracts, that is completely fine; we only focused
on it because we know it best, In that case, we would recommend you read the first two
parts of the book.

Upon discussion, Dabi and I decided that we wanted to make this e-book free. Access
to education is so important to us, and we don’t want financial barriers to come
between people and the information in this book. Therefore, if you have found this
helpful, we would really appreciate it if you could share it with your school counsellors,
friends, juniors, or on social media

Try to enjoy the process and keep doing things outside of law that make you feel joy.
Good luck - we believe in you.
 Why should you read this?

Hi! I’m not sure why you’ve picked

up this book. Maybe it was
recommended by a friend? Or
maybe you’re an aspiring law
student frantically searching the
internet for any semblance of a
guide on how to go about studying
law and making a career of it? Or,
maybe you’re just bored?
Regardless of your reasons, Michelle
and I are so happy that you’ve found
our book

My name is Dabi Olu-Odugbemi. I received a First Class law degree from Cambridge
University in 2019, after matriculating in October 2016. Over the course of my three years
at university, I was offered internships and job offers from prestigious firms and
companies such as Clifford Chance, Goldman Sachs, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton,
Linklaters and Barclays. I accepted a Training Contract from Cleary Gottlieb Steen &
Hamilton and I am more than thrilled to be starting with them in August 2020.

Reading that back sounds really cool (I mean, I think it’s cool, I hope you do too), but 17
year-old me couldn’t have fathomed this. At 17, I was struggling to balance my extended
essay and six IB subjects with the multitude of extra-curriculars I was involved in to
make myself the perfect candidate. I went through being rejected from my dream
university at the time (LSE) and crying in the bathroom for two hours straight while my
friends begged me to open the door. Calling my parents in tears after my Cambridge
mock interview because my interviewer said that I would probably be better off taking
a gap year as it was unlikely that I would get any offers from “good universities” that
academic year. Deciding in my head that I wasn’t going to let him be right and
spending hours researching the University of Cambridge and its law degree to truly
understand what law was and why I wanted to commit three years of my life to
studying it. Getting into Cambridge and calling my dad (he shrieked on the phone and
for the rest of my life, I will remember that sound). Seeing the pride in my mum’s eyes
when we arrived at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge on October 1,2016 and she saw my
name – Talodabioluwa Olu-Odugbemi– written boldly alongside with the names of all
the other people living in my block. Receiving my first law essay back and being told it
was so bad it could not even be classed as a third. Studying, making friends, crying alone
some nights because I was being crushed by imposter syndrome. Getting up the next
day and making the choice to work harder and get better. Working my way up to
consistent 2.1 essays, and then high 2.1s and then finally, firsts.
This book is the most brutally honest recollection of everything we had to work through
to get to where we are now. It is our “no BS account” of doing a law degree and applying
for Training Contracts at corporate law firms. Michelle and I have put to paper answers
to all the questions we had from age 17/18 when we were applying to university (what
do I put in my personal statement? Do universities really care that I can play three
sports and five instruments?), when we were at university (how does one even
structure a problem question?) and when we were applying for Training Contracts.

Michelle and I are passionate about helping as

many of you as possible through what can be a
really difficult process. As we’ve both said, we were
very privileged in the level of support we had, but
we know that’s not the case for everyone. So, we
decided to make this completely free ebook in our
bid to broaden access to legal education. Your
success means everything to us – whatever success
may look like. Whether that’s helping you get into
university, or helping you raise your grades at
university, or getting you your dream job. All we ask
is that if you think you’ve benefited from what we’ve
written, share it with other people who you think
could use the advice. Tag us on results day when
you get into uni, or you get your grades! We’d love to
share in your joy

A law degree is challenging and painful at times. But it is also immensely fulfilling. I can
tell you right now that the pride I felt on June 29, 2019 when I walked up the stage and
received my degree was unparalleled. I want you to experience the same thing.
Dabi xx
Part 1: Applying to University
Chapter

01 An Overview of the Law Degree

CONTENT S
Chapter

TABLE OF
02 Choosing the right University
Chapter

03 Applying for University

Chapter

04 Applying to Oxbriddge

Part 2: While at University

Chapter

05 Mental Health
Chapter

06 How to take good notes

Chapter

07 How to write a good essay

Chapter

08 How to write a good answer to a legal problem

Chapter

09 Writing a Dissertation
Chapter

10 Tips on preparing for exams

Chapter

11 Extracurriculars

Part 3: Getting a Training Contract

Chapter

12 Deciding what firms to apply to

Chapter

13 The Training Contract/ Vacation Scheme Application

Chapter

14 The interview/ Assessment Centre

Chapter

15 Acing your vacation scheme and getting a training contract

Chapter

16 Final Remarks
 Part 1:
Applying to
University
So you’ve decided you want to
study law. What do you see
yourself doing? What kind
of lawyer do you want to be?
Write down your thoughts
and the date. You can revisit
this page later and update
your answers
 1:OVERVIEW OF A LAW DEGREE
According to the Complete University Guide, Law is the second most popular degree
studied in the UK. A typical law degree lasts three years, culminating in students being
awarded an LLB. LLB is latin for “Legum Baccalaureus” and roughly translates to
“Bachelors of Laws” Degree. This qualifying degree will allow you to move onto your
next stage of legal training: for aspiring solicitors, this is the LPC, and for barristers, this
is the BPTC. This chapter gives a brief outline of how the law degree is taught, what
modules you will learn, how you are assessed, and finally, what skills you will hopefully
walk away with at the end of your degree.

How will you be taught?

The law degree is taught through a combination of lectures, tutorials (or supervisions)
and a lot of reading/self-study. In the chapters to come, we will talk more about how to
make the most of these methods with regards to taking notes, writing essays and
preparing for exams. But these next few pages are just meant to introduce you to the
different learning methods.

Lectures:
If you’ve watched any movies or TV shows about “college” as
Americans call it, you’ll have seen the clips of large halls packed with
students and a man or woman standing in front of them (hopefully)
commanding the attention of the room. We hope you liked what you
saw, because that is a lecture
Lectures are a great way to get an overview of a particular topic from
the lecturer, who will be a professional or an academic within that
particular field. As law students, we found lectures really useful
because a law degree requires you to deal with fairly complicated
texts. Over the course of your degree you will be expected to read
cases with judgments that can span up to a hundred pages. You will
read articles and books written by academics that will lean heavily on
Latin that you often will not understand (prima facie, ultra vires, ratio
decidendi... we could go on). We found that lecturers made it easier to
understand the material we are later expected to read, because they
explain the key concepts and details that we needed to know. For
example, with cases, the lecturer would usually go through the facts
of the case and provide a summary of the judgment.

Similarly, we found that our lecturers were able to distill the academic
arguments that we were meant to learn into bite-sized summaries so
that when we went on to read the articles ourselves, we could spot
core arguments faster and also identify the more niche points that we
 otherwise may not have noticed.In saying the above, we recognise
that not everyone may learn the way we learn. We do well with
having information spoken to us first before we go on to read it
ourselves. However, we have friends who preferred self-study over
Lectures: lectures. Also, you might prefer lectures for some module more
than others, and some lecturers over others. That’s completely
normal, because everyone is different. So, we urge you to
continually reassess your methods of study and how they are
working for you. Switch them up if need be, but if you find
something that works and that you are happy with, then stick to it.

While lectures consist of a large body of students with fairly

minimal interactions, tutorials/supervisions are the polar opposite.
Tutorials/ They are smaller, more focused sessions intended to give students
Supervisions the opportunity to discuss and debate the reading, as well as gain
feedback on written work they have handed in.

The expectation is that before you attend your tutorial, you will
have gone to lectures and/or worked your way through the reading
list for that session. The tutorial gives you a chance to ask any
questions you may have had about the reading and clarify any
confusing points. The tutor will then walk you and the other
students through a series of tasks, which are meant to help you
consolidate your learning. When we were undergraduates, these
tasks were usually past essay questions or problem questions,
which we and other students in the class would orally plan an
answer to under the tutor’s guidance.

Prior to the tutorial, you may be assigned a piece of written

work to submit. You will receive feedback for this work at the
tutorial. However, since the tasks for the tutorials are pre-planned,
there usually isn’t time for you to ask for details about the feedback
you were given, but you can always email your tutor with any
questions you have, or set up a one-on-one meeting during the
tutor’s office hours.
Self Study Any law student will agree that self-study makes up the bulk of
your learning. We’ve mentioned above that you will have a
reading list to work through before you attend tutorials. This
reading list will usually be made up of textbook chapters, cases
and statutes and academic reading
Textbooks: textbooks aim to explain the different topics within the
course. They have extracts of cases or academic articles and
provide commentary on these materials
Cases and Statutes: statutes refer to the laws made by the UK
Parliament thatare codified in the Acts of Parliament. Aside from
statute, law students will also study case law because the UK has
a common law system, which is a system through which the
majority of the law is derived from the judgments of past cases
(precedents). During your law degree, you will be expected to
analyse both of these sources of law and develop informed
opinions about them

Academic Reading: this can come in the form of articles or books

written by the leading scholars within the field. Scholars will
usually be analysing and critiquing the outcomes of cases, or
considering the effectiveness of statutes. We speak about these
sources in more detail in Chapter 6: How to Take Good Notes,
because your self-study is really just you going through this
material and consolidating it into easily-understandable notes for
essays and essay plans
 The Core Modules
In order to receive a qualifying law degree in England and Wales, you must study seven
compulsory modules at university, so they will have been automatically built into your
syllabus. They are: Criminal law, Constitutional/Public Law, Tort law, Land/Property
Law, Contract Law, Equity & Trusts and EU Law. Which year of your degree you study
each subject differs depending on your university. For example, we studied Contract
Law in our second year but we have friends at other universities who took Contract Law
in their first year. So what will you be taught in each module?

Criminal Law: You will be taught about different classes of offenses in

England and Wales, and will study how they are punished. You will
learn about the elements of crimes (actus reus and mens rea) and
analyse how these elements appear through real life examples (from
case law

Public/Constitutional Law: A constitution refers to a body of rules that

are used to govern a group. During your study of constitutional law,
you will consider the guiding rules and principles of the UK. The UK is
unique because unlike other countries (for example the US), it has no
formal written constitution. Rather, the UK’s constitution is derived
from various sources, such as the Common Law and general principles
like the Rule of Law

Tort Law: A “tort” is a civil wrong committed by one person against

another. Tort law teaches about these different wrongs and the
remedies that they attract

Contract Law: a contract, simply put, is an agreement between two or

more people or entities. You will learn about the legal elements of a
contract and the different ways a contract can be breached according
to English law, and the remedies if a contract is breached.

Land/Property Law: While subjects like Tort and Contract look at

breaches of personal rights, land law considers breaches of property
rights. You will learn about the different interests in land (freehold,
leasehold, easements, etc.), how they are created and how they are
protected by the law
 Trusts/Equity: to understand Equity law, you have to understand the
evolution of English law. Originally, the UK simply had common law
and statutes. The laws derived from thesesystems were general and
expected to be one-size-fits all. But sometimes this led to unfair
outcomes, because cases are not always black and white. There were
many circumstances where common law gave rise to an unjust
outcome, or gave a claimant no remedy at all. Equity was created to fill
the gap and prevent absurdities or unfairness from arising through
abuses of the Common Law. Over time, Equity developed into its own
unique system which was officially fused with the Common Law
through the Judicature Acts in the late 19th century. To gain a full
picture of English Law operates, you must understand Equity.

European Union (EU) Law: Through this module you will study the
laws of the European Union and how they apply to member states.
Obviously, we can’t ignore the elephant in the room which is Brexit;
however, it is likely that any deal that the UK and Europe enter into will
see the UK absorbing many EU laws. So, this is still an incredibly vital
module. It is particularly important for those of you who hope to work
for international firms and organisations, as this knowledge will prove
necessary in cross-border dealsl.

How you will be Assessed

Law is a very essay-heavy subject; thus, your assessments will largely be essay focused.
You will have to hand in coursework, essays and possibly a dissertation that will
contribute to your final grade. Additionally, most universities will require you to sit an
exam at the end of each year in the modules you have taken. These exams will give you
the choice of different essay questions and problem questions. You will then be asked
to choose a certain number of questions to answer within a given time frame. Some
universities may also have open-book exams, whilst others may not. In our case, we
had closed-book exams requiring us to answer four questions in three hours.
 What skills does a Law Degree Provide?
Studying law is definitely one of the best decisions we’ve made. Of course, we now have
an overview of the legal system (we can, in fact, tell you the elements of many crimes
off the to of our heads – though this is not as exciting as you’d think it would be). But
also, we’ve gained many soft skills that have contributed to making us well-rounded
individuals. So we wanted to end this chapter by telling you a few of those skills in the
hopes that you will feel more excited about your decision to study law:

Analytical skills:
Studying law has taught us to
constantly question the information we’re
given.Through questioning, we’re able to
uncover flaws or discrepancies within that
information and consider methods of improving
things. This is a valuable skill, firstly because it is what
employers look for. Companies are seeking to hire
students who can evaluate information and solve
complex problems. But even outside of employment,
being analytical has helped us gain a more thorough
understanding of the world and invited us to challenge
the status quo when change is needed. We find
ourselves thinking a lot about the world we live in
and how it can be improved. For us, it feels like
we’re more awake and aware of our Communicative
surroundings, which we really skills:
a p p r e c i a t e . After doing a law degree and
having our essays as well as our
contributions in tutorials constantly
scrutinized and critiqued, we
Structured thinking: developed strong oral and written
To show that an offence has skills. We learned how to construct
been committed in a problem arguments and deliver them
question, all elements of that offence appropriately. Our vocabulary
must be satisfied by the defendant. To has also been
make a convincing argument on a topic in broadened.
an essay, you need to structure your points 1,
2, 3 in a logical, convincing way such that
together, they prove their thesis. Constant
legal training throughout the three years
taught us to be structured and logical
in our thinking and in the
presentation of our ideas,
which is a very valuable
s k i l l .
 Organisational skills:
At university, we were
delivering multiple essays a
week whilst trying to stay on top of
extra-curricular activities, job
applications… and sleep. Managing our
lives during our degrees taught us to
be organised. The only way we could
survive our degrees was by being
organized through using certain
Confidence:
strategies that will be
Speaking up in a room with
discussed later in the
students who achieved top A-level
b o o k .
grades and a supervisor who literally
wrote the book or article on our reading
lists was nerve-wracking when we first
started at university. However, our law
degrees taught us to be confident in our
ideas and our intelligence. We learned how
to voice our opinions in rooms where we
felt intimidated and stood by our
arguments when we knew that
they were valid, regardless of
the pushback.

Resilience:
One thing that you will note
throughout this book is the
emphasis we have placed on showing
you that studying law was not easy. We
had a lot of moments where we felt like we
couldn’t cope, but we repeatedly made the
choice to keep working hard. Studying law
has taught us that we are capable of a lot
and has shown us the value in continuing
to bounce back, even when it’s tough. If
we can do it, you can too.
Close your eyes and imagine your dream uni-
versity experience. Who are you surrounded by?
What are you doing? Where are you? Write
this down, but keep in mind that this may
change as time goes on.
 2 :CHOOSING THE RIGHT UNIVERSITY
Choosing the right universities to apply to can be a daunting process, but here is a
guided approach to help structure your decision-making process. Remember that
there is no right or wrong answer as to which five to put on your UCAS application - as
long as you do thorough research and have good reasons for your choices based on
what you know about yourself and your circumstances, trust that it will be the right
choice for you
Step 1 - Research universities that have an undergraduate law degree
a. Go on university websites and google rankings (eg. QS World University
Rankings Times Higher Education rankings/the Complete University
Guide) to make a list of universities offering undergraduate law degrees
that you are interested in learning more about.
b. Examples include the following (listed alphabetically), but we want to
emphasize again that these are not all the possible options.

Durham University
King’s College London
Lancaster University
London School of Economics
Queen Mary University
Queen’s University Belfast
University College London
University of Aberdeen
University of Bristol
University of Cambridge
University of Dundee
University of Edinburgh
University of Essex
University of Exeter
University of Glasgow
University of Leeds
University of Manchester
University of Nottingham
University of Oxford
University of Sheffield
University of Stirling
University of Strathclyde
University of Warwick
University of York
Step 2 - What do I want?
Refer to column 3 in the table below for factors to consider when choosing
a university. Think through what your preference is for each of the factors,
and/or generally, what you want in your university experience, and fill in
the third column

Area Factors to consider What I want

Academics and Academics

course structure • Admissions requirements
• Study abroad opportunities?
• Stress levels - how academically
rigorous is the program?

Course structure
• How many electives vs. mandatory
courses?
• When are exams taken?
• How is your final degree
classification calculated?
• Opportunity to write a dissertation?

Finances •Price of tuition?

•Living costs - food, transit,
accommodation?
•Scholarships available?
•Ability to work (if needed) while
studying? Note that some universities
do not allow this

Location and Location:

Weather •City vs. town? Bigger or smaller place?
•Live at home vs. explore a new place?
•How far away from home? Is it easy to get
home? (only if you have a home and wish to
go back often)
•Restaurants and stores easily accessible?

Weather
•Warmer vs. colder?
•Rain levels? Note: some people have
seasonal depression
Area Factors to consider What I want

Campus and Size University

•Campus feel vs. spread out over a
wider area?
•Modern or old buildings?
•College system?

Size
•Student population - big or small?
•Size of classes - big or small?

Diversity and •Inclusivity of different cultures, sexual

inclusivity orientations, races, financial backgrounds
and physical abilities?
•Mental health support services?

Note: check statistics to get a sense of it, but

don’t let a lack of representation deter you
from applying - you deserve to be there as
much as others do.

Accomodation •On campus or off campus?

- If on campus: what services and
facilities are offered?
- If off campus: is it easy to find off
campus sites?
•Costs?
•Roommate or no roommate?

Extra curricular •Sports teams?

activities •Societies and clubs?
•Volunteer opportunities?

Career Support •How good is the careers services in helping

with proofreading CVs/cover letters, doing
mock interviews, and locating job
opportunities?
•Job fairs?

Others •Friends going to the same

university/nearby universities (if
that’s important to you)?
Step 3 - Make a pros and cons list for each university
a. For each of the universities you identified in Step 1, go onto their website,
online forums, and LinkedIn (message alumni directly) to find out what
the university offers for each factor. The table below will then become
your pros and cons list
b. In addition to using resources on the internet, speak to seniors and school
counsellors if possible. Go to these universities’ open days if you have the
resources and time to do so to get a better feel of the universities. Add this
information to the pros and cons

Area Factors to consider Uni 1 Uni 2 ...

Academics and Academics

course structure • Admissions requirements
• Study abroad opportunities?
• Stress levels - how academically
rigorous is the program?

Course structure
• How many electives vs. mandatory
courses?
• When are exams taken?
• How is your final degree
classification calculated?
• Opportunity to write a dissertation?

Finances •Price of tuition?

•Living costs - food, transit,
accommodation?
•Scholarships available?
•Ability to work (if needed) while
studying? Note that some universities
do not allow this

Location and Location:

Weather •City vs. town? Bigger or smaller place?
•Live at home vs. explore a new place?
•How far away from home? Is it easy to get
home? (only if you have a home and wish to
go back often)
•Restaurants and stores easily accessible?

Weather
•Warmer vs. colder?
•Rain levels? Note: some people have
seasonal depression
Area Factors to consider Uni 1 Uni 2 ...

Campus and Size University

•Campus feel vs. spread out over a
wider area?
•Modern or old buildings?
•College system?

Size
•Student population - big or small?
•Size of classes - big or small?

Diversity and •Inclusivity of different cultures, sexual

inclusivity orientations, races, financial backgrounds
and physical abilities?
•Mental health support services?

Note: check statistics to get a sense of it, but

don’t let a lack of representation deter you
from applying - you deserve to be there as
much as others do.

Accomodation •On campus or off campus?

- If on campus: what services and
facilities are offered?
- If off campus: is it easy to find off
campus sites?
•Costs?
•Roommate or no roommate?

Extra curricular •Sports teams?

activities •Societies and clubs?
•Volunteer opportunities?

Career Support •How good is the careers services in helping

with proofreading CVs/cover letters, doing
mock interviews, and locating job
opportunities?
•Job fairs?

Others •Friends going to the same

university/nearby universities (if
that’s important to you)?
Step 4 - Carefully think through the list and narrow it down to 5 universities: after
. . .
knowing the pros and cons of each university, it’s time to narrow down the list to
five universities (max) for the UCAS application. The right fit at the time of your
application is the most important thing

a. In the list, we recommend there to be a combination of the following:

i.Safety schools (schools you know you will meet the requirements of)
ii.Target schools (schools you can get into relatively comfortably)
iii.Aspirational schools (schools you would consider your dream
universities

b. When choosing, do what feels right to you and makes you comfortable. In
life, there are endless possibilities and paths we can travel down, and
because we don’t get the chance to see how life would be if we just made
another decision at a specific juncture, we put so much pressure on
ourselves to make the “right” choice. But remember that we can only make
decisions based on the best information we currently have about the
external world and about ourselves, so just trust yourself and go for it. You’ll
make it work

Top Tip:
For example, we both studied the International
Baccalaureate (IB) instead of A-levels. The IB is scored
out of 45 and students generally take three Higher
Level subjects scored out of seven and three Standard
Level subjects which are also scored out of seven (as
well as an Extended Essay and a course called Theory
of Knowledge (think watered down philosophy)).

Imagine we were predicted to get 42 points, with 7,7,6

in our Higher Level Subjects. A safety school might be
one that required 35 IB points, with 6,6,6 at Higher
Level. An aspirational school might be one that
required exactly those predicted grades – 42 points
overall with 7,7,6 at Higher Level.
 UCAS CHOICES

Fill this out when you’ve firmly decided on the

5 universities you wish to apply to:

1.

2,

3,

4,

5,
 3 :APPLYING TO UNIVERSITY
By this point, you’ve made up your mind. You definitely want to study law and you’ve
chosen the universities you want to apply to. But what does the application process
look like, what options are available to you and how do you go about applying?

Plain vanilla law degrees?

Subject Combinations
Many people say they want to study law without recognising that many universities will
actually allow you to study a combined degree. This means that you could study not just
law, but for example, law and a language (e.g. Law with French) or law and another
social science (e.g. Law and Sociology). Michelle and I (Dabi) both studied what we’ll
describe as “plain vanilla” law degrees, but we want to make it clear that you can choose
to do something else if you wish. Throughout this guide, the most important tip we
hope you take away is that your future is yours to create. So if you think you want to
study law along with another subject that you enjoy, then do your research and look at
schools that offer subject combinations. Go to university Open Days if you can, or call up
the Admissions department and discuss the possibility of subject combinations.
However, our only word of caution is to be certain that your subject combination will
allow you to graduate with what’s called a “qualifying law degree”. A qualifying law
degree is a degree that will allow you to practice as a lawyer in England and Wales. If you
don’t plan to work as a lawyer, then this doesn’t really matter and you could just study
law purely for the knowledge and academic fulfillment. However, if you do think that
you’d like to practice law, then it’s something to consider. Even if your law degree is not
a qualifying one, this still isn't the end of the world by any means. You could undertake
the year-long graduate diploma in law (GDL), which is a qualifying law degree.

Study Options
Another point we would like to make clear is that you don’t have to study law full
time if you’re unable to. There are many universities that offer part-time degrees
or flexible study options that might better cater to your specific circumstances. If
you think you want to obtain a law degree but are concerned about the prospect
of studying full time for three years, then do your research and consider a
university that offers more flexible forms of study. We don’t know what your
circumstances are, but we want to direct this message specifically to the person
who wants to study law but is worried about taking a different path and
graduating a few years after your friends. It’s completely understandable to feel
anxious at the prospect of being left behind. But you will be so proud of yourself
for pursuing your dream and sticking with it. My (Dabi) grandad got his law
degree at 70 years old, and Italy’s oldest student Giuseppe Paterno got his
undergraduate degree in history and philosophy at 96! You are never too old to
pursue your dreams. Even if you don’t get your degree via a conventional route,
remember that a law degree is a law degree. Tomato, tomato.
 Applying through UCAS
In the UK, students apply to university via the Universities and Colleges Admissions
Service (UCAS). You will first select the universities you want to apply to (up to a
maximum of five) and then upload a personal statement that will be sent to all of these
universities. This personal statement, your grades and for some universities, the Law
National Aptitude Test (LNAT), are what university admissions officers will use to judge
whether or not they will grant you a place. We will talk about each of the elements of

Grades
As we’ve mentioned already, different universities will have different academic
requirements. It is vital that you research what these requirements are for each of the
schools that you are applying to. When we were applying, we were encouraged to pick
an aspirational school (that is, a school with higher academic eligibility criteria) as well
as a “safety” school (one with academic requirements that we felt we could comfortably
achieve). See Chapter 2: Choosing the Right School to figure out how you work this out!

It’s a good idea to speak with a trusted teacher or adult about where you plan to apply
and get some advice from them about what they think your choices should look like.
But in saying that, don’t let people discourage you and your ambitions. Ultimately, you
are the only one who knows how hard you are willing to work, as well as the extent of
your capabilities. Our advice to you will always be to undertake a lot of self-reflection
and be brutally honest with yourself. Don’t undersell yourself by not applying to
universities with higher requirements because you are doubtful of your capabilities.
However, be careful of choosing too many schools with grade requirements that far
surpass your predicted grades, as you don’t want to be disappointed.

Law National Aptitude Test

The LNAT is a test required by some universities as part of their application process.
Some notable universities that require the LNAT include the University of Bristol, the
London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), The University of Nottingham,
University College London (UCL), The University of Oxford and more. So, if any of these
universities are on your list then prepare yourself – you’re taking the LNAT.

What does the LNAT entail?

Top
The aim of the LNAT is to test you on your:
tip from Aadishi:
1. Verbal reasoning skills While the LNAT essay is not
2. Ability to interpret information; and marked per se, it is an important
opportunity for applicants to showcase
3. Deductive reasoning relevant legal skills to universities. These
universities assess applicants' analytical
The LNAT does not require any prior legal capabilities and whether they are able to
knowledge. present logical arguments in a structured
manner. Hence, the LNAT essay can make
The test will be made up of two parts: or break to your application and
(1) multiple choice questions; requires preparation and practice.

(2)an essay.
Multiple Choice Section
The multiple choice section is made up of 42 questions derived from 12 passages of text
that must be answered within 95 minutes. Your results on the multiple choice section
will provide you with your “LNAT” score
The purpose of these questions is to show that you can identify key issues, understand
arguments, analyse and decode relevant material, and know the difference between
fact and opinions

Your LNAT exam will pose a variety of multiple choice questions, some of which include:

Argument and Analysis Questions

i. This could be a situation where you are given a chunk of text and asked to
select the author’s main argument. Or, you could be given five statements and
asked to select which statement is correct. The tricky thing with these questions
is that oftentimes, all the answers will be, in some way, correct, but the question
is trying to get you to choose the “most correct” answer. Another way of saying
that is that the question is asking you to select the most significant
statement/argument – the one that goes to the heart of the question.

ii. Since these questions are kind of tricky, you might not be able to identify the
correct answer instantly – and that’s okay! The best way to go about these is to
use the process of elimination. Start by selecting all the answers that you are
sure are wrong. Once you do that, you will hopefully be left with one final
answer that should be correct

Literary Inference Questions

For these questions, you might be given a passage and then asked to interpret
the meaning of a word used within it. These questions are testing how you use
context to analyse and drive answers. Therefore, the key thing to do here is really
read the text and think about how the word has been used in the context of the
passage. It may not necessarily have the meaning that you would expect it to in
another context.
Essay Section
For the essay section, you will be provided with three
The questions could come from
questions, of which you will have to choose one to
different categories, including:
answer. You will only have 40 minutes to select a
1. Ethics
question, plan your essay and then write your answer.
2. Education
Take it from someone who has done this test – this is
3. Law
not a lot of time. The purpose of this section is to check
4. Media
that you can coherently form and present an
5. Philosophy
argument under significant time constraints.
6. Politics
Although this essay does not contribute towards your
7. Science
LNAT score, it is sent to the universities you are
Of course, you will go into the LNAT
applying to. They will read what you write and use this
having no clue what the essay question
to gauge your essay-writing and deductive abilities, so
is. But that doesn’t mean you can’t
give this your best shot.
practice!
 Top tips for preparing for the LNAT
Read the news: although the essay questions are derived from a broad range
of topics, they are often informed by what’s happening in the news. For
example, when we were taking the LNAT, euthanasia was a topical issue and
thus was a question that came up. So, keep up to date with current affairs so
that you can learn a few facts, which you can hopefully throw into an essay.
These facts will add credibility to your answer and help you stand out.

Read more opinion pieces or argumentative essays: the tricky part of the
LNAT essay for many students is moving from the typical way that you have
been taught to write essays, i.e. write all the pros, write all the cons and then
write a conclusion. This won’t fly for the LNAT. For this essay, you’re trying to
write an argumentative essay from start to finish, which means knowing your
argument before you start writing it, and selecting the points that you can use
to further your argument.

Learn the value of counterpoints: we know we’ve just said above that you are
writing an argumentative essay, and so you should choose an argument and
stick to it. But argumentative essays don't mean that when you’re writing, you
should pretend that you’re 100% correct and there is no other argument.
Rather, you should aim to mention a few of the opposing arguments (these
would be called counterpoints), with the aim of debunking them.

Imagine that the essay was on whether children under the age of 10 should be given
compulsory homework and I was arguing that they should be. I would raise the
counterargument that if students didn’t have set homework from school, they would
have more time to take up other extracurriculars such as music or drama. But then I
would debunk this by reiterating why homework is still important:

EXAMPLE: Some might argue that removing the obligation of homework would be most
beneficial to younger students. The justification being that by removing homework,
students would have more free time to discover other extracurriculars that are just as
fulfilling as academics, for example, music or art. While this argument has merit, it has a
number of flaws. For example, it assumes that the free time students now have will
automatically be filled by fulfilling extracurricular activities, but this might not be the case.
It is not unfathomable that some students might simply use the spare time to watch
television. Furthermore, homework plays an important role in reinforcing students’
knowledge of topics learned at school. By going home and having to redo tasks similar to
those which they have studied that day at school, students are able to better absorb the
content whilst also being made aware of possible gaps in their knowledge. This is not to say
that extracurriculars are unimportant, but rather that homework does not have to be
completely phased out for extracurriculars to be carried out. A better suggestion might be
to restrict the amount of time required for homework a day, for example to half an hour or
45 minutes. Doing so would mean that students are still able to fortify their understanding
from classes, whilst also having free time to pursue extracurricular or leisure activities.
Practice Practice Practice…: the LNAT, like many things in life, is one of
those things that you get better at with practice, so you must find the time
to practice. At the end of this section, we will leave a few links to sites
offering free practice questions, as well as some Amazon links for LNAT
specific books you can purchase if you think you need to. Take a look at
these resources and try to use them. If your school has a law society, reach
out to the teacher in charge of it and ask if they have any resources you can
practice with. Trust us, it will help. And speaking of practice...

Practice all the sections, not just multiple choice: many students fall into
the trap of focusing only on the multiple choice section, thinking they can
just wing the essay portion. In the interest of full disclosure, I 100% did that.
But take it from me, DON’T DO THIS. Practice both the essay and the
multiple choice questions. You want to have a fully rounded test, not one
where you do amazingly in the multiple choice but then really poorly in the
essay or vice versa. Also remember that as a law student, you will write a lot
of essays. So practicing for the essay portion of the LNAT will help set you up
well for writing argumentative pieces as a law student.

Here are a few links to some sites that offer some good LNAT advice or questions that you can
practice with:

Free Resources
https://www.thelawyerportal.com/e-learning/lnat-questions/
https://www.thelawyerportal.com/free-guides/lnat-guide/lnat-essay/
https://www.thelawyerportal.com/free-guides/lnat-guide/lnat-multiple-choice-questions/
https://www.jobtestprep.co.uk/lnat-practice-questions?utm_gclid=Cj0KCQjw9b_4BRCMARIsAD
MUIyrhC-JVGQtk5vdtXMLBdSBDHMGsjIUw4L9UQG7nWXdSJmyFJ8xiIp8aAj9sEALw_wcB&utm_ke
yword=&utm_pos=&utm_matchtype=b&utm_device=c&utm_ad_id=416214903274&utm_ca
mpaign_id=1502915685&gclid=Cj0KCQjw9b_4BRCMARIsADMUIyrhC-JVGQtk5vdtXMLBdSBDHM
GsjIUw4L9UQG7nWXdSJmyFJ8xiIp8aAj9sEALw_wcB
https://lnat.ac.uk/how-to-prepare/practice-test/
https://lnat.ac.uk/how-to-prepare/sample-essays/
https://www.robwilliamsassessment.co.uk/lnat-practice/

Paid resources
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ultimate-LNAT-Guide-Techniques-UniAdmissions/dp/0993231160/re
f=sr_1_2_sspa?crid=1OOOZDQC2J6WM&dchild=1&keywords=lnat+practice+book+2020&qid
=1594912978&sprefix=lnat+%2Caps%2C225&sr=8-2-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUX
VhbGlmaWVyPUExS1FSR1NDSVVVWFZPJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwODE0Njk2MzdRT0dKU0JMSlRZ
WiZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwMzIyOTg0M1VIOU9PNVA1RU8xRyZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX2F0ZiZ
hY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ultimate-LNAT-Collection-Questions-UniAdmissions/dp/1912557304
/ref=sr_1_4?crid=1OOOZDQC2J6WM&dchild=1&keywords=lnat+practice+book+2020&qid=15
94912998&sprefix=lnat+%2Caps%2C225&sr=8-4
 Advice from Some friends
How did you practice for the LNAT?

Boma: I started my preparation using the “How to Prepare” page on

lnat.ac.uk. This gave me really useful hints and tips about how to approach
multiple choice and essay questions, as well as advice from examiners and
students. There was a downloadable guide which explained the style and
content of the questions, as well as some sample essays and practice tests
which I attempted. For both the multiple choice questions and the essay
question, one of the best ways to prepare is to read widely, and so I made
sure to spend around an hour a day reading newspapers like The
Economist, The Guardian and The New York Times to stay up to date with
current affairs and to practice spotting assumptions and evaluating
arguments.

Toni: I did all the tests in the Practice & Pass book, I found some more
samples online and did those too! The thing with the LNAT is that it’s really
hard to find many practice questions to do, so I think buying the practice
books is a good idea. I got my teachers in charge of admissions and an
Oxford professor whom I knew at the time to review some of my essays.
While I knew the essays would never be marked, it is always good to get
some feedback on how to write bettter

Oyinkan: mainly through doing Eman: I got one of those

the practice tests and reading
textbooks on how to prepare for
the test
practice paper books off
Amazon (well my friend did
and I borrowed the book off
him) and did a couple papers
to practice

What do you think you did specifically that helped you score highly?

Aadishi: Read, read, read! The LNAT essay is usually on a socio-politico topic
with room for legal commentary and ethical dilemmas (look up topics
online!). Of course, while knowledge of a topic is not necessary to make
structured arguments, it provides the nuance and evaluation which gives
your essay an edge over others. I found reading op-ed pieces and editorial
magazines helpful as well as popular legal debates on ideas such as medical
paternalism, judicial independence/impartiality, social welfare, legal ethics
etc. On the one hand, this equipped me with a foundation of knowledge to
write the essay, but equally, reading legal and editorial essays conditioned
my writing style and ability to form arguments even on topics outside my
comfort zone. A time-saving (or not) trick might be to follow certain news
pages on Facebook and other social media where commenters present the
many sides of the argument for you and allow you to adapt these to your
own intutitions!
Toni: as unhelpful as this may be, Eman: Honestly, I just think
just practising. The LNAT practice makes perfect and
questions are really weird and it gets you comfortable with the
takes time to come to grips with format and style of
them. I think also being familiar questioning
with the way the exam is
(electronic and you use those
chunky keyboards) helped
because there was less external
pressure on the day.

Boma: Of the different ways I prepared, reading widely helped me most.

Critically analysing what I read and breaking articles down into their
component parts, such as arguments, assumptions and counterarguments
helped me do well in the multiple choice section. Reading was especially
helpful for the essay questions, as I wanted to make sure I was familiar with at
least a few of the topics that would come up and that I could back up my
argument with current real world examples. For this reason, I read up until
the last minute, literally. On the journey to the test centre the day of my exam,
I read an article about a law that was passed the night before legalising the
sale of marijuana in an American state – an hour later I was able to reference
this law as I made my own arguments in favour of legalisation. I’m sure being
able to make strong arguments and back them up with current, real world

How do you think people can improve their scores?

Toni: try and stretch your mind in the weeks leading up to it by reading
articles that are above your normal level. This is helpful because your brain
gradually gets better at breaking down complex pieces of information. Also
try to stay informed of the major political debates of this era, as the LNAT
essays almost always had at least one political question that was slightly
easier to argue than the more abstract/conceptual questions.

Boma: Practice makes perfect! I would recommend attempting the practice

questions and sample papers on lnat.ac.uk. I’d also make a list of topical,
controversial issues and note the arguments for and against each in the
hopes that one of these comes up on the day, as it did for me. Just in case
none do, I’d also recommend attempting essays “blind” to practice being able
to respond to a prompt on the spot. Lastly, if your sixth form has a Law Society
or similar group, I’d recommend joining!

Oyinkan: practice as much as you can and as early as you can.

 Aadishi: Practice! There are several online resources listing out historic
prompts. Attempt to write essays on these topics in timed conditions–
timing yourself is critical! If you are not used to it, essay writing at university
level can be daunting. But as tip, you should focus on ensuring the content
is directly relevant to the prompt, the structure does not obstruct the
argument but rather puts it in a sequence that makes it easier to
understand, and the language is not overly flowery (big obtrusive words are
not your friends) but instead concise, precise and formal (no slang,
abbreviations). Exchange practice essays with friends, peers, teachers,
debaters, your deeply intellectual parrot - anybody who can give feedback
about how persuasive and logically structured your essay is! If you are not
comfortable sharing, you can self-evaluate. This can be hard, but what I
would usually do is find a prompt, write an essay “blind” and then put this
first essay away. After, I would read some more about the given prompt and
attempt to write the essay again. I would then compare the two versions to
see how my arguments changed structurally as my content became
stronger

If you could go back in time and give your 17 year old self some advice on the
LNAT, what would it be?
Toni: finishing the exam is more important than being 100% sure about
every single question; don’t waste time reading books on critical thinking
(they don’t help that much … trust me, I tried) and; the test is not designed for
most people (if any at all) to score 100% so don’t beat yourself up about
“seemingly” low scores.

Eman: Don’t do it if you don’t have to. If you’re confident you’ll get into your
top choice unis and they don’t require LNAT e.g. Cambridge and Warwick,
don’t waste the time or money. My LNAT exam was 3 days before my
Cambridge interview so time could’ve been better spent prepping for my
interview

Boma: I’d just tell her that all of the extra time she’s been spending in the
library lately will pay off soon and be worth it in the end!

Aadishi: Time management, planning and proofreading are key! This point is
more about the execution of timed essay-writing. Do not read the prompt
and launch into it! Take a few minutes out at the beginning to jot down
overarching arguments supporting your claim, defenses to any
counterclaims, order of persuasiveness etc. to ensure your essay is well
structured and coherent. It is helpful to inculcate this in your practice
sessions as well! You will be able to see the difference between an unplanned
essay and a planned one, and if not, university recruiters that routinely read
such essays surely will! Equally, leave enough time to reread the essay and
identify grammatical errors, correct spelling and restructure arguments (if
needed only) after writing it. Unproofed essays are not favourably looked
upon by universities
 Personal Statements
What is the personal statement?
Your personal statement is where you explain your motivations behind wanting to
study a law degree, and why you believe you’re suited to the course. It is a chance to
“sell yourself” to universities, beyond just your grades. In the UK, unlike the US, you will
write one personal statement that will then be sent to all of your universities.

Personal Statement Technical Requirements

Your UCAS personal statement can be a maximum of 4,000 characters and 47 lines.
Re-read that last sentence. Not words, characters. We have definitely spoken to a
couple of people who worked for ages on their personal statements only to find they’d
overshot the word count massively because they wrote it on the assumption that they
could write 4,000 words, not characters.

4000 characters is not a lot, and you will likely find yourself having to go back over your
statement loads of times before you can settle on a final draft that you’re happy to send
off. So a major tip for writing a personal statement is to start on time and leave yourself
a lot of time to do it. Start by just writing it without thinking too much about how long
it is and whether it meets the word count. After you’ve written it, you can then go back
over it and work on reducing the word count.

What are you trying to convey in your Personal Statement?

Although you don’t have a lot of characters to convey the information, you’re really
trying to pack in a lot into your PS. You’re trying to convey to the reader:
1. Your motivations: why have you chosen to study law out of the multitude of
degree programs out there?
2. Your suitability: what about you makes you suited to study law? What have you
done, read, heard or learned that has contributed to making you a good candidate
for this degree?
3. Your hopes: what do you hope to get out of a law degree that you think you
wouldn’t get from studying something else?
 What to include in your personal statement
A law personal statement is, as evidenced by the name, very personal to you. As such,
there isn’t really one right way of writing a personal statement. The advice we are about
to give to you is based on how we personally structured our personal statements. But if
you don’t like this format, or you already have an idea of how you want to go about
writing yours, then by no means should you feel pressured to imitate this. If you are
feeling a bit stumped about how to go about it, here are our guidelines:

Step 1
A catchy opening statement
Remember that the admissions officers reading your
personal statement will have read many before yours
and will read many after yours. Starting your personal
statement with an interesting one-liner or an unex-
pected (but relevant) story could be just what you
need to stand out

Step 2
Set out why you want to study law
Ahhhbviouslyyy you’re applying to study law. So, you need to say
explain your reasons for this. As a preparatory exercise for this
task, I would suggest getting a blank sheet of paper and writing
out why you want to study law. We are both fans of old-fashioned
lists so we would literally sit and write bullet points for this. But
you might prefer spider diagrams or some other method. Whatev-
er you choose is fine, just as long as you’re getting your reasons
down. In the process of doing this, you may find that your reason
for wanting to study law is connected to something that you have
experienced or seen or read. Definitely include that in your state-
ment. For example, if you decided you wanted to study law
because you read about a high-profile case in the news, then that’s
great and you should 100% say that.

Step 3
How have you personally furthered your interest in law
A law degree requires a lot of self-study on your part. We’ll touch on this more in future chap-
ters, but we’re mentioning this here to let you know that because of the amount of self-ac-
countability involved to study law, admissions officers will be looking to see that future candi-
dates are already self-starters. They’re looking to admit students who are already capable of
going the extra mile to further their interests on their own, instead of waiting to be spoon-fed
information by teachers or other adults
So how can you show that you’ve been a self-starter? Well, the good news is that there are a
lot of ways to do this. We’re going to discuss a few below, but please note that this list is not
exhaustive and there are definitely other ways that you can do this:
Work experience
One way could be discussing some legal work experience that you’ve undertaken. If
you do speak about work experience, make sure that you actually discuss it. Just stat-
ing “I furthered my interest in law by spending two weeks at XYZ law firm/ barristers
chambers” will not be enough. You need to explain what you learned or enjoyed during
your work experience in particular that helped to further your interest in studying law.
For example, you may have undertaken some case analysis for a supervisor and really
enjoyed the process of analysing a judgment and drawing out key facts from a case.
Reading books
It is really useful to read books directly related to law or the study of law, as you have
something that you can include in your statement. You could also include in your
statement books that aren’t directly about law, but have a legal element. The latter
could actually make you stand out even more, as you get to show your analytical skills
by drawing out the legal elements within a book that doesn’t directly speak about law.
For example, if you were reading a book that dealt with torture, you could discuss in
your personal statement how you found it interesting to consider the ethical implica-
tions of torture. Maybe it led you to also consider how torture is dealt with within UK
law, so you googled and read an article on this. By this act, you have shown analytical
skills, critical thinking and that you know how to take the initiative – admissions officers
are giving you points upon points for that
BUT! If you are going to include a book in your personal statement knowing that
you are applying to a university that interviews its candidates, please actually read
the book. There is nothing more embarrassing that turning up to your interview
and being asked to speak a bit more about what those ethical implications of
torture that you read about in the book were and now there’s silence in the room
because you don’t have an answer. It’s not a good look. If you haven’t read the
entire book by the time you send off your personal statement, then our advice
would be to state in your statement the chapters that you actually read. Hopefully,
this won’t be just one – unless maybe the book is a compilation of different
author’s essays and each chapter was one essay, in which case, we’ll allow it.
We get a lot of questions from people about what books we recommend to read.
The answer is that there are truly loads out there that you could read. But we’re
going to give you some of our personal recommendations that you could maybe
start out with, before branching out

• Justice: What’s the Right Thing to Do?: Michael Sandel: this was a personal favourite of
Dabi’s. She enjoyed it so much she actually took the free online Harvard course offered by
Michael Sandel to learn more about it. The book discusses several moral dilemmas, such as
whether it is sometimes okay to kill, whether free markets are really fair, etc. The topics
covered span law, philosophy, religion, ethics and more. While this book isn’t exactly a law
book, it will force you to think about important issues and through this process, hopefully
hone your analytical skills.

• What about the Law: Catherine Barnard, Janet O'Sullivan and Graham Virgo: this is a
book we’d highly recommend for aspiring lawyers. It provides an outline of each of the
core law modules, which will give you an idea of what you will be studying at university.
The authors also discuss a few cases, which we think is great because you will spend your
years at university reading a lot (a lot) of cases. You’ll get an idea of how judgments come
about and also how to discuss case law, which will be really useful.

• Stories of the Law and How it's Broken: The Secret Barrister: this is a really great one
for students considering a career in criminal law, but is also an interesting read generally
for aspiring lawyers. This book discusses where the law has sometimes failed to protect
victims and will get you considering the flaws of the law. Many students start out wanting
to study law because they think that the law is infallible, but it isn’t. And a lot of what you
will be doing over the course of your degree is critiquing the law – identifying where it
falls short and the damage that can be done when it does. Reading a book like this will
help you to start getting into the mindset of analysing and usefully critiquing the law.

• The Rule of Law: Tom Bingham: Tom Bingham was a renowned judge of the UK
Supreme Court and the chances of you going through your degree without reading one of
his judgments is slim to none. “The Rule of Law” is the title of his book, but more impor-
tantly, the rule of law is an important concept that pervades the entire UK legal system.
What is the rule of law, you may ask? Well, it’s not just one thing. The rule of law is made
up of a number of concepts like fairness, equality before the law, access to justice and
more. His book goes through the many elements of the rule of law in a really accessible
and understandable manner – we would definitely recommend.

• Bleak House: Charles Dickens: we thought we’d switch up the list and throw in some
fiction. While this isn’t a book that either of us read when we were applying to university,
it has come highly recommended by a number of blogs. The novel discusses a court case
concerning a number of wills around historical places in London with legal significance.
The book is supposed to provide aspiring lawyers with an idea of the foundations of UK
law and some of its key principles.

• Eve was framed: Women and British Justice: Helena Kennedy: can we get some snaps
for the intersection of law and feminism! Dabi read this book and definitely recommends
it. While the book directly focuses on the treatment of women within the English legal
system, it also raises arguments about the unequal treatment of people based on their
race, class or political leanings. Again, another great book to get “under the hood” of the
law and see where it falls short.

• My Own Words: Ruth Bader Ginsburg: written by Notorious RBG, US Supreme Court
Justice and the legend herself, Ruth Bader Ginsburg. “My Own Words” is another top
recommendation of ours. Although Ruth Bader Ginsburg is not an English lawyer (she’s an
American lawyer), she overcame many challenges to achieve an incredibly inspiring legal
career. The book is partly autobiographical and partly a compilation of essays written by
her. You could read the whole thing cover to cover, or you could read a few essays by her
and discuss them in your personal statement.

Attending Open Days

Attending an Open Day at a university, if you can, is a great way of showing that
you’ve tried to develop your interest in law. As with work experience, it’s not
enough to just state that you attended an Open Day. Explain what you did or what
you learned at that Open Day that has increased your knowledge of law and
enhanced your desire to study it for the next few years.
Attending lectures and talks
Some universities offer outsiders the opportunity to come in and listen to a
lecturer or a guest lecturer. If there is a university close to you that does that,
then take the opportunity and sit in on one. Not only is this a cool thing to put
into your personal statement, but it also gives you a taste of what it is like to
study at university – going from classrooms to huge halls with hundreds of
students listening to one lecturer. Again, the way you write about this is very
important. State who the lecturer was, what the topic of the lecture was and
what you learned that made you want to study law.

Joining a law society

Joining your school’s law society (if you have one) can be a really great way to
further your knowledge of law. It is also something useful to put into your personal
statement. Usually, law societies will give advice on applying to university, but they
also expose you to the law by discussing legal issues and topics within the news.
If you do include your law society in your personal statement, make sure you
discuss it in a constructive manner. For example, if your society discussed a topical
case in the news, state that on your personal statement. State what your view was
and how you defended it.

Mooting or debating a legal issue

Moots are like pretend-trials. Students are given the opportunity to act like
lawyers and represent their clients before a judge. If you have the opportunity
to participate in a moot, it is another really great thing to do to show interest in
law. For a moot, students will have to analyse a legal problem, research the law
and then present reasoned, legally-backed, succinct arguments.
Not all schools offer mooting, so don’t worry if you don’t have the opportunity
to do this. But if you do, and you think you’d like to try it out, then we most defi-
nitely recommend this. When writing about it in your personal statement,
follow the tips we’ve been giving throughout this section. State what the moot
was about and what your argument was. Outline how you went about
researching and presenting your argument. Finally, discuss how the experience
enhanced your knowledge of the law and increased your desire to study law.

Attending court hearings

In the UK, members of the public are generally allowed to sit in on court hearings.
If you can, this could also be a really cool addition to your personal statement as
you are literally witnessing justice (hopefully) taking place.
We definitely recognise that this suggestion might be difficult given the current
circumstances (*ahem* the pandemic). But, if by the time you’re reading this the
situation has changed and it is safe to attend hearings, it is definitely something
to consider

Podcasts
I am a huge fan of podcasts. You can listen to a podcast on the tube, at the gym,
in bed before you fall asleep, between classes… the options are endless! Podcasts
are also a great way to get information if you don’t like to read (but if you don’t
like to read then studying law might be tricky…)
So we’ve decided to include some podcast recommendations for you to listen to
if you want to gain a broader understanding of the law and potentially put them
info your personal statements
•Serial: this is a more "fun" podcast that analyses a non-fictional legal matter that made the
news in a series format. Season 1 discusses the 1999 murder of Hae Min Lee.

•Law Pod UK: this is a pretty new podcast by barristers at One Crown Office Row. It
provides information about civil and public law across the UK

•Thinking Like a Lawyer: in this podcast, the host discusses everyday issues and then
analyses them from a legal perspective.

•Not Guilty: this podcast is quite similar to Serial in the sense that it discusses a legal case in
a story-like fashion. Episodes come out every week and discuss prominent cases such as the
case of Ernesto Arturo Miranda, the case which brought to prominence the Miranda rights in
the US (you have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against
you in a court if law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one
will be provided for you…)

•BBC Law in Action: this podcast uses weekly interviews and discussions to highlight and
analyse development in the law within the UK

•Crimes of Passion: another story-like podcast that discusses love stories that turn to crime
stories. Episodes of this podcast include Bonnie and Clyde, the Menedez Brothers and more.

There are loads more podcasts out there, and as with everything we’ve said above, please
don’t hesitate to go beyond this list and explore others.
 A word of caution:
Now, we recognise that we’ve given you a lot of options to
potentially put into your personal statement. And we know
we literally started this off telling you that you have only
4,000 characters and that’s not a lot. But remember, you
don't have to do everything on this list by any means. In fact,
the best thing would be to pick two or three that are most
accessible to you but discuss them so well that you stand
out. So for example, you might not have a law society or
access to legal work experience. No problem! You can read
some books and listen to a few podcasts.

Step 4
Why you would be a good law student

Finally, an important thing to discuss in your personal statement is why you think you would
be a good law student. Try and write out a list of skills and attributes that you’d expect good
law students to have and then think of things you’ve done or experiences you’ve had that
align with these. We’ll start you off by giving you a few that we can think of:
Resilience: law is a tough degree and you’re not always going to get it
right. The ability to get back up and try again even after getting a poor
mark is incredibly important
Organisational skills: because juggling a hefty workload while maintain-
ing a social life, staying fit and getting sleep is tough. But the more organ-
ised you are, the less strenuous this experience will be.
Analytical skills: this is a hugely important one as you will literally spend
your degree analysing laws, academic arguments and cases.
Communication skills: writing good essays and being able to defend your
views in supervisions or tutorials absolutely requires strong communica-
tion skills

It is in this section that you get to weave in your extracurricular activities and hobbies. Are
you captain of your school’s football team? You could use that to talk about how you’ve
been resilient, because you have learned to pick yourself up and work twice as hard after
losing a match. Do you play an instrument? Awesome, use that to show how organised
you are by being able to juggle your academics with music. And it doesn’t even have to
be just hobbies. Maybe you have a part time job and have had to defuse tense situations
with difficult clients – use that to show your strong communication skills and your ability
to be persuasive. You can turn virtually anything that you do into an asset for your
personal statement if you know how to word it properly. Don’t write off your hobbies or
part-time work as irrelevant to your desire to study law. Law pervades every aspect of
society and the skills required to be a good law student are so vast that they can be
gained from many different activities
 Personal Statement Doʼs and Donʼts
We reached out to a few of our friends to ask them for some of their Dos and don’ts
for Personal Statements. Here’s what they said:

Focus on telling the reader why you want to study that particular degree!
– Toni
Make sure that each sentence is highlighting why you want to study law
or why you would be a good law student – Eman
Personalise your PS and give it a clear voice so that it is unique to you.
Share what about law interests you and how you have engaged with it
outside the classroom. Pick particular aspects of law to discuss, so that it
is clear you’ve thought deeply about the subject and have not just listed
topics without engaging with them. – Boma

Be original! Don’t copy anyone else’s work – Oyinkan

Tie everything you mention back to that question of why you would be
good at the degree: if you’re talking about your A-Level subjects, focus
on either the knowledge you have that will be helpful for Law (i.e. I
studied Politics at A-Level and therefore have a solid understanding of
the British constitutional framework which would help you with
constitutional law) or the transferrable skills you have from other
subjects that may not be directly applicable to law (i.e. studied English
Literature but the constant essays and analysis of texts has improved
your written communication skills which would help you write better
essays as well as your ability to evaluate academic legal journals). With
4,000 characters, make every sentence count in your favour! – Toni

Share your work with people you trust and get feedback. This could be
your teachers, parents, older siblings, friends… anyone you trust to give
you useful and honest feedback – Oyinkan
Counterintuitively, write your introduction last! It’s easy to spend too
much time thinking of a catchy opening, but these can backfire. Start
with paragraph two about why you want to study law and the rest will
flow. Then, when you have finished the body and conclusion, it’s often
easier to come back to the introduction and write something that is both
genuine and enthusiastic, and leads naturally to the rest of your PS. –
Boma
Do write your personal statement with the intention of being interesting.
It is important to discuss why you want to apply to that course through
the lens of something that you find genuinely interesting – it will facilitate
a more engaging personal statement and show authenticity. Also, do
read around your area of interest. Universities will often publish specific
reading lists for applicants – read one or two of them and quote it in your
personal statement! – Saif
And most definitely do not...

List books you have read without going into sufficient detail (1/2
sentences) about what you found most interesting from the book
(perhaps any disagreements you had with the author) and what you
learnt that would make you a better student in that degree field. – Toni

Don’t lie on your personal statement. Especially if you are applying to a

university that you will have to interview at… – Oyinkan

Simply name drop a list of books and articles. When you do reference
something you have read, make sure you engage with it. You could
discuss whether you agree or disagree with the arguments raised or how
it relates to a particular area of law you’re interested in, for example. –
Boma

Say “law is your passion” or use clichés and impersonal anecdotes –

Eman
Tell the reader how you plan to use the degree to further your career
ambitions (i.e studying law because I want to be a barrister). The
academic tutors will be more particular about whether you have what it
takes to thrive academically doing that degree over everything else. –
Toni
Make being a solicitor the focus of your personal statement. Remember
that you are writing about why you want to study law at university, not
why you want to be a lawyer. Keep this distinction clear in your mind
especially early on in your essay, although towards the end and
especially if you’ve done any work experience you can bring in your
career aspirations. – Boma

Leave it till the last minute! – Oyinkan

Don’t overcomplicate things! A phrase I like a lot is ‘you don’t truly

understand something until you can explain it to a 5-year-old’. It’s
important to show your interest but do so in a way that is natural and
free flowing. – Saif
 Sample Personal Statements
We definitely remember how tough it was for us to write our personal statements, and
we know that many of you might be anxious about starting to write yours without any
idea of what a good one is. Well, we wanted to help out with that.

We’ve included below our personal statements, as well as a few from some of our
friends, and the universities they went to. We are by no means saying that any of the
personal statements below are perfect or should be exactly followed. But we do want
to give you an idea of what we did so that you can maybe take inspiration from them.

A word of caution
It would be a very bad idea to copy any of these
directly for your personal statements. Universities
have excellent plagiarism software and will run
your personal statements through it. The
consequences of plagiarism are incredibly dire and
would have a really negative impact on your
applications, so we reiterate, DO NOT COPY THESE.
 MICHELLE WONG (University of Cambridge, 2019)

Note: I was 1.5 months into my first year of Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Business
Administration at the University of Hong Kong when I wrote this and applied to the
University of Cambridge
On my last day of high school, 10 teachers and one administration staff
member were dismissed, and some of the terminations were in front of
students. Saddened, confused and wishing for greater transparency, four
other recent graduates and I facilitated the writing and publication of open letters by 10
graduating classes to allow students to uphold their rights to expression of opinion.

While writing, I examined the Hong Kong Employment Ordinance, and learned that
employers are not obliged to disclose reasons for firings upon dismissal, revealing what seems
to be a limitation of the statute. Privacy of information is important, but now, employees need
to find out the specifics of their terminations through court proceedings, which is undesirable
for many. Though the terminations were lawful, I see two pressing ethical concerns. Section 9
of the ordinance gives five valid reasons for dismissing without payment or notice, two of
which includes if the employee "misconducts himself", and "on any other ground" valid "at
common law". A confined list of reasons protects employees, but the reasons are left vague to
protect institutions too, so the ordinance tries to strike a balance. However, employers are
favoured since other than dismissals due to discrimination of "sex, disability, family status or
race", employees' every action/inaction can fit under their "conduct", defined as "the manner
in which a person behaves". If that reason fails, the law then allows employers to justify
dismissals using the more subjective "any other ground". There is good reason to believe that
for the majority, dismissals were really due to vocal opposition against the new Head of
School's lack of accountability, and under the law, this may arguably be valid.

Another area that should be improved is the application of law. Many of the teachers worked
in the school for numerous years; hence, despite the law, they deserved explanations for their
summary dismissals. Also, how can their relationships with students and colleagues, and
contributions to the school, be quantified by a sum of money? I find the natural law theory
problematic at times as it is difficult to determine the source of nature and how nature is
interpreted. However, this situation caused me to reflect upon the theory's merits, because
though I acknowledge my bias, it is evident that the law is not fully providing substantive
justice despite the procedural justice. What happens when the application of law results in
"immoral" outcomes? On a larger scale, when can we challenge law and authority in the name
of justice (however vague it may be)?

These issues surrounding my high school, which are also currently haunting Hong Kong (HK),
urgently need to be considered; hence I am keen to explore law in conjunction with areas like
human rights. There are certain HK policies I find unconstitutional, such as the banning of
same-sex marriage and the Small House Policy that only benefits adult males of indigenous
tribes. It is imperative to be critical of laws and their impacts, and to seek reform when laws no
longer reflect the core values of society. I am excited by law's close proximity to various fields
of study, and the direct impact it has on society. I hope to evaluate whether laws are just when
taking legal implications and external factors like social and political values into consideration.

Studying Bachelor of Business Administration and Law at HKU thus far has consolidated my
interest in law. However, the program's vocational focus made me realise that my real passion
lies in the academic side of law. I wish to critically analyse laws and cases, such as HK's
legalisation of transgender marriage in 2013, in various socio-historical contexts, and delve into
their subtleties and nuances. I strongly believe that studying law will consolidate my desire to
learn about human rights, and put me in a position to help evaluate laws and bring about
positive social change through policy-making.
 TONI ADEJUYIGBE (University of Oxford, 2019)
Should Anthony Dietschmann be granted diminished liability (as he had a
mental disability) even though he had consumed alcohol at the time of
the murder he committed? This was the question put before the House of
Lords in 2003 after the Court of Appeal upheld the original ruling. The Law
Lords eventually said yes. This was a difficult question to answer because
of the doubt as to whether or not he would have killed without alcohol
consumption, regardless of his mental disability.

It was this complex case and my passion for debating that developed my interest for the law.
There are certain questions today that many legal experts are divided on, and I want to study
the law so I can understand these complexities and develop opinions of my own. An example
of this is "Can the death penalty be justified?" and I enjoyed exploring the arguments for and
against it in my Cambridge Bacon Law Prize Essay. I was so interested, that I researched it
further and presented it to my school's academic society of which I am a member. I could see
the reasoning behind the support of the death penalty, such as the belief in its retributive
effect
However, such a mentality could slowly devalue human rights, a point which Tom Bingham
made in The Rule of Law. He explored the effect that an increase in terrorism had on the law,
especially in the UK where the Anti-Terrorism Crime and Security Act 2001 — which clearly
violated human rights and denied detainees the remedy of habeas corpus — was approved
because of the ease with which a party with a large majority could legislate. I could relate to
this topic because of my study of the legislative process of the UK's uncodified constitution in
AS Politics. Bingham's discussion further convinced me that the UK's constitution needs more
checks and balances, including the possibility of making judges the final arbiters of the
constitution. Studying ethics helped me to develop my opinions on controversial legal and
ethical topics like euthanasia, which became increasingly relevant when Parliament rejected
the Assisted Dying Bill. I am of the opinion that just as society prioritises the right to live for
foetuses which have no rational capacity and do not choose to be born, so also should we
promote the right to die for terminally-ill patients who can make rational decisions and
choose to die.

Driven by my keen interest in criminal law and an enthusiasm to develop my knowledge of the
Nigerian legal system, I worked with the Ministry of Justice's Department of Public
Prosecutions. I attended court regularly where I observed lawyers manipulate the language of
the law to support their complex arguments. This taught me to pay close attention to detail
and to follow complex lines of reasoning. I also applied and was accepted for a Pinsent Masons
internship which takes place in October 2015, in order to understand how the law functions in
a different environment. I hold some key positions in school, namely Peer Mentor and Prefect.
I have developed my problem solving and communication skills through Peer Mentoring,
which has also taught me to be patient and tolerant. My role as a Prefect enhanced my
leadership skills and taught me to represent the students fairly, as I had to negotiate between
changes they want to see and the practicality of the ideas in ways which are acceptable to the
College. This in particular helped me to think critically — a skill I hope to further develop during
my study of law. As a keen long-distance runner, I have become more perseverant, and learnt
the importance of time-management as I had to balance all my responsibilities with my
education

Due to my research on criminal law as well as the work experience I have undertaken, I have
developed an even greater thirst for an understanding of the law, particularly in areas
unknown to me, which makes me even more determined to study law.
 OYINKAN OLADAPO (University of Durham, 2019)
The Jeffrey Spector case recently sparked renewed controversy over
legalising assisted suicide in the UK. The right to die legislation however was
rejected again by a majority in Parliament on 11th September 2015. The
greatest human right is the right to self-ownership, encompassing the right
to life and the right to end one’s own life. If assisted suicide was legalised on
the basis of mercy or compassion, those who deem the terminally ill as
burdens on society may wrongfully use it as a tool. It is this controversial
aspect of law that has influenced me to pursue it at a higher level.
Every country in the world is governed by a set of laws distinguishing right from wrong in the
eyes of the court. The importance and relevance of the legal system is immeasurable as every
member in society is affected by it in many ways. Growing up in Nigeria where the law is
easily manipulated and abused by those in power has spurred on my interest to better the
legal system in my country. Corruption is at the root of the problems Nigeria; culprits of
corrupt practices enjoy impunity, which is simply unacceptable to me. My aversion to this
lack of justice has moulded me into who I am today, an aspiring law student keen to
understand how laws work in society

For more insight, I read “The Rule of Law” by Tom Bingham. Britain’s former Law Lord
examines the origins of the idea, its meaning and importance in society. The highlighted key
milestones of the doctrine were clear and well explained, helping to expand my knowledge
on the fundamentals of law and gave me direction for an independently researched project
entitled ‘To what extent has the Supreme Court been successful in advancing the civil rights
of African Americans from 1896-2015’’ and afforded me the opportunity to compare the legal
systems of the USA, the UK and Nigeria

I have learnt to be precise and pay attention to detail. In Economics, I recognised the
importance and impact of laws on the economy. In History, I was introduced to laws, which
have stood the test of time and laid the foundation for a just and fair society today as well as
how weak legislation can allow the law to be manipulated. Politics expanded my knowledge
of the legal system with aspects such as the UK Constitution and the Judiciary. Furthermore,
the volume of reading and researching done for these subjects unquestionably have
prepared me for the study of law; all which have developed my critical and logical thinking
skills to judge any outcome.

In June 2015, my nomination at school to work with a Crown Court Judge in Staffordshire as an
assistant enhanced my interpersonal skills and work ethics. Reading preliminary cases,
helping to prepare for hearings and sitting in on court cases showed me how the Judiciary
worked. Next month, I am due to work in the London firm of Fasken Martineau. This will let me
see first hand how lawyers work in an office environment and will no doubt, extend my
knowledge of the legal profession. My achievements both within and outside of the classroom
prove that I am a well-rounded, dedicated individual with clear goals. At school, I have been
presented with several academic accolades and more recently, an Academic Scholarship. I
participate in a range of sports including Basketball, which have built up my self-confidence
and understanding of teamwork. For me, the most fascinating aspect of law is how it is
constantly evolving. Indeed, the unpredictability of law is what excites me intellectually;
wanting to see the direction it will take is a major driving force propelling me to a future career
in law starting at university.
 BOMA GEORGE (University of Oxford, 2019)

At this year’s Chalke Valley History Festival on the eve of its 800th
anniversary, I reflected upon the Magna Carta’s exaltation as among the first
legal recognitions of human rights. Despite an only brief mention of
universal liberties, it seems that the subsequent interpretations and
occasional exploitation of the black and white to suit contemporary contexts
is what has led to the charter’s lasting impact. This is, to me, an embodiment
of both the dynamism that enables the law to move with and even define
the times, and the sheer vitality that attracts me to its study.

What draws me most is how the law can often simultaneously be applied as an impetus for
and barrier against social change. An article from The Economist, ‘Jailhouse Nation,’ illustrated
the latter, focusing on the US’s punitive, often politically fuelled criminal justice system.
Intrigued, I looked further into the issue with legal scholar Michelle Alexander’s book ‘The New
Jim Crow.’ I was captivated by this intersection of criminal law and human rights, for it is a
considerable irony that the ‘War on Drugs’ and the more recent ‘War on Terror’ legislations,
although ostensibly designed to protect our freedoms, seem to have in fact hindered
worldwide commitment to human rights. Yet the law can undoubtedly be a force for good. I
consider former American Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall a hero for his use of the
courts as an arena to challenge racial segregation, inspiring me to explore the significance of
litigation in achieving equality through my IB Extended Essay on the landmark Civil Rights
case Brown v. Board of Education. What amazed me was how the very Constitution that was
long used to deny people of colour status as human beings was quite suddenly reinterpreted
as a clear safeguard for the rights of all, regardless of race, sex or creed. To study the subject at
university would be to gain an understanding of the ways in which, though often a reactionary
protector of the status quo, the law can be a revolutionary weapon in the struggle for justice.

Like the IB, a law degree allows me the academic breadth that I so desire, being not just one
subject but rather where many meet. Taking history at higher level has polished my articulacy
and concision, and I have often been commended for my ability to construct a coherent yet
stylistic argument. An emphasis on historiography has made me appreciate creativity if faced
with a conundrum, for just as a single historical event can be evaluated in a variety of ways, so
too a previous case law. Economics has sharpened my analytical and evaluative skills,
influencing the way I think about daily life and challenging me to constantly consider the
wider effect of any cause

Besides my academics I keep busy with debate and MUN, for which I was commended
delegate at BISMUN. Both taught me to argue persuasively and emphatically while
thoughtfully analysing an opponent’s case for any flaws. I am a founding member of the
school’s Middle East and Africa Society and the secretary of our Amnesty International
chapter, responsibilities showcasing my initiative and leadership skills. I have also been a
member of both the football and squash first teams for four years each, requiring the
diligence, commitment and teamwork needed in all aspects of life, not least at university. This
summer I took part in an Immersion Day at London’s Farrer & Co and enjoyed an internship
with Fidelis Oditah (QC SAN) in Lagos, gaining exposure to the law in action within two
different legal systems, but above all solidifying my belief that the law is where my fascination
lies

With a deeper understanding of its multifaceted relationship to society my dream is to

become the Attorney General of Nigeria, upholding the law when feasible, but, if necessary,
doing all that I can to make sure it is a force for good. Before then, however, I do believe myself
to be equipped with the curiosity and intellectual fervour vital to excel at its study.
Note down some ideas for your personal
statement here
 4 :APPLYING TO OXBRIDGE
Hey, you. Yeah you, come closer…
We know that we’ve bombarded you with quite a bit of information over the last few
chapters, but we hope it’s been helpful. Hopefully by this point, you’re now thinking
more about your university choices and the steps you need to take to meet their
requirements.

We decided to include this chapter because we know some of you might be thinking
about applying to one of the Oxbridge Universities. As you may know by now, Michelle
and I (Dabi) both went to Cambridge and had a challenging but enjoyable three years
there. We want to encourage as many of you as possible to take the leap and apply to
an Oxbridge university if it’s something that you want to do. But don’t feel compelled
to if you don’t think that it is.
Over the next few pages, we’re going to walk you through how the Oxbridge
application process differs from applying to other universities. We’ll also talk about the
slight differences between Oxford and Cambridge themselves. And then we’ll give you
specific tips about how we prepared for our interviews.

But, don’t rely wholeheartedly on this section to help you make up your mind about
whether to apply and if so, which of the two to apply to. Remember that the purpose of
this section, and this book in general is to give you some tips but largely prompt you to
think about what you want. You still need to go through the process of looking at the
universities’ websites and doing your research about them.

Oxford v Cambridge
Both Oxford and Cambridge are really great universities. They are generally quite
similar in their teaching styles. For example, the use of small-group sessions made up
of between one and four students who meet with one academic supervisor/tutor. At
Cambridge, these sessions are referred to as supervisions while at Oxford they are
called tutorials
However, there are subtle differences between the two universities. For example, in
terms of scenery, Oxford is considered to be the more metropolitan town, while
Cambridge is less so. There are also slight differences in the way law is taught at each
university. For example, Oxford’s law course places an emphasis on jurisprudence and
so every student has to take a Jurisprudence module. This is not the case at Cambridge.
Also, exams are done differently. Second and third year are assessed in one go in third
year at Oxford, while you have exams in both second and third year at Cambridge. You
definitely need to take the time to research the two universities so that you can come
to an informed decision about where you want to go. A lot of the relevant information
about each university can be found online via their websites and other sources, so do
your research!
Colleges
When you apply to Oxbridge Universities, you don’t apply them specifically. You’re
actually applying to study at a particular college within Oxford or Cambridge. Both
Oxford and Cambridge have other 30 colleges each, so regardless of which university
you choose, you will have a lot of college options.

Colleges are important because they are where you will live. Additionally, many
colleges try to make sure that you have most, if not all, or your supervisions/tutorials
within college. Of course, you will have many opportunities throughout your degree to
meet people from other colleges. You will also have lectures in a central place outside
of your colleges.

Before you decide to apply to a college, take the time to research them. Factors to
consider when choosing a college include:

The distance between the The distance betweent the

college and the Law Faculty college and the centre of town

The size of the college
Co-ed or women’s only Any facilities the college
has that you think you’d
like to have. For example,
Emmanuel College,
Cambridge has a pool,
whereas most Cambridge
colleges do not.

DAMI ADD THE

HYPERLINKS
HERE PLS
 Overview of the application process
UCAS Application: The Oxbridge application process starts with you submitting your
application via UCAS. The deadline for doing so is the 15th of October for both
universities. This is much earlier than the final deadline for other universities, so if you
plan to apply to an Oxbridge university, you need to be organised and complete your
personal statement by this deadline.

LNAT: If you are applying to Oxford, you will need to take the LNAT (see Chapter 2). You
will have to take the LNAT by the 15th of October as well.

Interviews: Both Oxford and Cambridge have interviews as the final stage in their
application process. The interview day(s) is slightly different depending on whether you
apply to Oxford or Cambridge. For example, if you apply to Cambridge you will have to
take the CLT, but we will discuss this more below.

Preparation
I think there’s a common misconception that you can’t prepare for Oxbridge
interviews. In a sense, that’s true, because you have no idea what they’ll ask you on the
day. But that doesn’t mean that there aren’t things you can do to put yourself in the
best position possible for your interview.

1. Think about your 2. Prepare for the 3. Reread your personal

answer to the question “why this statement and think about
question “why do anything you have listed on
college”?
there that you could be asked
you want to study
about. For example, Dabi listed
law?” on her personal statement that
she had written her extended
5. Stay abreast of essay on the representation of
4. Skim any books or
the news. If a General Idi Amin in the British
articles that you press during his tenure. She
landmark legal
have listed on your was asked a number of
issue has been
application, as you questions about this at her
widely reported in interview. Michelle wrote about
will likely be asked
the press, it is her interest in human rights
about these law, and she was asked about
possible that they
this during her interview.
could ask you about
it at your interview.

6. Do a practice interview beforehand: we know this isn’t an option for everyone, but
if there is a teacher or family member that is able to run a mock interview with you
then definitely do this. This is a link to some questions that people have been asked
in the past at their interviews.. For Cambridge, there are also very helpful
testimonials from students here. Even if you can’t practice with someone, record
yourself on video answering some of these questions. Watch it back and critique
yourself – did you fidget? Did you answer the question? What do you think you can
do to improve?

Dress smart: make sure that
you look put together. If you
look good, it will also help
you mentally feel like you
have everything together (at
least that’s how it works for
us).
Interview Day
Try not to fidget: this requires a lot Relax: remember that
of self-awareness in the moment, your interviewers aren’t
which we know isn’t easy. But try trying to trip you up or
your best! If you feel yourself trick you. ry to stay
fidgeting, try to self-regulate and calm and just focus on
stop. For those who tend to play answering the
with their (longer) hair, tie it up into questions as well as you
a ponytail/a bun. can.

01
Follow their prompts: many times, if
you’re going in the wrong direction
with an answer you are giving, your
interviewers will try to redirect you
to the right answer. Try to be
sensitive to the prompts that they
are giving you, and don’t be afraid
to say that you are changing your
mind if you realise that the answer
you’re currently giving isn’t quite
right.
02 03
Don’t be afraid to defend your point: we know this sounds
like a direct contradiction to the statement above, but bear
with us. Sometimes, your interviewer will be prompting you
to change your line of reasoning because maybe you have
said something that isn’t quite right. In that case, that
would be a situation where you need to follow their
prompts. However, there is a difference between that
scenario and one where you are arguing a point and they
are simply raising counterarguments to see how you can
reason and defend your point. There is an art to
distinguishing between the two. It is a tricky one, but can
definitely be done if you stay alert and calm.Your

04 interviewer is looking to see how you reason, how you

defend yourself and finally, how you receive new and
relevant information. So in simple terms: if you think your
argument is relevant, and that you can keep defending it,
then do so. However, if your interviewer raises a point that
negates your argument and you have no way of working
around it, then be willing to admit that.

05
Maintain eye contact: we
know it’s hard when
you’re nervous, but try to
maintain eye contact with
your interviewer(s). It will
make you appear more
confident and also should
help you focus.
06
Take a pause if you need to:
another mistake many
students make is that when
they are asked a question,
they think they immediately
need to launch into an
answer. This is really not the
case. If you’re asked a
difficult question, take the
time to pause and think
about the question as well as
your answer. This will ensure
that when you finally give an
answer, it sounds well
thought out and intelligent.

07
Be wary of students who try to make you feel insecure:
I’m not sure if it’s the same for you guys, but at all the
interviews I’ve been to, there is always that one person
who tries to show off or make you feel anxious. If you’re
fortunate enough not to meet anyone like that, amazing!
But if so, try and stay away from them. Focus on staying
relaxed and calm. Everyone is just as confused as you!
Don’t let them get in your head.

08
Speak to current students studying at the
college: usually, colleges will have asked
current students to volunteer to help out
with interview days. Try to speak with
them as this can help you calm down and
will also set the foundation for friendships
when you actually arrive at the college.
This is also a chance for you to better
understand the college you’re applying
to!

09
Clear your head between interviews:
don’t spend your break between
interviews agonizing about how the
last one went. Rather, try to let it go
and relax. Take a quick moment to
breathe and pat yourself on the back
for completing your interview. Then,
start mentally preparing for the next
one.
It’s okay to feel like you didn’t do well: when
we left our interview rooms, we felt like we
didn’t do well at all. Majority of our friends felt
the same. In fact, one of Michelle’s
interviewers asked her, “why do you look so
uncomfortable?” and later told her something
along the lines of, “goodness, why don’t you
ever take on the tips I’m giving you? I’m
trying to help you here.” Michelle was

10 convinced after that interview that she

wouldn’t get in, but somehow, she did. So
even though it’s easier said than done, don’t
overanalyze every single line after the
interview and beat yourself up over it.
Care, but don’t care too much: if
Oxbridge is your dream university, it’s
easy to think that this is the be all or end
11
all. Don’t think that way. It really isn’t. If
you’ve gotten this far, we’re sure you
have all the necessary traits to thrive in
any law school. If you try to lower the
stakes for yourself such that you’re not
too nervous, you’ll end up performing
better than if you’re really tense and
scared. We would recommend thinking
of the interviews as a conversation -
give them a chance to know you, and
why you want to pursue law. That’s all it
is. That hopefully takes some pressure
off, such that you can speak your mind
and show them how well prepared you
are.

12

Top Tip from Saif:

When I think back on my interview, I
like to think of it as an intellectual sparring
session. These are some of the most intelligent
people in the world and you’re not going to outwit
them – they just want to see that you’re capable of
keeping up. It’s important to deliver your point firmly
and be able to defend it, but equally important to be
able to understand when a strong point is made in
response. If the interviewer says something that
debunks your theory, admit that. Alternatively, if
what they said isn’t fatal, try to incorporate it
into your point. The idea is to be flexible
and fluid in how you interact
with them!
 Cambridge Law Test (CLAT)
The CLT is an admissions test that is specific to Cambridge. If you are invited to an
interview, you will take the CLT while you are there for your interview. Unlike the LNAT,
you don’t need to register for it or pay for it in advance. It just forms a part of your total
interview day.

The CLT is an hour-long paper, during which you will have to answer one essay
question. The test does not require you to have any prior legal knowledge, so don’t
worry. However, it is meant to test your analytical skills, comprehension skills and
writing ability.

University of Cambridge website

CLT Tips
• Practice past papers: there are sample tests available on the Cambridge website. Try
practicing a few and get a teacher or family member to read them. Ask them to try and
grade your answer against the relevant assessment criteria above.
• Practice brainstorming essay plans: even if you decide not to fully write out your
answer for every CLT practice test (although you should practice writing out at least
one or two), simply challenging yourself to plan answers to a few essays will go a long
way. It will be even better if you can practice doing this under timed conditions.
Remember that the CLT is only an hour long, and an hour can pass by pretty quickly.
Our advice would be to practice creating solid plans to essay questions within 15-20
minutes, so that you know you have 40-45 minutes left to write an answer.
• Read newspapers and stay informed about current affairs: gaining an awareness of
what is happening in the world around you could give you valuable information that
you could include in your CLAT essays as evidence for your answers. This will help you
to write a strong answer that will help you stand out from others who have written their
essays purely based on their own opinions, without any relevant data or evidence to
back it up
•Choose the right question: you will have three questions to choose from. Try to
choose the question that you feel the most interested in, as it will (hopefully) be the one
that you will write the most engaging answer to.
•Start with a plan: even with all of your practice beforehand, we know that on the day
of your interview/CLT exam, you probably will be nervous. Nerves can cause you to
make impulsive decisions, such as launching into the essay without a plan. We
strongly advise against that. Fight the urge to start writing immediately, and instead,
take the time to re-read the question. Get a blank sheet of paper and think of a plan for
your essay. We would recommend going about it this way:

(1) First, think about your central argument. If you have been given a quote or
statement, ask yourself – do you agree with it? Why or why not? To what extent?
(2) Next, think of points you’d like to make to back up your argument. As a general
rule of thumb, it’s good to have around three major points to argue in an essay
and one or two counter-arguments. But again, this is just our recommendation
and you should feel free to do it differently if you think you have a better method.
(3) After that, think back to the things you have hopefully heard of or read, not just
in the process of preparing for the CLT, but generally. Can you think of anything
you know that will support your points and your argument?
(4) By this point, you should have a fairly rough plan that you can use. Depending
on what you feel most comfortable with, you can either flesh this out a bit more
by adding some more details, or you can start your essay from here.

•Structure: even if you may have the most intelligent ideas, the reader will not feel their
full impact if your essay is not properly structured. A good way to ensure structure is
through sign-posting in your introduction. Sign-posting is explaining to the reader
what you plan to argue in the essay so that they are aware of where you are going from
the start. Sign-posting in your introduction could look something like this: “In this
essay, I will be arguing that although it is important to have overarching general rules
that everyone in society must adhere to, these rules must be qualified depending on
individual circumstances for justice to prevail. To support this overarching argument, I
will be making three major points, which are…”
•Answer the question: a lot of students tend to waffle in essays. Especially when they
aren’t sure where they’re going with their essay– which is exactly why you should
always make a plan before you launch into writing. Another way to ensure that you are
answering the question is to try and refer back to the question throughout the essay. A
good place to do it is at the end of every paragraph - use the wording of the question
when summarizing why this paragraph directly answers the question/proves your
thesis. That’s your way of saying to the examiner “look, I remember what you’ve asked
me and I am definitely answering your question!”.
•Focus on yourself: one of the things I remember from my CLT exam was sitting next
to a girl who was furiously scribbling throughout the entire exam and ended up writing
pages and pages. At the point I just finished my first page of writing, the girl next to me
was on her third page, so I started to feel a bit anxious about whether I was writing
enough. Don’t be like me. It’s difficult, but try as hard as you can to focus on your own
exam and your own thoughts. By observing other candidates, not only are you wasting
your own time but you are also giving yourself needless anxiety. Write what feels
comfortable and efficint to you, whether that’s two pages or twenty. Actually, maybe
not twenty but hopefully you get the point...

Final thoughts...
We know that this will probably be the most difficult piece of advice for you to follow,
but it kind of is the most important. When you’re done with the interview – give yourself
a pat on the back and then let it go. Trust that you have given the process your absolute
best and that what will be will be. Be proud of yourself for getting through what is
admittedly an incredibly intense process. Remember that regardless of what happens
on results day, you worked hard and for that you should be so proud .
Part 2:
While
at
Uni
 5 :MENTAL HEALTH
Despite everything we’ve said thus far and everything we will say in the upcoming
chapters, we want to emphasize the importance of mental health. It’s okay to be
stressed. For many of you, this may be the first time you’ve been away from home.
You’re tossed into a new environment with hundreds of new students around you, and
right off the bat, you’re immediately sent lengthy reading lists and tutorial discussion
questions to consider. The essays you’re assigned are meant to get you to think and
apply the new concepts you’ve learned, so they will be challenging.

In this chapter, we’re tackling mental health issues in relation to academic stress. We
fully understand that there are many other reasons why you may be struggling with
mental health, but we wanted to narrow the scope to academics to be more specific in
the content below. However, a lot of what is said here can also be applied to other types
of stress, so feel free to try the different tips and tricks here, in case they help. We are
not proclaiming to be experts, but the following are some things that worked for us.

A. Debunking myths
First, we want to debunk a few myths:

I’m the only one feeling this way – everyone else

knows what they’re doing:
We’ve called our families three times a day crying about
how homesick we are; we cried ourselves to sleep many
times over a grade we were disappointed by; we’ve felt
severe imposter syndrome when it seemed like every-
one else in the supervision understood what was hap-
pening while we didn’t; we’ve been through the feeling
of utter disappointment when the essay we’ve tried so
hard on (and that we actually thought was quite good)
ended up being a 2:2; we’ve been through physical man-
ifestations of stress and anxiety… These are only some of
the mental challenges we’ve been through, and some
may resonate with you, others may not. In any case, we
want you to know that even if it appears that everyone
else knows what they’re doing, it isn’t the case. Every-
one, and we actually mean every single person, is strug-
gling in some way - we just may not know it because
people tend not to talk about the difficult times as
much. Therefore, you’re not alone in your feelings.

We added experiences and advice from our friends

throughout the chapter not only to provide you with a
variety of perspectives and ideas, but more importantly,
to show you just how prevalent mental health struggles
are. Again, you are not alone.
 Our worth is based on our grades:
we are brought up in a society that drilled the idea that
grades are everything from a very young age. Therefore, for
over 20 years of our lives, we thought that our self worth
was based on our grades. This is not true. Getting a third, a
2:2, 2:1 or a 1st does not change who you are – you’re still
you, with all your strengths, interests and characteristics.
Your value and self worth as a person is not defined by the
numbers on that paper. We’re not saying that you should
not work hard and that grades don’t matter; we’re just
saying that it is unhealthy for anyone to base their entire
self worth on their grades. You’re worthwhile just for
being you

Grades bring immense happiness:

According to psychology professor Sonja Lyubomirsky,
happiness is 50% genetic, 10% circumstantial, and 40%
due to our intentional activities. This means that we are
able to control the 40% through our attitude. In Yale’s
most popular course, “The Science of Well-being”, Profes-
sor of Psychology Laurie Santos discusses things that
people think make them happy, but in reality, do not have
as significant of an effect on their happiness as people
think they do. Grades are one of them. She cited a study
by Levine et al (2012) that asked thousands of students to
predict their happiness levels immediately after they
opened their grades and realized that they got a grade
higher than expected, exactly as expected, and lower than
expected on a scale from 1 (least happy) to 9 (most happy).
The results, shown in the table below, showed that even
though students predicted a significant difference in hap-
piness levels if they got higher vs. lower than expected,
the difference was not actually that stark. This is not to say
that grades don’t matter; we just want to illustrate the fact
that ultimately, it doesn’t matter as much as you think it
does, so it’s definitely not worth sacrificing everything
else for
Here are some raw and honest stories from us and our friends:

Dabi: I remember being in my first year of university and feeling incredibly

sad. I battled with immense imposter syndrome and felt like I was sur-
rounded by people that knew exactly what they were doing, while I was
the only one bumbling away. I struggled with being in a completely new
space, with completely new people and feeling homesick. I tried and failed
to meet the expectations of my supervisors, who reminded me that my
being here meant that the six other students who had applied for my
place were rejected. I felt the weight of everyone’s expectations and the
sinking realisation that I might not meet them. I cried every day of my
exam term in first year and could barely muster up the energy to go to the
library and revise – something I had never struggled with before.

So I guess this is the part where I tell you what helped right? How did I pull
myself out of that funk? To be honest, I survived by turning to friends and
family for support. By swallowing my pride and being vulnerable and open
enough to say: look, I’m really struggling. I’m not coping well at all. My par-
ents called me multiple times a day to speak to me and pray with me. I
spent time with friends in first year who were willing to also be vulnerable
and talk about their struggles. I became friends with second and third
year students who took me under their wing. They shared their notes with
me and gave me advice on how to revise. This support system was invalu-
able. I think my biggest piece of advice for anyone embarking on this law
journey is to remember that you don’t have to be alone. Rely on your sup-
port network when you need to. Doing so doesn’t mean you’re weak or
that you “can’t hack it”. No man is an island, and we all need help.

I also want to add that Mental Health is something that we all have to con-
stantly work at. Even with everything I’ve said above, I still feel insecure or
struggle with imposter syndrome from time to time. But the more I work
at it, the better I have gotten at reminding myself that I am intelligent and
I deserve to be in the rooms I’m in.

Saif: When I first came to the UK, I felt deeply alone. I was away from all of
my friends, in a new system, surrounded by new people, and had just lost
my mother. For the better part of a couple of years, I just wanted to hide
away and regress from the world. It was my friends back home who (via
Skype) reminded me that I needed to do my best to push forward. That
opportunities present themselves to those who seek them out. That you
have to be knocked down in order to understand what it feels like to be
standing up
I did not know it at the time, but forcing myself to do the things I naturally
loved – playing basketball, video games – naturally throws you into opportu-
nities to make your life better. Whether by meeting people with common
interests, or simply distracting yourself from your problems, throwing
myself head first into my passions exponentially improved my mental
health. The interesting thing is I didn't even realise that was happening until
I woke up one day and felt happy. Life can feel incredibly arduous at times –
the tunnel always seems dark when you're in the middle of it. But, one day,
if you do all that you can, the light will hit you!
Aadishi: We have normalised running after ambition so
much that when the opportunity to study, and then work
at a law firm, in London presented itself, I did not stop to
think how far I would be from my family. But its shatter-
ing being away from the ones you love, not being able to
hug them after a challenging day that takes it out of you;
it's frustrating to not be able to help them with their
struggles, to hold them when they cry and tell them it
will be alright and that you're there for them; those
broken Skype calls where you cannot hear the small
details and you're always missing a little bit of everything
and you only feel even further away.

Michelle: I cried all the time for a whole month when I first started
university. I cried in my room, when walking on the streets (even to
Fresher’s Fair, which is supposed to be exciting), after a nice, formal
dinner with the people in my year – you get the point. I also called my
grandma maybe 2-3 times a day (which is a lot considering a 7/8 hour
time difference) telling her how sad I was. I honestly just wanted to
quit and go home, because I felt so alone, really isolated and was
unsure how to tackle everything. The reading lists were daunting, I
didn’t get what my supervisors were saying, my essays came back as
2:2s or low 2:1s, and the worst part was, I didn’t know why I got what I
got and how I could improve. I also didn’t know many people and
didn’t have close friends like I did in high school. But somehow,
everyone else seemed to be laughing, meeting new people, and
having a great time.

Things started to change slowly when I decided to put myself out

there – going to different activities to meet people and reaching out
to classmates and asking if they wanted to grab lunch. Through
these conversations, I quickly recognized that there were a lot of
common themes in what we were feeling. I also talked to seniors
about their experiences, which really validated my feelings and
inspired me, because I saw that they had gone through this and had
made it to the other side. I reached out to some supervisors to ask
what I could do to improve my work as well, and over time, I started
to get a better idea of what was expected. I worked particularly hard
for Criminal Law because I kept getting 2:2s and low 2:1s on all my
essays and just didn’t get what was happening, but I kept working
through the different articles and theories throughout my revision
period. I planned lots of essays, and was lucky with the questions
that came up such that I received two 78s in my final exam. I’m not
sharing this to show off – there really is no point in doing that. Rather,
I want to bring out the message that you can really do what you put
your mind to. If you’re unhappy with how things are, know that there
is hope, and that things can change.

I want to end with saying that struggling is never something to be

ashamed of. In fact, everyone goes through it. For me, putting myself
out there and being open and vulnerable got me through the
toughest times. There are people who care about you, love you, and
will support you no matter what you’re going through, so don’t hesi-
tate to reach out
Eseosa:

In my first year of university my mental health struggles were mostly

related to social anxiety and the fact that I felt incredibly lonely through
that year. Looking back, I think I put too much pressure on myself to
make friends too quickly. So, rather than trying to find people that really
shared the same values as me, I ended up just finding people I could
party with that didn’t add much to my life outside of that. This would
mean that when I was dealing with emotional struggles, I didn’t really
have anyone to lean on and that was quite tough. My advice would be to
not rush the friendship process, and focus more on strengthening
individual relationships that can add value to your life rather than placing
so much emphasis on finding a ”group” of friends. I think this is especially
relevant if you attend a city university rather than a campus university. It
may take more time in the city because our student designated areas are
slightly less defined, so don’t compare your ability to settle in with your
friends in campus universities. Just go at your own pace and eventually
you’ll start to feel at home there too.

In my second year, because I hadn’t done so well academically in my first

year and because I had been rejected by multiple firms for a first year
internship, my mental health issues shifted from social anxiety to a severe
and acute fear of failure coupled with a touch of imposter syndrome. I
started doubting whether I had the aptitude for law (it didn’t help that
many of my teachers at secondary school had told me I didn’t) and
whether I could actually succeed at university. I spent a lot of time
panicking and had constant breakdowns when I was trying to apply for
vacation schemes. My Watson Glaser results were never good on practice
tests and I kept telling myself that no firm would want me based on my
first year results. So how did I overcome this? I decided to surround
myself with positive voices that would drown out my own negative
thoughts. So, for every time I would tell myself I’m not good enough, I had
a friend there that would tell me I was. I also focused on the things I was
good at rather than the things I wasn’t. I knew I didn’t do well on the
Watson Glaser test, but I excelled at interviews. So my strategy was to
switch to firms that didn’t require aptitude tests. Once I stopped putting
pressure on myself to be better at the tests, I actually ended up getting
better at it and ended up getting a Training Contract at a firm that used
the Watson glaser in their assessment process. So, I would say shifting
your perspective to the positives, both by hearing positive comments
about yourself and your abilities, and trying to focus on your strengths is
a good way to get over academic anxiety and imposter syndrome in order
to improve your mental health.
Ikenna:

As a young man, from an African background, if you break down, or show that
things are really hard on your mental health, you most likely will be called weak
or soft, as I have experienced growing up.

So, in such fashion, when I was racially attacked in my second year of university
and briefly hospitalised, I simply got up, shrugged it off and moved on. It could
have been life threatening, but not even that occurred to me. The way I
processed that event was simply, “it happened, I need to get a 2.1 in second year,
let’s move on.” I didn’t really allow myself to feel what I was supposed to feel,
because there was no time. Within a month of that event, my family was
involved in a near fatal accident, which shook me to my core. Yet, not once did I
stop to process everything. I did not see the point. Shortly after, I achieved 2.1s in
my EU law exam, Tort exam and Equity & Trusts essay. Life was decent right?
How naive I was.

You see, the jump from 1st to 2nd year was very confusing. I was scared of failure,
so that motivated me. I thought I was an imposter that didn’t deserve to be in
Russell Group university. Soon I would be caught out. So, I isolated myself and
honestly, even amongst friends, I felt alone. Additionally, despite the early
potential in second year, I wasn’t on the right path to achieving my goals in my
second year, which were getting a 2.1 and possibly a 1st with a training contract
at a global elite law firm. Well, I ended up with a 2.2 in my second year with no
vacation scheme and training contract. This broke me. I didn’t think I had
anymore tears left in me, because I had cried throughout the year with curtains
closed and lights off. Then I admitted to myself for the first time that I wanted to
drop out of university. I didn’t necessarily think of what I would do as lost
19-year-old. I wasn’t even sure I took myself seriously. In my head, all my dreams
and ambitions could no longer happen, and I had finally been caught out. I can
definitely tell you for free that mentally, I was in shambles. I was completely and
utterly confused.

I am someone who is used to structure. I would set goals which had to pan out
according to the plan, otherwise I beat myself up with negative self-talk. I was
used to this. It got me through boarding school when I moved to England at 11.
My school’s motto was “Quant Je Puis”, which means roughly “all that I can”. So,
I come from a background where I throw myself into things and try my best, but
negate my mental health. Simply because it never occurred to me. I suppose
what I didn’t know at the time was that this negative self-talk is
counterproductive. The equation in my head went something like this; negative
self-talk = fear of failure = hard work = success. I’ve never been so wrong.

Truth be told, I only dealt with the feelings of being racially attacked properly
this year after the outrage that arose, due to the murder of George Floyd. To
contextualise, my experience happened in 2017. In 2020, I started to take mental
health much more seriously. I started learning how to personally operate
productively and efficiently. I realised that my performance was best when I
took care of my mental state, because it gave me space to think creatively and
focus better.
How did I learn these things? After reaching rock bottom at the end of my second
year, I had no choice but to change my systems. Firstly, I learned to trust myself
more. This included learning to pat myself on my back for even the smallest
achievements. Secondly, in my third year, I sought help. I reached out to my
lecturers and my friends and started working on improving my grades, and the
techniques I needed to do so. I also became more patient and learned to trust the
process. I started to see results. I was much happier, and my head was less cluttered.
I made an application to a global law firm and passed the application stage, even
with my 2.2 from second year. I didn’t end up making it to the end, but that was a
small win that I celebrated, and it made me that bit more confident in my abilities.
But I started to slip back into old habits. This is what many people may not talk to
you about – it isn’t that easy to suddenly make a 180-degree transformation. It takes
consistent effort and patience with oneself. However, I recovered. I also started
working on my hobbies. So, for example, I focused on my poetry and art and set a
goal to self-publish an anthology by graduation, which I did. This gave me an outlet.
A form of creative therapy.

I did end up graduating with a 2.1 from the University of Exeter and securing
internships at two global law firms, with the hope of securing a training contract
soon. I also found a very keen interest in the area of legal technology and other
emerging technologies in business and ended up securing a master’s in
management place at Imperial College Business school to pursue this interest.
Lastly, I am rounding off the Legal Practice Course with a combined LLM, where I
achieved the Career Commitment Scholarship.

Over the past couple of years, I realised that my mental health was key to the
improvement of my performance. When I didn’t take care of my mental state, my
performance slumped, but when I did, it soared.

So, for young aspiring lawyers like myself, find something that you enjoy doing to
balance out the intensity of building a legal career. Take it easy on yourself,
celebrate the small wins as well, because the legal industry is very competitive,
especially in today’s COVID-19 world. You cannot do this alone, reach out to friends,
make study groups, make your tutor your best friend and find mentors. Finally, be
patient and trust the process and yourself, that it will work out. However, never stop
moving forward.
Just a little poem to round off:

You might bend but you won’t break.

You might fall, but always stand tall.
You might win some, but you most definitely will lose some…
But get up, don’t fold and keep moving forward.
B. Positive mindset shifts
First, and most importantly, believe in yourself, because you
deserve to. It’s so normal to feel the imposter syndrome – that
you don’t belong there, you’re not smart enough compared to
everyone else, somehow admissions made a mistake when
accepting you, or you don’t have what it takes to complete this
degree; trust us, everyone has felt it at some point. But the truth
is, the admissions staff have been doing their job for years. They
know the level of academic rigour that your program requires,
and they specifically chose to give you an offer to study this law
program, because they rightly recognized that you have the
academic talent to thrive here. You are so intelligent and so
resilient, and already have everything it takes to get through
this degree. Believe in yourself - you are your biggest
cheerleader, and you have every right to believe that you can do

Trust in the process: Often, it takes a while to see the whole

picture when studying a legal subject; you may sometimes
have to learn all the topics for it to finally click. After all, if we
knew everything we were supposed to know, we wouldn’t need
to study law. Therefore, take a deep breath, and trust in the
process. You will figure it out if you keep working at it, and
seeking the necessary support you may need. When it got too
stressful, it was comforting for us to know that tens of
thousands of law students went through the same thing and
successfully graduated – if they did it, why can’t I?

When we fixate on solutions too early on, we often miss out on

the solutions hanging in the periphery that only present
themselves as life happens. Answers, or at least options,
become much clearer as we go on, and we have all that it takes
to make these decisions when the time is right. So trust in the
process - it will be okay.

This too, shall pass: during one of my (Michelle’s) breakdowns during

exam season in first year exam season, a close friend stopped by my
room to give me a hug and a post it note, on which “this too, shall pass”
was written. This post-it-note was stuck on my wall for all three years of
law school, and is still one of my favourite phrases. It is an encouraging
reminder that no matter how difficult the situation is right now, it will,
one day, be over. You will eventually get through this. If you have a goal
post-law school in mind (eg. to earn money and support your family, or
to become a [insert dream career]), know that you are closer to this
objective every minute that passes. It’s also simultaneously a beautiful
reminder that all good things, like our times at university with our
friends, do come to an end too, so we should truly savour what we have
in the present and enjoy it as much as possible.
You are strengthening your resilience muscle: it may be diffi-
cult to appreciate it right now, but every time we go through
hardship, we are training our resilience muscle, and it helps build
up our character such that we become stronger and can prob-
lem-solve better in the future. Try to treat all of this as a learning
process; by the end of it, you’ll come out with so many lessons
and experiences that will help you for a lifetime. After all, it’s
often not the achievement itself that brings happiness and fulfill-
ment; it’s the journey that it took to get there.

Let go of comparisons: the only person you need to compare yourself to is

yourself. You grew and improved so much from who you were a month ago, a
year ago, 5 years ago. Close your eyes. Now think back to a time when you
wanted exactly what you have now. Let that sink in.

It hasn’t been easy getting to where you are now, but you did it, and you
deserve to celebrate you and all that you are. Everyone is on a different path
trying to navigate their way through life, and it wouldn’t be fair to compare your
point A to someone else’s point B, would it? A friend once said something that
really stuck with me: “just aim to be a little bit better today than you were
yesterday, repeat it for a year, for two, and for a decade. Then look back, and see
how far you’ve come. Bonus when someone 10 years later tells you you have a
talent for this or you are so talented at this - then you can only smile. And know
you made it.” Therefore, only compare yourself to you.

Recognize that thoughts are just thoughts - they don’t have to

be true: it seems so obvious, but it was a profound moment for us
when we realized that human brains have so many thoughts pop-
ping in and out every day, and just because you have a thought
does not mean that the content of the thought is true. A simple
example: if I think that “today, it will rain”, it does not mean that it will
actually rain; it’s just what my brain is telling me. The same applies to
any negative or anxiety-inducing thoughts your brain may tell you –
they don’t have to be true.

It’s okay to be sad – acknowledge your feelings: we found it very

empowering to realize that our mental capacities are not meant to
be static; they are variable, and very much depend on the circum-
stances we are in and how we perceive things. If you’re sad, don’t
suppress that feeling. Allow yourself to realize that this is a valid
emotion that you deserve to feel. Of course dwelling on it forever is
not going to be beneficial as we do want to ultimately feel better, but
if you want to cry, or lie there and just think through your thoughts,
don’t hesitate to do it. It will give you a deeper perspective into who
you are, and why you are feeling the way you do.

Be kind to yourself: find a picture of three-year old you, print it out and stick it on your
wall (or keep a readily available copy on your phone). When you are about to say critical
things to yourself, look at the picture and ask, would I say that to three-year old me? If the
answer is no, then don’t say it to the current you either. If you’re interested, look into the
psychological concept of the “inner child”. Another method is to treat yourself as you
would a best friend - if your friend was in your exact same situation right now, would you
be guilt tripping them, saying mean things, and be discouraging? Or will you act with
empathy, kindness and understanding? We are often our own worst critics, and when
difficult circumstances happen, we fail to show ourselves the compassion we deserve.