Staring at a blank page, wondering how to start your law school personal statement?
You’re not alone.
I’ve worked with hundreds of stressed-out applicants who all tell me the same thing: writing their personal statement feels like the most intimidating part of the entire law school application process.
Either there are a million different things they could write about. Or it feels like they have nothing interesting or novel to write about at all.
The good news? It’s actually simpler than you might think to write a personal statement for law school that works.
And I’m going to show you exactly how to write a personal statement that not only checks all the boxes but actually helps you stand out from the thousands of other qualified applicants competing for those coveted law school seats.
Let’s go!
Key takeaways:
1. A strong personal statement can tip the scales in your favor—even with average stats.
It’s your chance to show who you are beyond numbers. Many applicants with perfect scores get rejected, while others with lower scores stand out because of a compelling story.
2. The most effective statements are authentic, focused, and grounded in a clear theme.
Admissions officers want to hear your real voice. Choose one meaningful story that ties into why you’re pursuing law.
3. Great personal statements are written through revision, not perfection on the first try.
Start with a rough draft and refine from there. The editing process is where clarity, connection, and impact are shaped.
What you’ll learn about writing a law school personal statement:
1. The purpose of a law school personal statement
2. The non-negotiable elements of a personal statement
3. How to write a personal statement in 4 steps
4. How to format a personal statement
5. Avoid these things in your personal statement
6. Law school personal statement examples
What is the purpose of a law school personal statement?
Think of your law school personal statement as your opportunity to show the admissions team who you are beyond your GPA and LSAT score.
Because the truth is, many applicants have amazing GPAs and LSAT scores, and still don’t get in.
And it is also true that many applicants without amazing GPAs or LSAT scores do get in.
Just take a look at a few of the applicants I’ve worked with who, if you just looked at their numbers, should not have gotten into the schools they’re at right now.
Clearly there is some other underlying factor. Something that made these applicants absolutely acceptance-worthy, in spite of their stats.
And that something is your personal statement.
Now, you’re not just telling a story here.
Your personal statement is your chance to:
- Showcase your authentic voice and personality (something numbers can never do)
- Highlight the experiences and perspectives only you can bring to their program
- Demonstrate your character, values, and motivations in a way that resonates with the school’s culture
- Provide critical context to other parts of your application
- Prove you can think, write, and communicate like a future attorney
Most importantly, it’s your opportunity to answer the question that’s really on the admission committee’s minds: “Why should we choose you over someone with identical credentials?”
The best part? You don’t need an extraordinary life story to write an extraordinary personal statement.
You just need these key elements…
The 3 non-negotiable elements of a winning law school personal statement
The most powerful personal statements I’ve helped craft weren’t filled with dramatic stories or impressive accomplishments.
They were honest, focused, and purposeful.
Here’s what separates forgettable personal statements from the ones that get results:
1. Authenticity
Admissions officers can spot inauthenticity from a mile away. They’ve read thousands of essays trying too hard to impress.
Don’t tell them what you think they want to hear. Tell them who you really are.
Your authentic story, told in your authentic voice, is your greatest advantage. No one else has lived your life or sees the world through your particular lens.
Share a story that reveals something true about you – something that shaped your decision to pursue law and influences how you’ll approach your legal education.
2. Clarity and conciseness
A mistake I see time and time again is a personal statement that has too many different themes going on, shows too many different interests, and makes me feel like the applicant can’t commit to anything.
At the same time, the strongest personal statements have a laser-like focus on a single theme or narrative thread.
Choose one story, one theme, one insight – and develop it with purpose.
A foolproof way to make sure you have a cohesive essay, is to focus it around a broader theme. This lets you bring in experiences that may feel distinct or totally unrelated but that when you step back and take a closer look, all fall within an overarching theme.
For example, maybe your backpacking adventures across Tanzania, your bungee jumping in New Zealand, your viral blog on complicated baking techniques, and your work in mechanical engineering feel totally distinct, like they’re different parts of you.
This was a real client of mine, Beth. And after going through her brainstorm, we realized that she is someone who is always pushing boundaries, always trying to innovate, whether it is through her adventurous travel, her baking, or her work engineering innovative products. And that was what she focused her application around.
To find your theme:
- Brainstorm about some of your most memorable and formative experiences, the experiences that led you to this very moment when you’re applying to law school. Be over-inclusive! This is just your brainstorm, you’ll sift through it after.
- Review your brainstorm with an objective eye. If someone had to write a thesis that encompassed the entirety of these most important experiences, what might it say?
3. Engaging opening
You have about 10 seconds to capture an admissions officer’s interest before they start skimming.
Those first few lines can make or break your entire application.
Consider how my client Emily opened her successful personal statement:
“I grew up feeling connected to my parents but detached from cultural roots. My parents came from Jewish and Catholic traditions, so they raised me with a little of both.”
Notice how this isn’t flashy or dramatic – it’s specific, intriguing, and immediately establishes her unique perspective.
Now that you know the key elements, let’s cover how to write your law school personal statement.
How do you write a successful law school personal statement? My proven 4-step process
Let me share something personal.
When I applied to Penn Law, my LSAT score and GPA weren’t particularly impressive. On paper, I wasn’t an obvious “yes.”
But I got in anyway.
What made the difference? A personal statement that connected with the admissions committee on a human level.
Here’s the exact process I used – the same one I’ve now taught to hundreds of successful applicants:
1. Brainstorm a topic for your personal statement
The biggest mistake applicants make is choosing predictable, forgettable topics.
The best personal statements often come from the smallest, most specific moments.
Don’t try to cram your entire life story or list of accomplishments into your statement. Instead, focus on finding the right window that gives insight into who you are, how you think, and why law school makes sense for you right now.
Ask yourself these revealing questions:
- What are three character traits that truly set me apart?
- What would surprise the admissions committee about me that isn’t evident from my resume?
- When did I first feel drawn to law school, and why is it the logical next step for me?
- What problems in society am I genuinely passionate about addressing as a lawyer?
Strong topics might include:
- A formative childhood experience that shaped your worldview
- An accomplishment that reveals your character (not just your capabilities)
- Your unique perspective on why law is your calling
- A skill or talent that will make you a better lawyer
- Your vision for what you want to accomplish in law
Let’s talk about my former client Beth again—the mechanical engineer, bungee-jumper, baker. She ended up writing her personal statement around the theme that she is someone who likes to push bounds, who is drawn to innovation. An essay that ended there would have been fine, but it likely wouldn’t have gotten her into her T-10 dream school…which yes, she did get into.
Beth needed to link the theme that she is someone who pushes bounds and is drawn to innovation to why she wanted to go to law school.
So for Beth, she linked her desire to innovate to being drawn to patent law. She talked about how in order for her to continue innovating, she needed to understand how to protect her and others’ innovations.
Beth’s reason for going to law school was very specific. She knew and could back up with proof of her experiences exactly what kind of lawyer she wanted to be.
Remember: It’s not about impressing them with drama or achievements. It’s about sharing a story that only you can tell.
2. Outline your narrative
With your topic selected, it’s time to build a structure that will guide the reader through your story effortlessly.
Think of your personal statement in three key parts:
The beginning: Set the hook
Your opening should immediately engage the reader and set the tone for what follows.
Use a specific moment, vivid description, or thoughtful reflection – like Emily’s opening about feeling detached from her cultural roots.
Don’t waste this crucial real estate on generic statements about wanting to help people or loving the law.
The middle: Develop and connect
This is where you unpack your story and explore your growth, insights, and motivations.
Each paragraph should:
- Build logically on what came before
- Connect to your broader theme
- Move the reader toward understanding why law school is your next step
Resist the urge to list accomplishments. This isn’t your resume in paragraph form.
Instead, focus on revealing how you think, what you value, and what experiences have shaped your decision to pursue law.
The end: Look forward
Your conclusion should reflect on what you’ve shared and look ahead to your future in law.
Answer these questions:
- What have you learned from your experiences?
- How have they prepared you for law school?
- What kind of law student and lawyer do you hope to become?
Be specific about your direction without being rigid.
Rather than saying “I want to go to law school to help people,” explain exactly how your unique background and perspective will enable you to make a specific contribution to the legal field.
3. Write your first draft
Now comes the part that trips up most applicants: actually writing the thing.
The key secret? Your first draft is not your final product.
It’s simply the clay you’ll later shape into something remarkable. So don’t paralyze yourself trying to make every word perfect from the start.
Focus on getting your story onto the page in your authentic voice. Write as if you’re speaking to someone who wants to understand who you are and why you’re applying to law school.
Don’t worry about length, grammar, or perfect phrasing yet. Just tell your story honestly.
4. Revise and edit
This is where the real magic happens. Once you have a complete draft, it’s time to shape it into something powerful.
First, read it through completely and ask:
- Is my main theme or story immediately clear?
- Does each paragraph support and build on this theme?
- Are there any parts that feel repetitive, confusing, or off-topic?
Now comes the crucial part: ruthless editing.
- Cut anything that doesn’t directly serve your core narrative
- Tighten your transitions between paragraphs
- Replace generic statements with specific details
- Eliminate clichés and predictable phrasing
Finally, proofread meticulously. Small errors won’t automatically disqualify you, but they do suggest a lack of attention to detail – not a quality that serves attorneys well.
Pro tip: Get feedback from someone who knows you well AND someone familiar with law school admissions.
A friend can tell you if the statement sounds like you, while an admissions consultant can tell you if it’s working strategically.
So, that’s how to write a law school personal statement! Now, let’s help you format it.
How do you format a personal statement?
Unless a school specifies otherwise, follow these standard guidelines:
- 2-3 pages in length
- Double-spaced
- 11-12 point Times New Roman font
- One-inch margins on all sides
But always check each school’s specific requirements. Some have strict word limits or particular formatting preferences that differ from these standards.
What should you avoid in a law school personal statement?
After reviewing thousands of personal statements, I’ve seen the same critical errors repeatedly sink otherwise strong applications.
Avoid these at all costs:
- Choosing overdone topics like athletic achievements, study abroad experiences, or high school accomplishments
- Writing a resume in paragraph form instead of telling a meaningful story
- Using overly formal language that doesn’t sound like your natural voice
- Telling rather than showing why you want to be a lawyer
- Ignoring school-specific prompts or exceeding word limits
Remember: The goal isn’t to impress the admissions committee with your achievements (that’s what your resume is for). It’s to connect with them on a human level and help them see why you belong in their program.
Now you know what to avoid, let’s look at an example of a successful law school personal statement.
Law school personal statement example
Here below is the full personal statement example by my client Emily:
“I grew up feeling connected to my parents but detached from cultural roots. My parents came from Jewish and Catholic traditions, so they raised me with a little of both. When it came time to do family trees in elementary school, I was lost beyond my grandparents’ generation. My mother reached out to my great-aunt Terry, the matriarch of my mother’s side, and thanks to her I know the story of one branch of my family tree: the Lauterbachs, Austrian Jews who fled after a pogrom, leaving behind their successful hotel. This is the oldest story that I have about my ancestors, and I cling to it as part of my identity.
In college, I pursued a degree in history to learn and tell other people’s stories, and in small ways, to find my own. Given my long-held interest in art and museums, I explored art history, but the academic perspective felt too detached, and I preferred using art as evidence or context in history papers, rather than as the subject.
I was always grasping at things tangentially related to my weak sense of family history, so when I learned about the famous Adele Bloch Bauer I— the painting at the heart of a struggle between a Holocaust victim’s heir and a national Austrian museum, depicted in the “Woman in Gold” film—I clung to the story. I struggled to understand why there had been so much resistance to do what clearly seemed like the right thing. I was perplexed that there had been no clear avenue for families hoping to recover their looted art, searching to find a piece of their lost identity and stolen pride. Why had it taken decades for the pride of the Belvedere Museum in Vienna to be recognized by her real name and returned to her rightful owner?
I felt this same frustration when visiting 21 Rue de la Boétie, an exhibition in homage to French Jewish art dealer Paul Rosenberg—who represented Léger and Matisse among others and was forced to flee Paris in WWII, leaving behind many paintings to be stolen, destroyed, or sold by the Nazis. The last room of the exhibit contained a painting that had just been returned to his estate from a Norwegian museum a year earlier, and the plaque spoke about the ongoing efforts to find and recover additional works. Reading about how heirs were still, decades later, having to fight to recover what was rightfully a part of their family history, a part of their identity, left me furious. It felt like fate; as I was nearing the end of my quest for a senior thesis topic, I had found something that combined history, art, and justice, along with my personal search for identity.
Hoping to get a quote for my senior thesis on the upward trend of restitution in cases of Nazi-looted art, I met with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Antiquities Trafficking Unit, who track down looted antiquities from war-torn or impoverished countries. The head of the unit told me that the landmark international agreement to return stolen works, known as the Washington Principles, was unenforceable and not self-policed, in his blunt words, “useless.”
Another problem that I encountered in my research was that the people holding these works often fail to appreciate their symbolic value. For a museum, these paintings are valuable works by famous artists. But for those whose heritage, ancestors, or past, is tied to an object, the value is primarily its history. A work of art cannot be separated from its past, and as a physical object, it comes to represent the people who cherished it. For me, restituting a work is a way of honoring those people. Choosing not to restitute a work legitimizes the direct and intentional dehumanizing of the Nazi regime. This result and its implications are unacceptable.
It is to this end that I am seeking a law degree. I intend to be an attorney who represents heirs of stolen, looted, and missing works. While restituting art can never bring back the millions of lives lost in the Holocaust or hold accountable those who were guilty or complicit in the looting, it can still provide a small glimmer of hope, a way to honor the dead along with the survivors and repair a missing piece of an heir’s identity. It remains a way to disrupt the results of the original looting, a small right in the face of unspeakable wrongs.
I envision starting my career as a litigator in an art recovery practice group. Through these cases I will bring to light the stories of the individuals tied to these works and ensure that their stories are always told when their works are displayed. I intend to spend my career contributing to the eventual paradigm shift at which point museums and individuals will always feel obligated to restitute looted works.
FAQ: How to write a personal statement for law school
How long should a personal statement be for law school?
Most personal statements are 2–3 pages, double-spaced, and use a standard 11- or 12-point font like Times New Roman. However, you should always check each school’s specific guidelines.
Can you use the same personal statement for multiple law schools?
You can use a core version, but you’ll need to tailor specific parts of the statement, especially for school-specific questions or prompts.
Your next steps: Creating a stand-out application
You now have what you need to write a law school personal statement that works.
But if you’re still feeling overwhelmed, you’re not alone.
Writing about yourself in a strategic way doesn’t come naturally to most people.
That’s why I’ve helped hundreds of applicants craft personal statements that stand out for all the right reasons – and I can help you too.
Find out what it’s like to work with me here.
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