Personal Statement

My decision to join law school is deeply entrenched in the events that I underwent while growing up in Benin. I am the eldest of a family of three in this small West African country. The challenges in my life began when I was barely four years old. The loss of my father, who was our primary breadwinner affected our family significantly. The devastation that I, my mother and siblings experienced motivated me to work hard to help our family. Right from primary school, I desired to succeed in my education so that I could make my mother proud. I realized my objectives by graduating from primary school at the age of nine. Success in the national exam provided me with the chance of attending one of the best secondary schools in the country.

Although my mother wanted me to become a teacher after completing my high school studies, I aspired to study law so that I would promote justice in the society. It is worth to note that after losing my father, my family lost its inheritance due to outdated traditions. I believe that this profession will provide me with the chance to help other people in a similar situation. After finishing university, I moved to France to quench my thirst for knowledge. Irrespective of having worked for a few years, my quest for helping people still burns deep inside.

I have decided to go back to school and realize my dreams of becoming a practicing attorney. I believe that McGill will provide me with the chance of achieving my goals. I consider McGill’s BCL/LLB program as a unique course that will open the door to a rewarding and exciting career.

Having studied in different countries characterized by diverse cultural aspects, I believe that I am culturally competent and will adjust to the Canadian environment readily. When I first moved to Edmonton, language barrier was my greatest challenge in this highly diverse city. However, I embraced the challenge and broke the obstacle by gaining resilient fluency in English. My desire to fight for justice keeps pushing me into getting back to law school to fulfill my duties.

I consider McGill as part of the most prestigious institutions with the best legal education in Canada. I possess a curious personality that stimulates not only my critical thinking capabilities but also intellectuality and the aspiration to learn new ideas. Upon completion of my course, I hope to shape my dreams by creating international law practices in Canada, France, and the UK. Once admitted to this program, I desire to utilize my creative thinking and critical analysis capabilities to contribute to the reflection on the relationship between the concepts of Common and Civil Law (Pearce and Nasseri 360). Specifically, I would like to elaborate on how the two ideas can benefit from each other as well as finding new tactics for solving new and emerging issues in the legal field.

Work Cited
Pearce, Russell G., and Sinna Nasseri. “The Virtue of Low Barriers to Becoming a Lawyer: Promoting Liberal and Democratic Values.” International Journal of the Legal Profession, vol. 19, no. 2/3, Nov. 2012, pp. 357–378.