LLM Sample Personal Statement, Indian Applicant

Dreaming of Law School in America

Coming from a poor country like India, predicted to overtake China with the largest population in the world by mid-century, I am familiar with the great challenges that are present in justice and the law. I hope to earn my LLM Degree at the University of XXXX because of the sheer excellence of your program as well as its location. I see your especially distinguished and rigorous LLM Program as the ideal springboard upon which I might realize my dreams of working towards greater justice for the common person, especially in my troubled country of origin. I appreciate the importance of your mission and curriculum, especially concerning issues of gender and social justice, sexual orientation, freedom, and oppression. I look forward to contributing to discussion of diversity and social justice at the University of ____ as an Indian woman who is extremely passionate about social justice and equality, and painfully aware of the great legal challenges that we face, especially in India and particularly as concerns women.

The Indian constitution provides all citizens the right to free legal aid if they cannot afford it; nevertheless, illiteracy remains a major hurdle which keeps many people from utilizing the legal resources that are made available to the people. To bridge this gap, I spent most afternoons of my undergraduate years planning and setting up bi-annual awareness camps for our local rural community to increase awareness of their legal rights and to provide them with free legal services. This way, I was able to put into daily practice many of the valuable things that I was learning in college, taking courses such as “Public Interest Lawyering, Legal Aid & Paralegal Services” and “Human Rights and International Law.”

My professional as well as personal identity has been defined by multiple volunteer work experiences with non-profit organizations. Studying “Women and Law” helped me to realize my womanist mission as an integral part of the contributions that I hope to make in the arena of social justice, seeking legal remedies for the special problems and challenges faced by women. I began my journey at a non-profit called “Sadhna Sewa Vihar”, working for the professional and academic development of women and acting against atrocities committed against them: sexual harassment, domestic violence, etc. The two months I spent with the organization were a life-changing experience for me in many ways and further reinforced my passion for community service. There were at least 20 to 30 cases reported every day to our organization, and I found most of the victims had almost no clue about the legal options available to them. I was working as part of a team of five people and my job was to talk to the victims, write their complaints down, and file reports to our supervisor. In some cases, the victim went to the police, but the police refused to write the complaint, thus providing us with a legal opportunity to do so – referred to as a First Information Report - in conformance with Indian Law.

Sometimes we had to send a letter to the Superintendent of Police informing him that the police station had refused to register the complaint, requesting that strict action be taken immediately. This was usually helpful but not always effective. I also served as part of a special project conducted by this NGO, where we set up a camp in a local village in India to make the locals aware of their rights and to help them find remedies or to seek redress for cases of violation of those rights. Some of the stories of these women were so horrific, I couldn’t help but think that, although we have a legal right to gender equality, there is still a long way to go in India before this will fully translate into practice.

Though child marriage is illegal in India, it is still being practiced in some backward areas. It is also illegal in India to accept a dowry, but there are several cases where the women or girls have been tortured by their in-laws for the dowry. A 13-year-old girl who was constantly tortured by her in-laws for dowry, was denied her rights by the police when she tried pressing charges. We helped her to file the complaint, and we also filed a case in the civil court challenging the validity of the marriage, rendering it canceled. I also worked on several cases where the women were tortured because of giving birth to a girl child. One woman was forced to abort her child because the child was female. Since prenatal sex determination is illegal in India, we filed a complaint at the local police station against the ultrasound clinic that performed the procedure and helped the girl to file a complaint against her husband for domestic abuse.

LLM Personal Statement Help

Since I graduated in 2013, I have held various volunteer positions with “Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital”, “Gramin Vikas Seva Sansthan”, “Delhi State Aids Control Society”. I have also worked with two NGOs in Morocco, Voice of Amazigh and Prometheus, where I helped with the writing of grant proposals. I authored a research paper that was submitted to the United Nations, a study of two different cooperatives and the work they are doing, how they are meeting the UN Millennium guidelines. Morocco has 12,000 co-operatives with 450,000 small businesses for locally produced products providing much needed employment for women. Gender inequality is one of the serious issues that Morocco is facing and I prepared outlines for workshops on this topic. Girls end up leaving school before completing their educations to fulfil other obligations such as getting married or helping their families. We have the same problem in India, and I was able to understand the issue and connect with them.

Earning the master's in human rights in the LLM Program at the University of ____ will provide me with the optimal springboard for advancement as a human rights advocate and legal professional. At U of ____, I will develop and refine the analytical skills and expertise that I need for working in the NGO sector. I have an experience with NGOs working in the field of upliftment of the poor, the economic empowerment and legal protection of women, and taking actions against exploitation; thus, I hope to have interesting examples of issues to share with my fellow students as well as professors, contributing to class discussions.

I believe I would be a good fit with your program because I am most excited about taking courses concerning human rights, public education, and gender equality; always searching for increasingly effective ways to safeguard human rights. I am especially moved by the work of organizations like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch and would be particularly honored at some point to serve as a human rights educator for such an organization. In my experience, the most common reason people are denied their rights is a lack of knowledge. I want to educate the public about human rights by organizing public awareness events and campaigns.

My experiences as a volunteer for various NGOs have reinforced my faith in the importance of the fullest respect for human rights possible, and the potential of our legal systems to protect it. During the program at U of ____, I especially look forward to involving myself in research in the areas of gender equality and public education – with as much field work as possible.

Thank you for considering my application to your distinguished LLM Program at the University of ____.

LLM Sample Personal Statement