1. Follow instructions.
LL.M. applications will have instructions for your personal statement. Be certain to follow those instructions, carefully! If the instructions call for 500 words in the personal statement, do not submit 501 words. If there is a page limit, stick to it. Be certain to answer the specific questions that the application asked, or address the specific issues presented. If the application asks you to describe your substantive interests, your achievements and your academic and professional goals, do not write a lengthy essay about a pressing legal issue. Give the admission committee precisely what it wants!
2.Purpose of personal statements
Admission committees want to learn more about you as a person, in your own voice, and to learn about other qualities you have that are not reflected well in other parts of the application. Tell them!
3.Emphasize the “personal”. However, you need not be too personal. But be honest.
The committee does not need to know the most intimate details about you or your life. You might paint a picture of yourself that illustrates your strengths, particularly what you can bring to the school and what you will do with your education post-LLM.
4. I am human!
You are not a collection of documents, or a robot. You are a free-thinking human who would like to join a school filled with students from around the world, with professors and staff—all involved in an education mission. Your personal statement should reflect your humanity.
It is not a legal research piece where you demonstrate your legal reasoning aptitude. It does not summarize your CV or diplomas. Some schools explicitly state that they will not consider your application without a personal statement, and will not accept a resume or curriculum vitae in place of the statement.
Treat your personal statement like an in-person interview, and let the school learn about the real you. Treat it like "an interview on paper".