European law postgraduate personal statement example

Personal statement example

A colleague on my team at the utilities company where I work as a customer service adviser once asked me to help her read a letter from a Polish customer who wanted to know whether his payment plan would survive a move to Spain. The answer, as far as our contract went, was simple. But his question stayed with me because it was really about something larger: what happens to the ordinary arrangements of a life when a person crosses a border inside the European Union. That question has shaped most of my legal study so far, and it is why I want to pursue a postgraduate degree in European law.

During my LLB I was drawn to the parts of the course where national and EU law met awkwardly. Constitutional law introduced me to supremacy and direct effect through Van Gend en Loos and Costa v ENEL, and I remember being struck that principles now taken for granted were built by a court reasoning from the purpose of the Treaties rather than their explicit text. In EU law I enjoyed tracing how the Court of Justice developed the concept of a worker broadly, from Lawrie-Blum onwards, and how citizenship later complicated the picture.

My dissertation examined the mutual recognition of professional qualifications for nurses under Directive 2005/36/EC. I chose it partly because several friends from my year at school went into nursing, and two considered working abroad. I compared the automatic recognition system for general care nurses with the general system that applies to many other professions, and looked at how language requirements interact with free movement. The most demanding part was working through the case law on proportionality without overstating what it settles. My supervisor pushed me to separate what the Court had actually decided from what commentators inferred, and I think the final piece was stronger and more careful as a result. I received a first-class mark for it, which encouraged me to think the topic could support further work.

Since graduating I have worked full time in a customer service role. It is not legal work, and I would not claim otherwise, but it has taught me things I value. I handle complaints that often turn on how terms and conditions are worded, and I have become practised at explaining a rule plainly to someone who is frustrated by it. I also help train new starters on our complaints escalation process, which has made me better at organising information so others can use it quickly. Consumer protection rules, many of which have EU origins, are visible in the background of the job, and noticing them has kept my interest in the subject practical.

Outside work, I visit my grandfather every Sunday and read the newspaper aloud to him since his eyesight has declined. We often end up debating whatever is on the front page, and he is a sharper critic of my arguments than most of my tutors were. I also swim with a masters club twice a week, which gives a useful structure to evenings after long shifts.

At postgraduate level I would like to deepen my understanding of the internal market and citizenship, and to look more closely at how EU law operates for people and businesses in states with different relationships to the Union, including the United Kingdom after its withdrawal. I am particularly interested in how the Court balances market integration against national choices in areas such as health and social policy. I have recently been reading Craig and de Búrca's textbook beyond the chapters my course required, and I would welcome the chance to engage with these debates through sustained research rather than as an occasional reader.

I bring a solid grounding in EU law, a well-received piece of independent research, and the discipline of combining reading with a demanding job. I am ready for the step up in depth and independence that postgraduate study requires.