Why do we ask for Legal Written Work?
The purpose of the legal written work is to provide additional evidence of your legal skills and abilities, in particular your ability to analyse and interpret law. By providing the panel with relevant written work, you are giving them an insight into your legal skills. It will also provide evidence of your written communication skills.
What Is Required?
Depending on the role you are applying for, you may be asked to submit one or more examples of legal written work that you have personally prepared.
When selecting examples, you should consider the judicial office you are applying for and choose work that demonstrates the legal depth and complexity required for that role.
Please ensure that any word limits specified in the application form are observed. If you submit an example that exceeds the identified word limit, you must clearly identify the passage(s) which make up the word limit within that piece of written work which best demonstrates the criteria for assessment by the panel.
If you have not clearly identified the passage(s) to be considered, the members of the panel will restrict their assessment of that piece of written work to the word limit identified, starting from the first word of the document provided.
It is important that your legal work is clearly laid out and accessible to the panel. When a document longer than the allowed word limit is submitted, identification of the selected passages should be clearly set out and not create a barrier to overall understanding of the document.
Examples of Written Work
Examples may include:
- advice provided to clients, such as letters, memoranda, opinions or briefing notes
- written submissions or other forms of legal argument
- judgments, opinions, stated cases, reports or decision notices prepared in a judicial, tribunal or similar capacity
- legal advice prepared for colleagues within a firm, organisation or public body
- other examples of legal analysis explaining how the law applies to a particular set of facts or circumstances
Choosing Your Examples
The examples you select should ideally be recent and provide clear evidence of the legal competencies required for the role.
Choose work that is focused, relevant and demonstrates your own analysis and reasoning. Where a document contains substantial background information or factual narrative, you should identify the specific sections that best demonstrate your application of the law and legal analysis.
Confidentiality and Redaction
Although all submitted material will be treated in confidence, you must remove or redact any information that could identify clients, parties, witnesses or other individuals.
It is your responsibility to ensure that any confidential, sensitive or legally protected information has been appropriately anonymised before submission.
Submitting Your Written Work
Written work must be submitted in PDF format.
The application system allows only one attachment to be uploaded. Where more than one example is required, or where you wish to submit multiple documents, these should be combined into a single PDF before uploading.