Jill is an Injury, Disability & Employment Lawyer at Edwards Pollard LLP. Jill’s specialty is personal injury litigation and she has fought for the injured for over 18 years. She attended the University of Windsor Law School and graduated in 1999.
From a young age, I always envisioned myself being a lawyer. I wanted a career where I could help people and although I didn’t always know I wanted to be a personal injury lawyer I was fortunate to have an articling position where I was exposed to personal injury law which ignited my passion to work in this area.
I wish I knew how approachable people in the legal industry are as I would have benefited from speaking to others about writing the LSAT and how to best improve my chances of getting into law school. Don’t be afraid to ask for help and guidance.
In order to write a personal statement that is engaging and interesting, I think it’s important to actually have something interesting or compelling to write about. Before applying, I volunteered with various agencies, tried to have job experience with skills that would help me be a great law student, and focused on highlighting why my passion was the law.
Definitely time management. I spent too much time trying to wrestle down the answer to a difficult logical reasoning puzzle and I ran out of time for some of the questions that I knew I could have answered correctly.
Initially, I thought I wanted to do criminal law so I volunteered with correctional facilities and the John Howard Society. I also did administrative work in a law firm. I wanted to ensure that I understood what the day-to-day life as a lawyer would be like before I ventured down that path. I don’t know if there was any specific work experience that helped me get into law school as we are never told why we were accepted but I knew that I felt prepared to attend law school.
I applied to law school after undergrad and I also applied to teacher’s college. I was not accepted to law school on my first attempt, so I took the year and completed my Bachelor of Education degree. It was still my dream to go to law school, so I applied the following year, got accepted, and the rest is history.
Throughout law school, I wanted to specialize in criminal law. My undergraduate degree was in criminology and I thoroughly enjoyed my criminal law classes. When it came time to article, I spoke with many criminal lawyers during my interviews and realized that I didn’t have that “edge” that many of the lawyers I spoke with had about them. It wasn’t my lifestyle to receive new client calls in the middle of the night and be at the jail very early in the morning to meet clients. I decided to article with a civil litigation firm instead and worked on very tragic personal injury cases. I was driven to do what I could to help these innocent people whose lives were devastated because of someone else’s negligence. I knew I could make a meaningful difference in people’s lives in this area of law. If you want to pursue a career in personal injury, I would suggest volunteering with community organizations that help those with serious injuries such as brain injury or spinal cord injury associations.
Elder law is a growing area of law, especially given our aging population. I am also seeing more estate litigation and there is also the area of cybersecurity that will likely be a growing legal niche.
Being a good listener is an important skill for a successful lawyer. You must be able to listen to your clients to understand their issues and what they need to achieve. Being an effective communicator is also key, both being able to communicate well with your client but also communicating complicated legal arguments to the court and opposing counsel. As a personal injury lawyer, compassion and empathy are important skills to help you connect with your client and help build a trusting relationship.
I would strongly suggest shadowing a sole practitioner to understand the non-legal tasks of running your own firm. You should have an entrepreneurial spirit and realize that you will need to be involved in business development, marketing, human resources, accounting, and other administrative tasks to run a business.
I still enjoy logical reasoning problems today–I would be curious to know how I would do on the LSAT if I wrote it again!
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