Motivation Letter for European Master in Law & Economics Programme

Good day, everybody! I am going to apply for a European Master in Law & Economics Programme.
This is a year-long interdisciplinary Master degree combining both Law and Economics subjects.

The requirements for the essay are:

1. The letter of motivation is our most important indicator towards your commitment to and understanding of the study of law & economics.
2. In this letter (maximum two pages), addressed to the review committee, please explain why you are interested in Law & Economics in general and in the EMLE Programme in particular.

I would appreciate your feedback and suggestions:

EMLE - a perfect opportunity for me

To the Review Committee,

"Adil! We are the client here!" This is how a product line manager reacted to my proposal to make up a formula for calculation of liquidated damages in a contract with one of Schlumberger's major suppliers. As a Client Contracts Analyst, I knew a huge per diem amount would not be enforceable under the laws of England and Wales. Product line manager's opinion was that as clients we should not waste our time on estimation of our loss and have to make the supplier agree to whatever figure we claim. I was forced to abandon my investigation into justification of liquidated damages based on real economic impact a delay would have on our company and our client.

This was the first case in practice when I truly realized the interplay between the concepts of Economics and legal risk distribution that triggered my interest towards the study of economic analysis of law. Since then I have read a few works on the subject starting from the famous Some Thoughts on Risk Distributions and the Law of Torts by Guido Calabrese. I found theoretical challenges to risk allocation through legislation or contracts very exciting.

I continued with exploring indemnities as they are widely spread in oil and gas industry contracts. Any conservative Kazakhstani lawyer would say that indemnities contradict the basic principles of full compensation of loss and entrepreneurial risk established in the Civil Code and are unreasonable. However, assessed from an economic perspective this contractual mechanism of risk allocation prevents deadweight loss.

Now, having moved to Legal Department as an Attorney, I realized there are even more legal matters in which economic analysis may help managers make their business decisions. For example, in corporate governance issues, establishing a joint venture or a consortium.

I wish to equip myself with knowledge of microeconomics and economic analysis of law to become a unique lawyer that may evaluate a transaction not only from a purely legal perspective, but also the economic one.

This is the reason I am applying to EMLE Programme. I like its academic curriculum, internationality and the way it is organized.
I have always been interested in Commercial and Trade Law, and after completion of the studies, I plan to become an Associate in one of the renowned international law firms doing business in Kazakhstan.

I would like to follow the Track on Corporations and Regulators because, in my opinion, it will would add crucial value to academic and professional knowledge and skills I already have. The module on Corporate Governance and Finance would allow me to discover financial peculiarities of organizing a corporate governance structure. I am also excited about Advanced Economics of Regulation course as I am more than familiar with Contracts Law and the game theory. Further, I think that among all the courses of the third term, the courses offered by the University of Warsaw are the most relevant for the Kazakhstani legal reality. There are many international companies doing business in Kazakhstan either directly or through joint ventures that face many challenges to their activities. Moreover, Kazakhstan has recently inaugurated the Astana International Financial Center - a Regional Financial Hub that would operate based on principles of Laws of England and Wales. These facts lead to high demand in lawyers that are familiar with knowledge and best practices in dealing with matters of corporate governance and regulation of Financial Markets. As noted earlier, I aspire to become one of them.

At Schlumberger, I realized the benefits that diversity brings in to a workplace, and would like to connect with peers from over the world during my studies.

The fact the programme offers an opportunity to pass each term in a different country is very appealing to me. I would like to improve my German and go on learning Polish.

To sum up, I would like to stress that having come up with application of economic concepts into law during my work experience I find EMLE a perfect opportunity for me to explore economic analysis of law. I do believe that this programme will allow me to achieve my career goals and distinguish me from a myriad of lawyers who obtained a traditional LLM degree.

Thank you for your time,

Faithfully,
Adil N

Adil, you must remove the dialogue at the start of the motivation letter. This is a formal letter requesting for the consideration of your motivations in relation to your application for admission to the course. This is not a creative writing exercise for a narrative story. You are dealing with professors and graduates of the program who are considering your ability to conduct yourself in a professional manner. So the opening method you chose, though attention getting, is inappropriate for the audience that the essay will be presented to. It would be in the best interest of your letter if you revise the letter by using only the most relevant parts because this current version is a mix of a personal statement, a motivation letter, and an SOP. You need to present only the motivation parts. Your clearest motivation is the scenario that you presented with the dialogue. Revise that into an explanatory statement instead that goes something like this:

During my time working as XX as a XXX, I came across a situation wherein I XXX. This motivated my interest in XXX...

My motivation led me to read the authoritative works of the economic masters such as .... I found that I still thirsted for more knowledge in the field of... and this led me to the EMLE program at XXX

From that point, you can describe what parts of the program appeal to you the most and why. These would be best represented by the following:

I would like to follow the Track on Corporations and Regulators ... regulation of Financial Markets.

At Schlumberger, I realized ...go on learning Polish.

Try to develop the portion about the international experience brought by studying in a new country each semester. That is a mere passing mention in your motivation letter when it should be one of the driving forces behind your motivation to attend this program.