How to Build a Standout LL.M. Application with Dr. Daria Levina

Welcome to studying Law Around the World. I'm Claudio Claus. In each episode, I talk with lawyers, law students, and professors from different parts of the world to talk about legal education, careers, and what the profession looks like in real life. We talk about the hard parts, the surprises. And the decisions that shaped their paths, whether you're planning. To study abroad. Thinking about working in another. Legal system or just curious about how law works around the world? This. Podcast is for you. If you're an internationally trained lawyer or law student working in or trying to break into an English speaking common law system, you know that legal writing is one of the biggest challenges and one of the most important skills to master. That's where Grammatica comes in. I'm Rebecca Lockwood, the lawyer, mediator, educator and founder of Grammatica International. We help lawyers and law students to write sharper. Speak. Clearer and land more interviews with on demand online courses, live workshops and one-on-one consulting designed just for legal professionals. I have worked with so many lawyers like you who are exceptionally smart, qualified and capable but need some guidance to really stand out in a competitive legal market. And I get it myself, having lived and worked in five countries during my 17 years in law and education. Whether you're looking to sharpen your writing skills generally, refresh your CD, or draft an application for a law program, Grammatica can help. Visit Grammatico to get started. Today I have the opportunity to interview Doctor Daria Levinah. She is a fantastic professional that has a breadth of experience that is just so incredible to hear about. She's got the opportunity to study and work in a journey that spends Russia, Germany, USA, Italy, so very, very international. And she is a Harvard alum as well. Thank you so much for joining us today, Daria. Really appreciate you being here. Thank you so so much for having me that it's an absolute pleasure to be here and do share what I know what the perspective elephants. I really appreciate it. And to start on today's conversation, I'd love for you to introduce yourself and also tell us. A little bit about what? Originally motivated you to pursue an LM and and how that has just really shaped everything you do these days. So I'm originally from Russia and I did my first law degree there. I worked there for a few years as well for a German law firm I like. I used to be an arbitration lawyer and after a few years of working in a firm, which I really, really liked because it wasn't me nice firm and a we had such an amazing team. But I just felt that I sort of reached the ceiling in terms of like the project that are projects that I've been working on and I didn't know what to do next professionally. And I've seen people around me like more senior professionals go do LM abroad. And I just thought that I wanted to try that as well. Like I, I felt like I've done a few shorter study abroad programs, like summer schools, for instance, I, I went to The Hague Academy to the Paris habituation, getting the fancy evaporation and stuff. Like I, I was able to secure scholarships for that. And it was, it was a lot of fun. But at some point it just felt that I wanted to pursue a longer program abroad and just have a taste of it and also and try to understand what to do next profession, like professionally. And I first applied to Europe. I applied to limits, the Masters International Dispute Settlement in Geneva and two schools in the UK and I had like my eyes set on Oxford because not just because of the title, but because they had their unusually 2 fully funded scholarships for people with my demographic parameters. And I thought that that was fantastic. But I didn't get into Oxford. I didn't get into Cambridge, and I got into mids Geneva with a full scholarship. But by that time I decided that I didn't want to do arbitration anymore. And so I declined those offers and reapplied to the US. And at that time I got into NYU and Harvard and I managed to secure funding, which was very hard, but sort of that that was the story behind my decision to pursue them. This episode of Studying War Around the World is proudly sponsored by ITL Prep from imant Exam Prep, the comprehensive resource designed specifically for internationally trained lawyers preparing for DMCA exams. We understand that the NCA accreditation journey can feel overwhelming. You can face many obstacles getting to success courses that cost too much, offer too little, or leave you more confused than when you started. That's why imund Exam Prep created ITIL Prep, a smarter, more reliable way to succeed. Our module based self study courses and expert LED review sessions are designed. By actual law professors. Many of whom are Itls themselves or teach at international law schools. 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What are some kinds of things that you can share with our listeners here that's strong applicants tend to get right and also where they get many things wrong. I know you've worked with people helping them with those applications as well. So what are some thoughts you have on that? Oh yeah, I have. I have a lot of thoughts because it just, it really, really like helping people with applications and it writes about it a lot. And I would say one of the mistakes is not understanding that when you write applications, especially when you write essays, regardless of whether you use AI tools or not, there are different stages. Like nobody sits down in front of the laptop and produces an amazing aside from scratch looking then hour. That just doesn't happen. And so like when I work with Llama applicants, helping them develop their LM applications, there, there is a lot that I help them do in terms of, for instance, analyzing their profile, talking to them about the experiences they have. They're meaningful to them and that shape them as lawyers and as professionals and working that into the application instead of just trying to squeeze a perfect essay from from the start. I would say that's that's the biggest. One well, thank you for sharing that. So as as you just said, you've helped other people just to apply to top LLM programs, but also to PhD programs, and maybe what's one piece of advice you'll find yourself given over and over again to students? Yeah. So I would actually develop this idea that I just talked about, about how we are presented with this view of writing that it's a linear process. And I think a lot of it comes from the movies. Because like when, when you see a movie and there is someone who is a writer who writes, like you see someone who, whose process is just that they, they sit down and then initially they are tortured and it doesn't come together, but then they just write and it all comes together perfectly. And I don't know if they get recognition or something like that. And the reason this is how writing is presented in movies because like when you make a movie, you need to visualize something. And there is, there's a lot of in writing that you actually can't visualize. For instance, a load of writing for me happens when I first, like I had A and a session where I just was brainstorming, I was idea generating, but then I would go on a walk and a lot of my writing happens on walks. And so like something that I really recommend often, as you mentioned, this is the piece of advice I give over and over is that when you're working on, on your applications, your work essentially will be consistent of two types of work. One is focused work or focused writing. You will be sitting in front of the laptop or you will be taking notes, like on paper or whatever works for you. And that's one part. But then there will be a lot of what is called diffuse thinking. And a lot of thinking will happen unexpectedly, like when you were queuing at a grocery store or when you were taking a walk or when you are talking to a friend. And I think it's really, really important to account for both because both are really, really important. And that that's just the, the, I think the most important piece of advice that I I give to LM and also PhD applicants. Fantastic, amazing. Another one of the topics that I'm sure you end up discussing a lot with people is is funding and negotiating offers. So I'm sure that's something that people feel nervous about about really. And when you raised $92,000 to attend Harvard, what helped you to approach that process with confidence? Yeah, I think, well, the primary element was that I was very lucky that I didn't now how American system of education worked, and it may sound naive and it was, but especially because I I did all those shorter study abroad trips in Europe and I always got a scholarship for that. I sort of like whenever someone told me, well, in the US you need a lot of money to study at a top university, I sort of discarded this because, I mean, I thought that if you work hard, you always get a scholarship because that's how it works for me. And I just didn't understand that the whole structure of how education works in the US is very, very different. And what was really helpful was that I just look on the most fundamental ideological premise. I refuse the idea that education should accessibility of education should depend on socioeconomic circumstances. It is unfortunately, that we are conditioned to believe that we're too, except because most most economies in the world are capitalist. But I don't think it's OK. And I think it was really, really helpful for me to keep applying for scholarships and keep raising money because I just couldn't understand how the fact that I don't have reach parents could be limited to education. It just didn't work in my hand. And I think it was the single most helpful frame of mind that I had. And, and I just, I really, I really wanted to come across and to, to, to just pass it on to other people because I think one day we will probably live in a world where education is accessible. And if you have rich parents, you, yes, you reach parents will pay for that. But if you don't, you probably will get a scholarship because I think that's how it should work. And then something else that also really helped me was that I, I never stopped after getting a rejection. I used all of the rejections and failures as just as a redirection. And what I notice a lot of times is that people who are people who are not successful, they do have strong potential, but they just they stop trying or they try less than people who turn out to be successful. That's all this did not a full picture. And obviously there are so many factors involved, but if there's one thing that I would like your pass on is that very often the difference between the success and failure is just the number of attempts, like smart attempts because you, you do, you do need to to evaluate what didn't work, what you could improve. But but in a nutshell, that that's it. You know, as we've been hearing from lawyers around the world on this show, one thing that's universal is the challenge of managing massive amounts of case materials. Whether you're dealing with witness statements in Sydney or reviewing contracts in Chicago, the volume can be overwhelming. That's why I wanted to tell you about Rev. Instead of analyzing documents one at a time, you upload everything to 1 workspace PDF's, audio recordings, video depositions, transcripts, Revs AI analyzes them altogether and spots connections you'd never catch working file by file. Every insight comes with clickable citations that take you right back to the source. So when the AI finds a contradiction between witness statements, you can verify it instantly. Whether you're a law student or practicing attorney building your international career, Rev Insights gives you that edge our guests always talk about. Check it out at rev.com. Amazing. Well, that was interesting. Thank you for sharing your your opinion, point of view on that and you've moved. From the law. Practice into academia and consulting after your experience at Harvard. So I'd love to hear a little more about about that transition. What helped you to make that transition? How did you know it was the next step for you and how have you enjoyed it? Sure. So I think I am a very well suited to pursuing projects that that require a lot of autonomy. I'm just, I'm very good with self direction and, and I really like when I have a large project that I can structure in a way that I want and then nobody bothers me. And academia and my own consultancy, they are very good, very natural avenues. We're realizing that because I've seen that a lot of people who start PHD's say then really, really struggle because they don't like that they need to solve direct. They like having someone to tell them what to do. And that's just a different, there's a different, um, what it's called just a different way to operate in the world. And everybody is different. So it's, it's really, really important to account for that. But for me that this transition was primarily due to the fact that I just, I really like having my own projects and I learned a lot. But when I was working as a practicing attorney and, and that was incredibly valuable, but he was just, I felt that it limited me too much and what I wanted to pursue any, I couldn't also choose projects. For instance, there are topics that are really interesting for me that I want to pursue. Like when I did my PhD at the European University Institute in in Italy, I was really interested in the questions of court design and how one designs that are quartz. But if I were practicing attorney, I wouldn't just be able to choose what to work on. I would have clients and clients would tell me what their problems are and I would need to solve them. So that's a very different way to exist. Yeah, there's there's really there's just no right or wrong. It's just what what works for you and for me academia and owning my own consultancy or at the moment the best, the best way to realize what it like. Amazing looking at the global League education space today, what trends do you think will be important for the next generation of lawyers? And this could be no advice for people who are thinking or considering going in an LM soon, or even these other thoughts that you might have in that sense as well. Yeah, absolutely. So my, my personal policy is to be aware of the trans, but not necessarily let them guide professional life choices in a sense that I don't think it's wise to fully depend on a trend and to let it decide for you. But it's, but rather start with understanding what it is that you and you'd like to look like and, and see how, given what's happening in the world, you can realize that. But, but Speaking of broader trends, I think one of the things that I've been seeing recently is that that you previously people would only consider alarm programs in the, in the conventional West, in continental Europe or the UK or the US. And now the programs in in Southeast Asia, for instance, they are becoming more popular. And I think that's a really good trend because look, it's just people are moving from or seed superiority of the West and just embracing the diversity of the world and learning to appreciate all the variety that exists in the world, including the legal world. And I think that's a very welcome and development. I mean, another trend, he's obviously a, I mean, everybody's talking about it. So I just, I'm very reluctant to talk too much about it because I think like our listeners are getting my news about AI left and right, but like something that's applicable to your applications and the legal skill set as well is that at the moment, what I see a lot of people, they treat AI as a replacement for their work and, and that's not effective. OK, had multiple people come to me go over the past year, for instance, and they asked me to review their alarm personal statements. And it was quite evident that parts were AI generated. And it was evident because AI is not good at idea generation And you just, you can very easily spot those fully AI generated essays. And I seen the same few months ago when I was, I was a member of the selection committee for regional arbitration Academy. And there were just people who they will copy pasted things from the apparently they just the, the uploaded their CD's and then they copy pasted where the AI generated without even reducing the formatting of the I, you know, like the, the, the bold parts. And obviously that was like a immediate rejection. And what I think is important to understand, and I think it's going to be a trend, is that AI is not gonna replace people. It's gonna it's gonna enhance people. And that applies to applications as well. Because if you are a good writer, hey, I can do a lot for you. Like especially the editing part and especially for instance, checking the English grammar. Because the Lord developed most dilemma applicants are not English native speakers and English is a huge barrier. But it can help with English grammar. But treating it as a substitution is just not going to help because because it's the same as hiring an intern and instead of teaching that intern, just giving them the just giving the intern the entire projects. So yeah, look, I think that the trend is just too. To learn how to enhance your skill set and your legal acumen with AI. But not not just outsourced to it like entire projects because at least as I currently stands, it's just not producing optimal results. I'd say these are the trends. No, that's amazing. I really appreciate you bringing that up. I I think those are very important conversations that we. We need to. Continue having We can't really outsource our thinking completely, so it it definitely needs a lot of editing and definitely needs a lot of teaching and instructing. And we, we. Definitely need to learn how to be better prompters, but not only that, we need to just, you know, continue exercising our critical thinking and making sure that we especially in this. Kind of. Essay where you want to know who you are, right? And I really appreciate you bringing that up. And to wrap today's episode, I, I wanted to hear from you, you know, for someone listening who dreams of studying abroad but is unsure if they have what it takes, what would you encourage them to remember before giving up on that goal? Absolutely. I would say don't quite believe in having what it takes. What I believe in is building a strong profile, building a store and application and then really separating things that you can't control and things that you can't. And in my personal experience, like, unless, unless you are someone who hasn't, just hasn't been doing nothing your whole life, and then suddenly you decided that you want to go to Harvard, unless you are that there is really a lot you can do. And, and the problem that I see most often is not that people who want to apply to a really good university, It's not that they're not qualified or it's not that they don't have what it takes, but it's that they're so close to their professional background for their personal background that they don't see how much value they have and how much they can offer this world. So what I what I've liked you, what I would like to have a listeners to remember is that like whenever you have those thoughts that I'm just not good enough or it's not going to work out for me. Maybe treat those thoughts as the knot, not as the truth, but not as a fact, because those thoughts, they often cover up as truth, but treat them as the, as, as who they are, their thoughts. And, and if you want to give it a shot, try anyway and just approach it in a more like scientific way, like ability hypothesis, like what if, what if I'm qualified? What if I can do ABC and then see whether it works out and, and then just received what what I call compassionate detachment. First of all, compassion to yourself because because life is hard and, and applications are hard and, and there are things that he can't control and there are things that he can't. And unfortunately that that's just how it works. But don't throw yourself over an opportunity unless unless you've tried and you actually have given it's like enough in terms of the strategy and research and and just doing whatever you can in these circumstances that you are in. Let's say that that's what I would like. I will listen extremer. Amazing. Well, thank you so much once again for being in the podcast today. Thank you all for tuning into this episode. Thank you so so much for having me. I really hope it's been helpful. Whether you're studying law in Mumbai or practicing in Manhattan, Rev can help you transcribe and analyze all your case materials with verifiablecitations.learnmore@rev.com.