Non-native English speakers in Law and confidence

[ilv29]

Hi everyone,

I am currently interviewing and attending AC's for law firms and have been dealing with the following:

English is not my native language but I am fairly confident in being fluent in it. I studied Law in the UK and use English every single day. Nonetheless, I always feel slightly distant from other candidates or the interviewers in that I obviously do not have a proper British/American/Australian etc. accent. I sometimes slightly mispronounce words, or rather, I do not have the same intonation or word stress that British people use. Maybe Impostor syndrome, language-wise, is the correct term?

Given the importance of communication and first impression in the profession, I always assume that this is a disadvantage for me. Am I wrong to assume so? Anyone else dealt/dealing with this?

Thanks !

 

[Newborntrainee]

Having experienced what you described personally and feeling like I was out of place, I have tried to work on my accent as much as possible since coming to the UK 7 years ago, but I still have an accent. It is now faint, but definitely something I notice. I feel comfortable enough with my writing and speaking English not to feel self-conscious anymore, mainly because our diversity brings something to the firm many English natives do not have: another language!

That said, I also know from witnessing it that the thicker the accent, the harder it is to blend in with a team of English natives, and "make an impression". If you think your accent is strong enough that people often have to ask you to repeat, or that you struggle to express yourself concisely and quickly, you would probably gain in improving your English. If not, then I think you should embrace your accent as it is reminiscent of your culture and background!

 

[AvniD]

Hi everyone,

I am currently interviewing and attending AC's for law firms and have been dealing with the following:

English is not my native language but I am fairly confident in being fluent in it. I studied Law in the UK and use English every single day. Nonetheless, I always feel slightly distant from other candidates or the interviewers in that I obviously do not have a proper British/American/Australian etc. accent. I sometimes slightly mispronounce words, or rather, I do not have the same intonation or word stress that British people use. Maybe Impostor syndrome, language-wise, is the correct term?

Given the importance of communication and first impression in the profession, I always assume that this is a disadvantage for me. Am I wrong to assume so? Anyone else dealt/dealing with this?

Thanks !

I am unsure if this is a disadvantage for you as I have seen people from all kinds of backgrounds thrive in commercial law, many of whom are non-native English speakers.

I make mistakes in my native language sometimes and feel like even native English speakers mispronounce words and use incorrect grammar from time to time- we're all human! So if you do the same, remind yourself that this is a normal feature of speaking any language.

And lastly, nothing can ever speak louder than the quality of your work, and that always has to be the focus for me personally. Ensuring that you work with your group members in an AC, make impressive case study presentations, are confident in your commercial awareness and have very clear, evidence-backed motivations for working in commercial law will make you an unmissable candidate in ACs, regardless of how masterfully you speak English.