LOR from a professor who is an alum of a non-law department Forum

[thebestwes]

I'm going to try and get one of my letters of recommendation from a professor who I've worked with quite a bit, and they happen to be an alum of one of my top choices, but not in law (though it was another graduate program rather than undergrad). Is it worth asking them if they feel comfortable targeting an alternate version of the letter to the school? I know it won't make as much of a difference as it would if it was someone who had gone through the law program, but I figured it might still help somewhat. Is this totally, 100% useless or only somewhat useless?

[Indy16]

I'm going to try and get one of my letters of recommendation from a professor who I've worked with quite a bit, and they happen to be an alum of one of my top choices, but not in law (though it was another graduate program rather than undergrad). Is it worth asking them if they feel comfortable targeting an alternate version of the letter to the school? I know it won't make as much of a difference as it would if it was someone who had gone through the law program, but I figured it might still help somewhat. Is this totally, 100% useless or only somewhat useless?

1. They likely have contacts within that program, even if they are not directly affiliated.

2. Targeted LORs are typically better anyways.

There is 0 downside to asking them to target and potential upside.

[capnobvious123]

I'm in a similar situation. I also wanted to ask if having a professor that attended a really prestigious school write an LOR would be helpful for applying to other schools.

I have a really good relationship with a professor who went to a non-law program at Yale, but I don't think I'll have much shot at Yale because of my numbers (taking the LSAT in June, but I'm scoring between 160-170 on timed practice tests, and my GPA is around 3.85ish)

But if I asked him to name-drop Yale, would that help me with applications to other top schools? Or not so much?

[malleus discentium]

There is 0 downside to asking them to target and potential upside.

This is not true. A well-done LOR is a lot of work. Asking a professor for one is fine and expected, because that's part of being a professor. Asking for what is essentially an entirely new LOR is a nontrivial thing to ask. Most schools don't care about LORs anyway, so unless this school is your #1 choice, you have a fair shot of getting in anyway, and the professor actually has something to say other than "I went to X" then I wouldn't bother. Nobody will care and it might annoy your professor or delay the letters.