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Writing cover letters should pale in comparison to studying for exams and writing memos, but I just can't get myself motivated enough to do this shit. Come here to complain, encourage, etc...

This thread is relevant to my interests.

I totally hated job hunt more than schoolwork itself last year so I'm sympathetic.

This feels like "Why X" essays all over again. Also, confused as to how to tie in my past work experience when, although diverse and interesting, it is completely unrelated to the law.

My cover letters are done, but I feel like they're just going to result in a lot of silence. Especially since I don't have my LAWR grade and I need to get that before I can send my memo as a writing sample. And if that's not good, it's going to be even more difficult to get a job for the summer .

How many jobz are y'all applying for?

keg411 wrote:My cover letters are done, but I feel like they're just going to result in a lot of silence. Especially since I don't have my LAWR grade and I need to get that before I can send my memo as a writing sample. And if that's not good, it's going to be even more difficult to get a job for the summer .

Eh, I have my LRW grade and there's still lots of silence. 20 firm diversity apps, 12 firms in my home market, and a smattering of public interest things. Here's hoping something bites.

And yes, this is a lame way to spend a break.

Kretzy wrote:

keg411 wrote:My cover letters are done, but I feel like they're just going to result in a lot of silence. Especially since I don't have my LAWR grade and I need to get that before I can send my memo as a writing sample. And if that's not good, it's going to be even more difficult to get a job for the summer .

Eh, I have my LRW grade and there's still lots of silence. 20 firm diversity apps, 12 firms in my home market, and a smattering of public interest things. Here's hoping something bites.

And yes, this is a lame way to spend a break.

I'm applying to state trial court judicial internships, not firms, so my legal writing grade and writing sample are both going to be really important. I also signed up for PIPS (the Philly public interest fair), but I have to figure out how the bid system works.

keg411 wrote:

Kretzy wrote:

keg411 wrote:My cover letters are done, but I feel like they're just going to result in a lot of silence. Especially since I don't have my LAWR grade and I need to get that before I can send my memo as a writing sample. And if that's not good, it's going to be even more difficult to get a job for the summer .

Eh, I have my LRW grade and there's still lots of silence. 20 firm diversity apps, 12 firms in my home market, and a smattering of public interest things. Here's hoping something bites.

And yes, this is a lame way to spend a break.

I'm applying to state trial court judicial internships, not firms, so my legal writing grade and writing sample are both going to be really important. I also signed up for PIPS (the Philly public interest fair), but I have to figure out how the bid system works.

Where did you sign up for that?

keg411 wrote:My cover letters are done, but I feel like they're just going to result in a lot of silence. Especially since I don't have my LAWR grade and I need to get that before I can send my memo as a writing sample. And if that's not good, it's going to be even more difficult to get a job for the summer .

Do you have a previous writing sample you can use? CSO told me to do this, and I had to make some edits to a previous assignment (practice memo) that was for a completion grade. At least I didn't have to edit it to be under 10 pages long though, which I would have done if I had used my final memo.

Resume and public interest cover letters are done. I've applied for about 9 public interest gigs, and a diversity internship. I'm also signed up for two volunteering gigs to start in January and the Midwest Public Interest Conference. Slowly but surely moving along I guess. I did nothing today but sleep for 13 hours. That's all I want to do. I'm going to apply for some government 1L postings, ACC and check out Simplicity; however like PP I don't have a whole lot of "law related" stuff on my resume, but all the stuff I covered for journalism helps I suppose. And, no grades yet. Gah, this sucks.

Richie Tenenbaum wrote:

keg411 wrote:My cover letters are done, but I feel like they're just going to result in a lot of silence. Especially since I don't have my LAWR grade and I need to get that before I can send my memo as a writing sample. And if that's not good, it's going to be even more difficult to get a job for the summer .

Do you have a previous writing sample you can use? CSO told me to do this, and I had to make some edits to a previous assignment (practice memo) that was for a completion grade. At least I didn't have to edit it to be under 10 pages long though, which I would have done if I had used my final memo.

I have my first memo, but I'd need to revise it and still have it reviewed by my prof before I send it out. I don't like to send imperfect writing and I used WAY too much passive voice on my first memo for it to be acceptable. I mean, I could revise it and send it out on my own, but I wouldn't feel comfortable with that.

beach_terror wrote:Where did you sign up for that?

It's through some simplicity thing that our CSO sent us. You can register through here (you have to register separately from your simplicity account):
https://law-gpals-csm.symplicity.com/students/

I'm surprised you guys didn't get anything because for us bidding closes on January 3rd.

i have a deadline tomorrow and havent even started the app. must work now.

We did, I just ignored it lol. I tend to ignore emails from the CSO

Huge thanks for the heads up though, signing up now. Who are you bidding on?

beach_terror wrote:We did, I just ignored it lol. I tend to ignore emails from the CSO

Huge thanks for the heads up though, signing up now. Who are you bidding on?

Not sure yet... haven't had a chance to go through everything. But probably the AG's office at least and then a bunch of the resume collections.

ETA: Also the USAO in Camden, but I'm worried my grades won't be good enough.

I'm so glad you started this thread, Gleam. I need some encouragement - feeling totally slothful.

keg411 wrote:

beach_terror wrote:We did, I just ignored it lol. I tend to ignore emails from the CSO

Huge thanks for the heads up though, signing up now. Who are you bidding on?

Not sure yet... haven't had a chance to go through everything. But probably the AG's office at least and then a bunch of the resume collections.

ETA: Also the USAO in Camden, but I'm worried my grades won't be good enough.

Is bidding basically just ranking them 1-10?

Tangerine Gleam wrote:How many jobz are y'all applying for?

Just applied to 10 firms in my hometown and the USAO here. None of these were truly cold resumes, as I sent them to people me or people in my fam knew. Hopefully networking pays off somewhat.

Checking in. I have done almost nothing.

beach_terror wrote:

keg411 wrote:

beach_terror wrote:We did, I just ignored it lol. I tend to ignore emails from the CSO

Huge thanks for the heads up though, signing up now. Who are you bidding on?

Not sure yet... haven't had a chance to go through everything. But probably the AG's office at least and then a bunch of the resume collections.

ETA: Also the USAO in Camden, but I'm worried my grades won't be good enough.

Is bidding basically just ranking them 1-10?

Not sure how it works, but I think so. I'm going to ask my sister when she gets home how it works since she's used this type of program for OCI stuff when she was in lawl school.

I've applied to about fifteen firms in my home market the first week of December. I've gotten a few interviews, two rejections (even though they said they might be interested next year when I'm a 2L), and a lot of silence.

I haven't applied to a single PI job yet, although that's what I should do tonight... probably USAO and a few state judges...

What kind of PI jobs have deadlines coming up fast?

Also, if you haven't heard from a firm, do you think it is tacky to send a hard copy resume and cover letter? (I sent the original round all digitally.)

oh good, a thread to guilt me into working. i've applied to 20ish firms and one gov't job. i hate this

are you all cold mailing these firms or did you find them through connections, symplicity, other research etc.

Well, I've applied to zero jobs total at this point. However, I'm planning on applying for a bunch of gov't litigation jobs (USAO, state AG, city attorney) and some firms for the hell of it.

Is the consensus that firm cover letters should be quite brief and that public sector cover letters should go into somewhat greater detail about why I am interested in the particular position? The "sample" cover letters on my school's CDO site are pretty sparse.