How specific should my cover letter be? Forum

[Anonymous User]

1L here applying for summer internships at law firms. Just wondering how specific I should be in my cover letter regarding the field I am interested in practicing in. In reality I am not extremely passionate about any one field (yet), but I do have some experience relating to some fields. Should my cover letter be more tailored toward the firm's general goal/practices or is it a good idea to indicate a specific field (i.e. securities regulation, education policy, etc.) with my relevant experiences? Worried by being too specific the hiring coordinator may think I only want an internship in that specific field and will thus knock myself out of the running for any available internships.

Thanks in advance for the advice.

[BullShitWithBravado]

Generally SAs get to work on a variety matters during the summer, so you don't really need to mention one particular field that you're interested in. In your cover letter, you could briefly mention several of the practice areas that you would like to try out during the summer (if they have a rotational program, you could specifically mention that as a reason for applying to that firm). Try not to get so caught up on mentioning specific practice areas that you neglect to mention other things that may have a big impact on whether or not you'll get a CB (like mentioning you're ties to the market, etc.).

[A. Nony Mouse]

You may want to avoid calling it an internship, unless the firm has advertised specifically to offer a paid internship. For-profit employers aren't supposed to have interns, and in any case, you don't usually intern at a law firm - you work as a law clerk or a summer associate or the like.

[Anonymous User]

Thanks for the help. So can you volunteer at a for-profit employer? I only put internship because it doesn't matter if the position would be paid or unpaid. Just want the experience.

[A. Nony Mouse]

No, you can't volunteer - it violates the Fair Labor Standards Act (except under some very narrow exceptions). Just don't mention paid or unpaid - let the firm deal with it.