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I am about to graduate law school and (surprise surprise) don't have a job lines up yet. As there aren't that many entry-level opportunities out there, I want to apply to jobs seeking candidates with 1-3, 2-4, or 3-5 years experience.

Any recommendations on what to put in my cover letter for these jobs? "Although I do not have 3-5 years of experience... ???"

For those types of jobs I would always say something along the lines that even though I am a recent grad that I am willing to take as much time as it needs for me to become an asset to the firm. Here is what I have experience in, etc

You are wasting both your and their time. They will not hire you.

While you may be able to leverage a 1-3 years of post-graduation experience when they want 3-5, employers almost certainly won't hire someone fresh out of law school if they're looking for experienced attorneys.

You might be able to get something where they want one year of experience, but even then, I highly, highly doubt it.

Do you have substantial internship/externship experience during law school? You could discuss that.

And it's a complete waste of time to apply for anything that wants 3-5 years of experience. That's essentially a mid-career position.

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JusticeJackson wrote:I’m not sure that you should waste time talking about how you don’t strictly meet the terms of the opening.

Exactly. I know of 2 people who landed a 3-5 yr position they weren't qualified on paper for. However one was a former trial court clerk and the other had spent 2L and 3L year doing legal clinic work. Both had worked in their firm's legal practice area. Neither admitted to their weaknesses. The best you can do is talk about how you've faked stuff that a 3-5 yr associate would have done. Although there is a slim chance of landing a position, remember that the person hiring you will know you're bullshitting them, especially if you don't have something that demonstrates fairly substantial legal work.

JusticeJackson wrote:While you probably won’t get the job, I’m of the opinion that there’s no harm in applying. The worst they could say is no. Play up the experience you do have. I’m not sure that you should waste time talking about how you don’t strictly meet the terms of the opening.

Agreed, I mean, I am generally against applying for these positions but you will never know unless you try. I did a lot and hopefully it puts me on a positive radar for the future as well