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I'm currently working on OCI cover letters. During the school year, I made a point to become acquainted with recent alumni at a few of the firms that traditionally hire from my school. Assuming I have their permission to do so, is it worth dropping those names in a cover letter, so long as it's couched as a way of demonstrating my legitimate interest in the firm?

ex_nunc wrote:I'm currently working on OCI cover letters. During the school year, I made a point to become acquainted with recent alumni at a few of the firms that traditionally hire from my school Assuming I have their permission to do so, is it worth dropping those names in a cover letter, so long as it's couched as a way of demonstrating my legitimate interest in the firm?

I don't think this helps unless the junior associate knows you well and can recommend you. And if those things are true, you should ask the junior associate to send your application to recruiting. Mere name dropping in a cover letter isn't going to get you anywhere.

Thanks. Follow-up question: worth noting that I attended firm events for 1Ls?

ex_nunc wrote:Thanks. Follow-up question: worth noting that I attended firm events for 1Ls?

It won't hurt.

How is this for showing demonstrated interest. For example a Notre Dame kid trying to go to Minneapolis or a Duke kid trying to go West coast?

if you're close enough with the junior associate to make name-dropping worth it, you're close enough to ask him/her to pass on your resume/cover letter to legal recruiting themselves

way more effective

it seems kind of weird to name drop in a cover letter and what runinthefront said

V15 interviewer here. Doesn't hurt to mention the associates' names in the cover letter. Might not help much, but it doesn't hurt.

At my firm, I know that doing that will get the associate on the list of people who are more or less on your "notification list" for the firm, so they'll be told when/if you get an interview, callback, etc. and will have the opportunity to chime in (whether it's "Good, I met this guy through a mutual friend and he seems really great!" or "He really hounded me to meet for coffee and was insufferable"). And if you are right on the cusp of an interview, my firm's hiring people might contact the associate and ask, "hey, this guy mentioned you in his letter, do you really think he would be a fit for us?" So go for it.

I've never really heard of someone submitting an application "through" an associate. Even if one of my best friends wanted to apply to my firm I would tell them to just send it straight to legal recruiting and I would weigh in with the hiring committee separately. But YMMV.