OCI cover letters Forum

[Anonymous User]

hi all, heres a couple of biglaw OCI qs for you. Considering my career services dept acts like they are doing god's work but is ultimately useless, thought I'd open it up for y'all.

Background: I am a rising 2L at a T-30 and finished in the top 3%, hoping to land a biglaw job through OCI. I am applying to most firms in my two target regions (major markets-ish) and am uncertain as to whether I want to fall on the corp or lit side of work. I am doing a judicial externship this summer and CALI'd my Legal Writing courses, so I feel like its a good selling point to say I want to do lit. But really, I am still kind of interested in business law and am not sure yet if the courtroom is the place for me.

So, should I be honest and say I want to do either, without really having any content supporting my generalized interest in business law, or should I say I am purely focused on lit and hope this lands me a position in a firm focused on such? Is it really a do-or-die choice between the two paths that I must make now? Does it depend on the firm? Let me know your thoughts.

Second, tangential question that might open a can of worms: is doing a fed. clerkship useless if you end up with a business-law career like M&A, project finance, etc?

[Anonymous User]

hi all, heres a couple of biglaw OCI qs for you. Considering my career services dept acts like they are doing god's work but is ultimately useless, thought I'd open it up for y'all.

Background: I am a rising 2L at a T-30 and finished in the top 3%, hoping to land a biglaw job through OCI. I am applying to most firms in my two target regions (major markets-ish) and am uncertain as to whether I want to fall on the corp or lit side of work. I am doing a judicial externship this summer and CALI'd my Legal Writing courses, so I feel like its a good selling point to say I want to do lit. But really, I am still kind of interested in business law and am not sure yet if the courtroom is the place for me.

So, should I be honest and say I want to do either, without really having any content supporting my generalized interest in business law, or should I say I am purely focused on lit and hope this lands me a position in a firm focused on such? Is it really a do-or-die choice between the two paths that I must make now? Does it depend on the firm? Let me know your thoughts.

Second, tangential question that might open a can of worms: is doing a fed. clerkship useless if you end up with a business-law career like M&A, project finance, etc?

To the second question RE clerking: it's useful insofar as it's a fancy trophy on your resume, you'll (hopefully) have a decades-long relationship with an esteemed member of the legal community/your fellow clerks, and you'll have honed your legal research and writing skills. But yeah, you're not going to be reading appellate briefs or motions in limine or w/e if you're working in M&A. So the clerkship wouldn't give you immediately *transferable* experience.