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Hi all,

My school does a majority pre-select OCI system where each firm requires a cover letter. I'm sure it varies firm to firm, but does anyone have any insights as to how important the substantive body of your cover letter really is? I'm a typical K-JD with no real work experience so right now all my cover letters are pretty much "as a rising 2L at [school] with good grades I am applying for blah blah blah" and then a paragraph about how my current 1L summer job impacted my career goals. Anyone have any ideas as to how to spruce up a cover letter or make it stand out?

Also, anecdotally, is it a good idea to take a firm stance on lit v. transactional in a cover letter? I want to do lit and my 1L summer job is all lit, plus very writing/research intensive undergrad degrees so a lot of my cover letter is about my desire to do lit, but I don't want to burn myself by taking a hard stance.

Pretty basic questions, but I appreciate any advice. T30, top 10%/main journal and targeting the larger side of regional mid-law so I'm at or above every firm's gpa cutoffs, but I still want to play it safe.

Biglaw midlevel, work w/ recruiting.

Bottom line: the cover letter can hurt you more than it can help you. If you make a major mistake (i.e. firm's name is wrong, address it to wrong person in HR or hiring partner, glaring typo), then it can be held against you. On the flip side, a well-written cover letter does little to help you, as it's more of an expected level of competency.

As for taking a stance on lit v. transactional - if you have a compelling reason to pick one over the other, I would note it on the cover letter. Say something to the effect of "based on X experience, this is why I'm interested in Y" - you're not making a declaration of one vs. the other, but merely expressing interest based on a compelling reason. Your 1L summer job in lit qualifies as a compelling reason (if you like it and want to keep doing it, of course). Your instincts are right - you don't want to take a hard stance and say "i would never do corporate" but it's perfectly ok to express interest in lit for certain reasons.

In case it helps, here are some more tips I wrote on cover letters and resumes: https://biglawadvice.com/2019/07/07/how ... w-success/

biglaw_advice wrote:Biglaw midlevel, work w/ recruiting.

Bottom line: the cover letter can hurt you more than it can help you. If you make a major mistake (i.e. firm's name is wrong, address it to wrong person in HR or hiring partner, glaring typo), then it can be held against you. On the flip side, a well-written cover letter does little to help you, as it's more of an expected level of competency.

As for taking a stance on lit v. transactional - if you have a compelling reason to pick one over the other, I would note it on the cover letter. Say something to the effect of "based on X experience, this is why I'm interested in Y" - you're not making a declaration of one vs. the other, but merely expressing interest based on a compelling reason. Your 1L summer job in lit qualifies as a compelling reason (if you like it and want to keep doing it, of course). Your instincts are right - you don't want to take a hard stance and say "i would never do corporate" but it's perfectly ok to express interest in lit for certain reasons.

In case it helps, here are some more tips I wrote on cover letters and resumes: https://biglawadvice.com/2019/07/07/how ... w-success/

Thanks, I really appreciate it! All your posts here and elsewhere have been super helpful.