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What do you guys think about including a little humor in the cover letter?

Anonymous User wrote:What do you guys think about including a little humor in the cover letter?

For example: When discussing interests... "Law is like my wife, while poker is like my seductive mistress..."

And the judge immediately infers you have a gambling problem. What could possibly go wrong?

I just think of matt damon in rounders. nagl.

My take is that humor is one of those things that might help if you pull it off, but you have to pull it off *perfectly*, and it's really hard to do that. And when you don't pull it off, you become known as "that guy who called poker his seductive mistress." However, there's an argument to be made that if you don't have much to lose - if you're a borderline candidate who's not going to get noticed on the pure brilliance of your qualifications - it can be worth trying something different that makes you stand out. I wouldn't try humor, personally, but...

(It could be that I have no sense of humor, of course. But I think it's also that the stuff you put in a cover letter doesn't really lend itself to humor - why would you even talk about your interest in poker in a cover letter?)

A. Nony Mouse wrote:My take is that humor is one of those things that might help if you pull it off, but you have to pull it off *perfectly*, and it's really hard to do that. And when you don't pull it off, you become known as "that guy who called poker his seductive mistress." However, there's an argument to be made that if you don't have much to lose - if you're a borderline candidate who's not going to get noticed on the pure brilliance of your qualifications - it can be worth trying something different that makes you stand out. I wouldn't try humor, personally, but...

(It could be that I have no sense of humor, of course. But I think it's also that the stuff you put in a cover letter doesn't really lend itself to humor - why would you even talk about your interest in poker in a cover letter?)

Well the location is a gambling city, and I've spent more than 6 years as someone who plays poker more than 12 hours a day. Aside from some work I did my 1L and 2L summer; I don't really have any other work experience other than many nights spent at casinos.

rinkrat19 wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:What do you guys think about including a little humor in the cover letter?

For example: When discussing interests... "Law is like my wife, while poker is like my seductive mistress..."

And the judge immediately infers you have a gambling problem. What could possibly go wrong?

This

Also I didn't think that was particularly funny

asdfg

You aren't funny and (failed attempts at) humor has no place in a business letter.

I have no idea if it'd get you an interview, but if any of us saw something actually humorous while reviewing applications we'd probably be wtf'ing and possibly lol'ing over it. Assuming it was funny. So at least it'd get looked at.

But probably not a good idea, no.

Why are you talking about your poker interests in your cover letter for a clerkship???

What I meant was for you to use your poker skills in the courtroom, not the cover letter.

Anonymous User wrote:Well the location is a gambling city, and I've spent more than 6 years as someone who plays poker more than 12 hours a day. Aside from some work I did my 1L and 2L summer; I don't really have any other work experience other than many nights spent at casinos.

If you could have been described as a pro player I could see possibly including one brief reference like, "I am well-acquainted with [city of clerkship] from my time as a professional poker player." That would get noticed. If you weren't a pro, I'm not sure you want to say you played poker more than 12 hrs a day. And if it's not the same city, I think it's tougher to reference it ("I am particularly interested in clerking in [city of clerkship] because gambling is a major industry and I used to play professional poker" just doesn't look that good - it makes it sound like you're dying to take up poker again). But there really isn't any reason to get cute about it (and the example was more being cute than funny).

The bigger point, though, is that generally clerkship cover letters are pretty minimal. "I am a rising 3L at [school], I'm applying for a clerkship beginning [date], I have enclosed [stuff], including letters from my recommenders

• ." If you have a connection to the judge ("Last summer I interned for the Honorable [whoever], one of your former clerks, who highly recommended I apply") or the location ("I grew up in [city] and am eager to return to establish my practice there"), mention those. And if there's something interesting that's not evident from your resume, fine, maybe add that (but I can never come up with especially good examples for this, because most everything that would be relevant and interesting is generally on the resume). Most people proceed to rehash their resume in their cover letter and it's not especially helpful (doesn't usually hurt, it's just kind of redundant, but letters that go on and on don't look good). So this is one of the reasons why people are saying, why would you be talking about poker in your cover letter? (It could go in a personal/interests section on your resume.)

justonemoregame wrote:What I meant was for you to use your poker skills in the courtroom, not the cover letter.

well played

ggocat wrote:

justonemoregame wrote:What I meant was for you to use your poker skills in the courtroom, not the cover letter.

well played

First prize in the World Series of OSCAR is an Article III clerkship. Does it have my name on it? I don't know. But I'm about to find out.

justonemoregame wrote:What I meant was for you to use your poker skills in the courtroom, not the cover letter.

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