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What does a judicial clerkship cover letter look like?

For specialty courts, like Tax and Bankruptcy, I imagine it makes sense to highlight your interest in those areas. But for district courts, what the hell are you supposed to say?

In general, this would be sufficient:

Dear [Judge]:

I am a rising [x]-year student at [school], and I am writing to apply for a clerkship with your chambers for the [term]. Please find enclosed my transcript, resume, and a writing sample. You will also be receiving letters of recommendation from [Person X], [Person Y], and [Person Z]. Please let me know if I can provide any further information.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

[name]

Dear Judge X,

My name is Blank, a blank-year law student at Blank University School of Law. I am writing to apply for a clerkship in your chambers for the 20XX-20XX term. Enclosed please find my

• .
  
  You will be receiving letters of recommendation from Professers X, Y, and Z. If you would like to contact them, X's phone number is....
  
  Please let me know if I can provide any additional information. Thank you for your consideration.
  
  Sincerely,
  Name

OP here.

Thank you. I'm actually relieved to learn it's that simple.

Just to be clear, would you agree that a cover letter for a specialty court clerkship should have a little more meat?

I would add anything that links you to the judge/location. ("Your former clerk, Jon Doe, suggested I apply"/"I grew up in Bumfuck and am eager to return to practice there after clerking"). You could say something about your relevant experience for a specialty clerkship, but I wouldn't bother repeating anything on your resume.

Anonymous User wrote:OP here.

Thank you. I'm actually relieved to learn it's that simple.

Just to be clear, would you agree that a cover letter for a specialty court clerkship should have a little more meat?

I put my best qualifications for the specialty court toward the top of my cover letter. I would rather do that and bring it to their attention than risk them missing it on my resume/transcript.

In general, this would be sufficient:

Dear [Judge]:

I am a rising [x]-year student at [school], and I am writing to apply for a clerkship with your chambers for the [term]. Please find enclosed my transcript, resume, and a writing sample. You will also be receiving letters of recommendation from [Person X], [Person Y], and [Person Z]. Please let me know if I can provide any further information.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

[name]

Current Dist. Ct. clerk here. I hate when cover letters are this short. It conveys no information and serves no purpose. I much prefer a cover letter that includes some sort of elevator pitch - tell us something about yourself, where you've come from, why you want to clerk, especially at this court, what you hope to do after clerking, etc. This whole process is a fight to stand out among hundreds of others that look very similar. You only have so many opportunities to do that, why waste one of them with a generic and unhelpful cover letter?

Anonymous User wrote:

In general, this would be sufficient:

Dear [Judge]:

I am a rising [x]-year student at [school], and I am writing to apply for a clerkship with your chambers for the [term]. Please find enclosed my transcript, resume, and a writing sample. You will also be receiving letters of recommendation from [Person X], [Person Y], and [Person Z]. Please let me know if I can provide any further information.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

[name]

Current Dist. Ct. clerk here. I hate when cover letters are this short. It conveys no information and serves no purpose. I much prefer a cover letter that includes some sort of elevator pitch - tell us something about yourself, where you've come from, why you want to clerk, especially at this court, what you hope to do after clerking, etc. This whole process is a fight to stand out among hundreds of others that look very similar. You only have so many opportunities to do that, why waste one of them with a generic and unhelpful cover letter?

As a former district and circuit ct clerk, I can tell you that I felt exactly the opposite -- keep the cover letter short and simple, otherwise it's an opportunity to screw up. I can read your resume and recommendation letters to learn who you are and what you've done.

I'm probably somewhere in between - I appreciated a little personal info beyond just the "I went to this school, here's my info" kind of letter. But I'd err on the side of shorter rather than longer. Long letters were invariably people 1) regurgitating their resume, which just looked unnecessary, and/or 2) explaining why they want to clerk, which doesn't usually add anything since everyone who's reading the letter knows why you want to clerk.

Additional info that I think can be useful in a cover letter: explanations of ties/reasons you want to be in that particular district/jurisdiction; connections to the judge or reasons why you want to work for that judge specifically; and maybe a brief reference to what you want to do after clerking (usually if it relates to why you want to be there/work for that judge). Mayyyyyyyyybe if there's something about your work or personal history that's not evident from your resume (I have heard of people addressing URM status/underprivileged background in a cover letter, which could help depending on how it's handled and who the judge is - I know some judges who prefer to hire "diverse" candidates, for instance), but keep it brief.

But really this all just makes clear that different readers are looking for different things.

Also, random semi-related thought, I don't think it's coincidence that the super-brief cover letter is known as the Harvard-style cover letter (that's how it's been described to me); if you google "clerkship cover letter" you get a lot of schools advising longer, more detailed letters, but usually schools outside of the T14. I've seen people argue that if you have a weaker application in terms of pedigree/stats, it's worth taking a bit more of a risk in the cover letter, since you're probably not going to get pulled out of the pile based on stats. Very highly-qualified students (HYS with good grades, higher-ranking T14 students) can probably get interviews without doing much to catch someone's eye in the cover letter, but students at other schools may need to find some other way to stand out. (I realize clerkships aren't guaranteed for anyone, but they're still easier for students from some schools than others.)