Drafting Own Letter of Recom?? Forum

[Anonymous User]

The judge I'm currently clerking for has offered to have me write the first draft of a letter of recommendation on my behalf... Is this normal? It feels kinda dishonest and I'm also self-conscious about writing about myself and then having the judge sign off on it... Anybody dealt w this before?

[Anonymous User]

The judge I'm currently clerking for has offered to have me write the first draft of a letter of recommendation on my behalf... Is this normal? It feels kinda dishonest and I'm also self-conscious about writing about myself and then having the judge sign off on it... Anybody dealt w this before?

I had to do this too. It isn't ideal—it's awkward and difficult—but it's the way a lot of "busy" people function.

[Anonymous User]

The judge I'm currently clerking for has offered to have me write the first draft of a letter of recommendation on my behalf... Is this normal? It feels kinda dishonest and I'm also self-conscious about writing about myself and then having the judge sign off on it... Anybody dealt w this before?

I had to do this too. It isn't ideal—it's awkward and difficult—but it's the way a lot of "busy" people function.

I did this too, albeit for a judge I had only interned for. A former clerk advised me “not to be modest” in the letter, but I ended up using fairly broad platitudes because it would have felt obnoxious to do anything else. The judge signed it with minimal edits.

[Anonymous User]

Yeah, this is actually a fairly common practice in the real world. Senior people want to support you but don't really have the time to take the first pass at what you've done/what you're good at. I wrote my LS recommendation and have helped other friends write recommender letters for themselves. it happens.

[Anonymous User]

I had to do this for a law school recommendation. If you're comfortable with it, I might ask the judge if he/she is willing to give you a sample of an old letter of rec, so you can see whether you could adapt it. My old employer sent me one of her old rec letters (from her former boss), and it was very detailed, so I put a lot of detail into the draft I gave to her.