Let's talk cover letters Forum

[Anonymous User]

I have received tons of conflicting advice about cover letters, particularly for judges where I have no connection to speak of. I don't want to seem disinterested by sending just a transmittal letter, but I also feel the information my clerkship office says to include is just a rehash of my resume / trite takeaways from extracurriculars and prior employment. For context, I am top 5% at a T14 with LR and targeting 2/9/DC.

Any advice from those who have reviewed apps would be greatly appreciated. I'm also curious we should approach cover letters differently for feeders as non-feeders (assuming no connection).

TIA!

[Anonymous User]

I have received tons of conflicting advice about cover letters, particularly for judges where I have no connection to speak of. I don't want to seem disinterested by sending just a transmittal letter, but I also feel the information my clerkship office says to include is just a rehash of my resume / trite takeaways from extracurriculars and prior employment. For context, I am top 5% at a T14 with LR and targeting 2/9/DC.

Any advice from those who have reviewed apps would be greatly appreciated. I'm also curious we should approach cover letters differently for feeders as non-feeders (assuming no connection).

TIA!

The safest play is to write just a letter of transmittal, unless the judge specifies otherwise in their advertisement. You have very little to gain, and much to lose, in the cover letter. I'd maybe make an exception for something objectively noteworthy (e.g., you're a current clerk applying for a second clerkship).

See Oetken's comments here: https://youtu.be/NARsVipIMjo?t=2194

Chhabria has also said similar things.

[Anonymous User]

chambers receives hundreds of applications, so keep it short and sweet, and write it in a way that makes you stand out

I used to find bare minimum "transmittal" letters to be off-putting, but then I realized that I go straight to the resume anyway

And the eye-popping stuff should appear on your resume anyway

[Anonymous User]

Very much agree with the advice to keep your cover letter short. The only information that can be transferred through a cover letter that the judge won't be able to see elsewhere is an explanation of your connection to the judge/city. That's something you can boil down to one sentence, or two if you have distinct connections to the judge and the city. Much more than that and you're either speaking in meaningless business-speak ("I have a passion for litigation"), explaining why you want to clerk (we know why, you don't need to explain it), or rehashing your resume (we can read those).

[Anonymous User]

Very much agree with the advice to keep your cover letter short. The only information that can be transferred through a cover letter that the judge won't be able to see elsewhere is an explanation of your connection to the judge/city. That's something you can boil down to one sentence, or two if you have distinct connections to the judge and the city. Much more than that and you're either speaking in meaningless business-speak ("I have a passion for litigation"), explaining why you want to clerk (we know why, you don't need to explain it), or rehashing your resume (we can read those).

I agree with this. Add whatever you can to personalize the letter/highlight a connection or whatever else isn’t in your resume but might be pertinent (almost anything else pertinent should be on your resume). Don’t rehash your resume, most of the time to me it comes across as sort of desperate. I especially agree that there’s no point in explaining why you want to clerk - everyone knows why clerking is valuable. Why you want to clerk for *this judge* (or in this jurisdiction, if pertinent) can maybe be helpful, as long as it’s something beyond “you’re a feeder” (it’s also risky because you have to be sure your info about that judge/docket is correct).

[Anonymous User]

Very much agree with the advice to keep your cover letter short. The only information that can be transferred through a cover letter that the judge won't be able to see elsewhere is an explanation of your connection to the judge/city. That's something you can boil down to one sentence, or two if you have distinct connections to the judge and the city. Much more than that and you're either speaking in meaningless business-speak ("I have a passion for litigation"), explaining why you want to clerk (we know why, you don't need to explain it), or rehashing your resume (we can read those).

Thirding this advice. When I was looking at cover letters, the only thing I wanted to know was 1) what year are you; 2) do you have a connection to this city/state (which my judge valued a lot) or my judge in particular? Long cover letters that rehashed information from you resume were unnecessary and often made it harder to quickly take away the very minor amount of information I was looking for from the cover letter.

[Anonymous User]

Keep it short, unless the judge actually asks for answers to particular questions. You'd be surprised (or not) how many applicants get their applications tossed in the trash for not following the prompt.

[Anonymous User]

Keep it short, unless the judge actually asks for answers to particular questions. You'd be surprised (or not) how many applicants get their applications tossed in the trash for not following the prompt.

What is the prompt for a cover letter?

[Anonymous User]

For example:

Please address the following:
a. Experience with issues of cultural competence, sensitivity to and understanding of diverse socioeconomic, gender identity, sexual orientation, abilities, and ethnic backgrounds of people in our community.
b. Experience and education outside the legal profession and how they enabled or encumbered your career and personal growth.
c. Management and leadership experience.

///

Please use your cover letter to provide insight into who you are beyond your resume and transcript, as well as why you are interested in an appellate clerkship...

[Anonymous User]

For example:

Please address the following:
a. Experience with issues of cultural competence, sensitivity to and understanding of diverse socioeconomic, gender identity, sexual orientation, abilities, and ethnic backgrounds of people in our community.
b. Experience and education outside the legal profession and how they enabled or encumbered your career and personal growth.
c. Management and leadership experience.

///

Please use your cover letter to provide insight into who you are beyond your resume and transcript, as well as why you are interested in an appellate clerkship...

Clerk here for 2/9/DC.

That is absurdly obnoxious. Good way to winnow down applications though, but I'm not sure I would want to clerk for a judge who is trying to aggravate applicants that they know must also be trying to prepare about 100 other applications in a short period of time.

Anyway, I concur with most of the above - short, sweet, and to the point is all we care about for cover letters. Let us know your name, school, class year, what term, maybe if you would be open to other terms [but we generally assume this, we know you don't know our exact openings and don't hold it against you], and any other clerkships you may have. We are located in an area where geographic ties/personal connections to the judge aren't going to help, but I think they are a good idea for most applications. After that, just let us know who your recommenders/references are [which is what my judge really cares about], and what you have included in your packet.

[lavarman84]

I think short is generally sound advice. But if you're a person with a compelling background, it's worth discussing it in a cover letter (and tying it in to why you want to clerk, if you can). Some examples off the top of my head are: (1) being the first person in your family to attend college, (2) overcoming homelessness or other significant challenges in your youth, or (3) being a decorated military veteran. That isn't anything close to an exhaustive list, but they're things that would bolster an application in my eyes.

[Anonymous User]

For example:

Please address the following:
a. Experience with issues of cultural competence, sensitivity to and understanding of diverse socioeconomic, gender identity, sexual orientation, abilities, and ethnic backgrounds of people in our community.
b. Experience and education outside the legal profession and how they enabled or encumbered your career and personal growth.
c. Management and leadership experience.

///

Please use your cover letter to provide insight into who you are beyond your resume and transcript, as well as why you are interested in an appellate clerkship...

Well, I'm sure glad that I never applied to a judge who gave assignments for the cover letter. Definitely get that if a judge does, you have to follow the instructions or you'll get dinged, but wow.

But if you're a person with a compelling background, it's worth discussing it in a cover letter (and tying it in to why you want to clerk, if you can). Some examples off the top of my head are: (1) being the first person in your family to attend college, (2) overcoming homelessness or other significant challenges in your youth, or (3) being a decorated military veteran. That isn't anything close to an exhaustive list, but they're things that would bolster an application in my eyes.

Yeah, I agree that if you have something interesting in your background that isn't otherwise evident from your resume, have at it (though I'd still suggest being as concise as possible). I think I've seen a grand total of one letter that would tick this kind of box though - every other letter I've seen that's been more than the standard minimal letter most here are describing has just rehashed the resume (not that I've read a gazillion applications, of course).

[hysreacher]

Is it worth mentioning a class rank if it’s noteworthy? (I am a rising 3L at X law school where I am #1 in my class…)

[Anonymous User]

For example:

Please address the following:
a. Experience with issues of cultural competence, sensitivity to and understanding of diverse socioeconomic, gender identity, sexual orientation, abilities, and ethnic backgrounds of people in our community.
b. Experience and education outside the legal profession and how they enabled or encumbered your career and personal growth.
c. Management and leadership experience.

///

Please use your cover letter to provide insight into who you are beyond your resume and transcript, as well as why you are interested in an appellate clerkship...

Clerk here for 2/9/DC.

That is absurdly obnoxious. Good way to winnow down applications though, but I'm not sure I would want to clerk for a judge who is trying to aggravate applicants that they know must also be trying to prepare about 100 other applications in a short period of time.

Anyway, I concur with most of the above - short, sweet, and to the point is all we care about for cover letters. Let us know your name, school, class year, what term, maybe if you would be open to other terms [but we generally assume this, we know you don't know our exact openings and don't hold it against you], and any other clerkships you may have. We are located in an area where geographic ties/personal connections to the judge aren't going to help, but I think they are a good idea for most applications. After that, just let us know who your recommenders/references are [which is what my judge really cares about], and what you have included in your packet.

Fellow 2/9/DC clerk here and strongly disagree.

[Anonymous User]

Clerk here for 2/9/DC.

That is absurdly obnoxious. Good way to winnow down applications though, but I'm not sure I would want to clerk for a judge who is trying to aggravate applicants that they know must also be trying to prepare about 100 other applications in a short period of time.

Anyway, I concur with most of the above - short, sweet, and to the point is all we care about for cover letters. Let us know your name, school, class year, what term, maybe if you would be open to other terms [but we generally assume this, we know you don't know our exact openings and don't hold it against you], and any other clerkships you may have. We are located in an area where geographic ties/personal connections to the judge aren't going to help, but I think they are a good idea for most applications. After that, just let us know who your recommenders/references are [which is what my judge really cares about], and what you have included in your packet.

Fellow 2/9/DC clerk here and strongly disagree.

With what - that those prompts are obnoxious, or that short/sweet/to the point is the best policy? Obviously if your judge wants to see full life stories or the like in the cover letter, then yes, that's the way to go. But I don't think most judges do.

I guess the one caveat I'd offer is that if you're a marginal candidate and are looking for a way to catch someone's eye, maybe go for it with something more elaborate - you don't have much to lose. (I don't mean that in a snotty way, I was a very marginal candidate.) Or, as lavarman said, you have some truly compelling back story. There are going to be a lot of privileged UMC K-JDs who are much better off sticking to the point than trying to come up with something unique and compelling, though.

re: the question about class rank - there's no need to put that in the cover letter, it should be on your resume (prominently, if you're #1 in your class) (obviously, assuming your school ranks in the first place). I don't think any cover letter is going to be bad enough that your resume won't get at least glanced at.

[Anonymous User]

FWIW, I went with the absolute bare-bones cover letter, and I ended up with a very desirable clerkship. That said, I already had a way to get my name drawn from the pile of apps, so I didn't have a particular need to distinguish myself. My general policy would be to keep things to school, class year, term, application contents, and recommenders. You can add a sentence or two about geographic ties (especially if not in a major city) or a particular reason why that exact judge if you want to. However, it may come off a bit odd if you tell Sri that you want to clerk for him because of his OSG experience or tell Pryor how much you loved his work on the sentencing commission. Feeders and judges in the most desirable cities will know exactly why you want to clerk for them. I don't think it serves much good blowing smoke towards them.

[Anonymous User]

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[Anonymous User]

FWIW, I went with the absolute bare-bones cover letter, and I ended up with a very desirable clerkship. That said, I already had a way to get my name drawn from the pile of apps, so I didn't have a particular need to distinguish myself. My general policy would be to keep things to school, class year, term, application contents, and recommenders. You can add a sentence or two about geographic ties (especially if not in a major city) or a particular reason why that exact judge if you want to. However, it may come off a bit odd if you tell Sri that you want to clerk for him because of his OSG experience or tell Pryor how much you loved his work on the sentencing commission. Feeders and judges in the most desirable cities will know exactly why you want to clerk for them. I don't think it serves much good blowing smoke towards them.

Yeah, this is fair. Just referencing the judge’s past work experience in a vacuum isn’t likely to do much except show that you can Google. Past a certain point, the judge doesn’t care why you want to work for them as opposed to why they would benefit from you working for them.

A friend of mine definitely caught the eye of the judge they clerked for because they shared an undergrad student and both had military experience. That kind of thing is worth highlighting in the cover letter. But it has to benefit the judge (for instance, you have something in common and therefore may get along well, or you’re associated with a group/cause that they want to support) as well as you.

Referencing something in the judge’s work experience is really only going to be useful if you can tie it to something concrete and genuine about your own experience (like you interned for the SE commission in law school), not just your own interest (I want to learn from someone with OSG experience).