Whether you’re an attorney seeking a change in employment or a “rising” 3L trying to land a job, publication, or clerkship, having a good cover letter can make or break your chances for consideration. But why stop with “good”? This blog entry will demonstrate the whats and hows of superb cover-letter writing. Before we plunge into the nuts and bolts of it, it may help you to have an inside look into the mind of the person who will likely receive your cover letter. Chances are that this person is (1) extremely busy, (2) extremely bored with the task of sifting through mountains of applications, and (3) extremely annoyed with all of the terrible cover letters that he/she has already read. Even when a résumé looks awesome, a crappy cover letter will certainly land you in the circular file. Crappiness can range anywhere from poor format to poor grammar, from too long to too not-paying-enough-attention-to-get-the-job-description-right. And even when a cover letter is concise, gramma...
Beyond the "whats" of law school and law practice more generally, here, the "hows" are explained, whether you need them during law school or many years thereafter.