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Cover Letter Basics That You Should Probably Know By Now -- But Somehow Don't

Cover letters should serve as a supplement rather than a prose rehash of your résumé.

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Cover letters, the Tito Jackson/Fredo Corleone/Kansas State Men’s Basketball to the Michael Jackson/Michael Corleone/University of Kansas Men’s Basketball that is the résumé.  I admit that for the longest time, I thought cover letters were rather silly.  A typical job application already included a résumé, and depending how far into your legal career you might be, a law school transcript, what else was needed?  The legal profession is a meritocracy, right?  Well, I was wrong (and as I mentioned last week, I am an only child, so this is a difficult admission).  A cover letter can be vitally important to explain why you are well-suited for a particular position in a way no other part of your application can.  Indeed, the key point regarding cover letters is that they should serve as a supplement rather than a prose rehash of your résumé, transcript, or writing sample.

There are four key components to a cover letter: introduction, why you want to work for this employer, why said employer should hire you (these two can be switched or even merged), and a conclusion.

The introduction is relatively straight forward, in that you should use a couple of sentence to summarize who you are and why your application has ended up in front of whomever happens to be reading it.  And yet, despite the seeming ease of this section, you would be amazed at how often this can trip people up.  For starters, there is absolutely no reason for your cover letter to begin with “My name is Nicholas Alexiou and . . .”  Not only would be weird that you are using my name in your cover letter, but more importantly, you do not need to state your name in the opening sentence given that you will be signing it at the end of the letter; not to mention that your name will also be on your résumé, on your transcript, on your email submission, and probably a half dozen other places.  Instead, describe who you are in a couple of words, “I am a second-year student at Vanderbilt Law School . . .” or “As an experienced attorney with several years of Biglaw litigation experience. . .”  Once you have established who you are, you need to explain what it is you want, which in this case is a job.  It is amazing how many cover letters I have seen where it takes until paragraph two or three for the applicant to mention the job for which they are applying, which is often two or three paragraphs too late.  Finally, please do not try to be cute with your cover letter.  Anything that starts with “take 1 cup of inspiration and mix with a 2 cups of determination” will not just be thrown in the trash, but instead, will be given to Elon Musk so he can put it into a SpaceX rocket and shoot it directly into the sun.

Introductions out of the way, now it is time to get into the meat of your cover letter and answer one of two fundamental questions, why you want to work for them?  Now to you, especially if you are applying to Biglaw positions, the answer might seem rather obvious.

This is not sufficient.  Even if money is your primary motivating factor, a lot of law firms pay the same, so what is it about that particular firm that stands out?  Maybe there is a particular practice area in which you would like to practice and where this firm excels.  Or perhaps there is a geographic reason why you would like to work in that particular office.  Admittedly, finding something unique about a firm can be difficult if you are mass applying to hundreds of them.  Setting aside the marginal utility of that 100th application, since you are applying to all of these employers separately, a “unique” characteristic can apply to multiple different firms.  A firm in Abilene, Texas, and another in Zephyrhills, Florida, can both have outstanding cultures which makes them appealing places to practice law.  The reason why you want to work for a particular employer is important across the legal spectrum but is truly important when applying to public interest positions.  Many of these employers care more about your commitment to the issues at the core of the organization than they do about your Note topic.  And while it is possible to hint at some of these reasons in your résumé, this section of your cover letter provides you with an unmatched opportunity to truly expound upon your burning desire for this organization.

Now that the employer knows why you want to work for them, it is time to explain why they would be making a catastrophic mistake by not hiring you.

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Again, this is not sufficient, unless your Mom also manages to be a hiring partner (though if she is and she is still making you write a cover letter, your odds of employment are not looking too great).  It is in this section where far too many applicants rely on information that is readily available elsewhere.  If you are applying to be an appellate litigator, the primary reason why a firm should hire you is not that you got a B+ in Con Law I.  This is because, a) you are going to have to do a lot better in Con Law if you want to make it to One First Street; but more importantly because b) that is something that can be picked up from your transcript in a matter of seconds.  Pretend that you have just been cold called and dig for that deeper layer of analysis.  What is it about your Con Law performance that would make you a good appellate litigator?  That you made it to the finals of Moot Court is great, but why does that mean you would make an outstanding trial attorney?  How will your in-house externship hone your transactional skills?  As someone who has done nothing but litigation matters back to my days as a summer associate, I am genuinely curious about that last one.

Now that you have made your pitch, thank the reader for reviewing your submission and let them know that you look forward to speaking with them.  Provide contact information, ideally an email and a phone number, because no employer is going to arrange an interview by liking a post on your pet bird’s Instagram account.  And finally, yes, sign your name at the bottom.

Nicholas Alexiou is the Director of LL.M. and Alumni Advising as well as the Associate Director of Career Services at Vanderbilt University Law School. He will, hopefully, respond to your emails at abovethelawcso@gmail.com.

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