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Cover letter conundrum
- Thread starter Jai C.
- Start date
Hi Christy, I can't speak for White & Case, but I did the First Year Insight Scheme at Macfarlanes in March this year and my cover letter basically said 'why law' and then briefly 'why Macfarlanes'. Hope this helps!
Hi Maddie
I am currently in the midst of drafting my cover letter for the 2021 Training Contract. Are they any other tips you are happy to share? Example; Regards how you formatted your CV if your cover letter was just two lines.
Thanks
Hey!
Hope this helps across the board but for Slaughter and May in particular, a contact I have there said this about the cover letter.
'For the cover letter, it’s a case of cherry-picking one or two key points in your CV and expanding on them, rather than trying to do everything. My advice would be: limit to one paragraph on why Slaughter and May appeals to you; one paragraph on recent work experience and one paragraph about yourself (i.e. you play football and rugby – why do you enjoy them? What positions do you play in? How long have you played them for? Why are they important to you? etc). The rest can speak for itself from the CV.'
PS: also said it should never be longer than one side of A4!
Good luck with your application(s)!
Hope this helps across the board but for Slaughter and May in particular, a contact I have there said this about the cover letter.
'For the cover letter, it’s a case of cherry-picking one or two key points in your CV and expanding on them, rather than trying to do everything. My advice would be: limit to one paragraph on why Slaughter and May appeals to you; one paragraph on recent work experience and one paragraph about yourself (i.e. you play football and rugby – why do you enjoy them? What positions do you play in? How long have you played them for? Why are they important to you? etc). The rest can speak for itself from the CV.'
PS: also said it should never be longer than one side of A4!
Good luck with your application(s)!
Okay thanks! I have followed that format just trying to whittle it down to one page. Do you know anyone who has secured a training contract with Slaughter and May?
Hi there! Yes, I was offered a TC with Slaughters and have written a longer post elsewhere on my interview experience.
Regarding the initial application - as @BWSM201 mentioned, the Slaughters cover letter should not be more than one page with normal Word margins. As far as I know, Slaughters doesn’t place too much emphasis on the cover letter - I have friends who wrote half-page cover letters simply stating that their CVs were enclosed overleaf, and who were invited to interview. However, I wanted to err on the side of caution, so my personal approach was to cover why Law, why Slaughters, why a TC at Slaughters and why me.
All the best.
Regarding the initial application - as @BWSM201 mentioned, the Slaughters cover letter should not be more than one page with normal Word margins. As far as I know, Slaughters doesn’t place too much emphasis on the cover letter - I have friends who wrote half-page cover letters simply stating that their CVs were enclosed overleaf, and who were invited to interview. However, I wanted to err on the side of caution, so my personal approach was to cover why Law, why Slaughters, why a TC at Slaughters and why me.
All the best.
Hey, I would say make sure your CV fits onto two pages, that the text is justified and both cover letter and CV font is the same (preferably times new roman). With regards to content, you can get rid of all contact details at the top and just have your name, but make sure you provide a full breakdown of all your modules at undergraduate level as the partners like to have this in front of them. My CV sub-headings went something along the lines of: Education, Relevant Legal Work Experience, Employment, Volunteering and Pro Bono, Achievements, Interests (you can get rid of references at the end to save room as they are included in online app). Hope this helps!
Hi Jai,
I attended Jones Day's presentation at the end of last year. The cover letter is limited to 300 words for that one so I briefly introduced myself saying I was a final year law student etc. but mainly focused on why Jones Day and why me. They reeeeally emphasise their single partnership model/"one-firm" approach as well.
Hi, was wondering if it would be recommended to have Slaughter and May's address on the cover letter (have heard of a few people doing this)?
By 'template', is this referring to a downloadable cover letter template, or simply a cover letter in a somewhat standardised style (e.g. addresses of sender and recipient, formal greetings, etc).
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