RESUMES, COVER LETTERS, WRITING SAMPLES, REFERENCES AND TRANSCRIPTS
As you look for a job, you should expect to provide the following materials to prospective employers:
Employers may request these materials in various ways at various times, but remember that every document you provide is a writing sample, and should be as perfect as you can make it. While your resume is the primary job-seeking document, it is a good idea to have your list of references, writing sample, and transcript ready and available as soon as your resume is complete, so that there is no delay in sending additional information should an employer request it.
Please see the CDO’s guides on resumes and cover letters for detailed information on those topics. Judicial clerkships (post-graduate positions) and, to a lesser degree, externships (internships with judges during law school) have very special application requirements, so be sure to consult the CDO’s Judicial Clerkships Guide or Judicial Externship Guide if you are applying to clerk or extern for a judge.
References
References are people who, when asked by prospective employers about your various qualities, will speak highly of you. (Letters of recommendation, on the other hand, are written by individuals who may or may not also act as references, and are requested in certain circumstances, including clerkship and externship applications.)
- No need to include “references available on request” in your resume or cover letter; employers know to ask for them if they want them.
- Where an employer has not specified a number of references, three is optimal, but two is sufficient if that’s all you have.
Your list of references should be on a separate sheet of paper with your name and contact information at the top (use the same header as your resume). List them by name, job title and employer, address, phone number and email. If a reference has changed jobs since the time you worked with him/her, put the current title and contact information, and add an explanatory note (e.g., “I worked with Ms. Smith when she was an Assistant District Attorney for Alameda County.”)
There is no single format for a list of references, but it should be pleasantly arranged on the page and, of course, error-free.
As you are deciding who might be a reference for you, consider the following. Personal (“character”) references are not generally recommended. Work references, especially for 1Ls, need not be legal employers; they will still be able to show that you have the ability to succeed in a work setting, e.g., you were punctual and could relate well to co-workers and meet deadlines. If your resume shows employment that was recent or of long duration, you needn’t have a reference from that job, but employers may notice and wonder about the omission. (Also keep in mind that even if you don’t list anyone from a former job as a reference, employers may still contact the employer.)
Consider the balance in your list of references; having people from different sectors (various jobs; undergrad or law school) gives a broader range of sources of information. Listing someone who is known in the community in which the employer works can be especially valuable. Academic references, especially legal ones, are desirable, but not essential (except for judicial clerkships and externships, and jobs in legal academia). As few first-year students will establish the kind of working relationship with a law faculty member that leads to a useful reference, students applying for externships should consult the CDO’s Judicial Externship Guide for advice on references.
College or graduate professors who know something about your writing skills and diligence–perhaps a faculty advisor on a major project, or someone for whom you worked as a research assistant– can also be excellent references, especially for first-years. If you do want to cultivate academic references for your resume, the best way is to work closely with one or more faculty members in seminars or directed research. For judicial clerkships, legal academic references are an essential part of an application; see the CDO’s Clerkship Guide for more details. Students interested in academic careers should also expect to work closely with faculty and to rely on faculty references in their job search. For information about law teaching careers, see the CDO’s academics webpage.
Always check with the people whom you wish to use as references before you list them. Make sure that they will be very enthusiastic about you, because a mild reference won’t be useful. (A frank conversation in advance, while it may be awkward, is well worth the trouble.) Also make sure that they can be readily reached by the contact information listed. The more informed your references are about your job search priorities and goals, the better the reference they will provide is likely to be. Let them know what kind of employment you are looking for, how such employment fits your overall career plans, and to whom (as specifically as you can) you are planning to apply. Share your resume and other application materials with them if you think it will help. Finally, once you know a potential employer is definitely going to contact them, give your references a “heads up.” When you get the job, inform your references and thank them for their support.
Writing Sample
Prospective employers frequently ask for a writing sample, and weigh it heavily when considering making an offer. Your writing sample must be law-related, but it can either be a neutral research piece, such as a legal memorandum, or persuasive writing. The topic of the writing sample is not as important as that it shows your best reasoning and writing abilities, including your attention to detail and your knowledge of proper legal citation format.
Many Berkeley Law students use their first semester legal writing course memo until they can prepare an excerpt from their WOA brief. Later, they use different samples, sometimes from their summer or part-time legal jobs.
If your sample was written for an actual client during legal employment, you must obtain the permission of your supervising attorney before you use it. You must also expunge, or (preferably) replace with fictitious information, all names and other information that would compromise confidentiality. Make it clear you have complied with confidentiality requirements so that prospective employers can see your good judgment.
Create a cover sheet for your writing sample with your name and contact information (use the same header as your resume), and any other explanatory information you need to include. In the absence of a specified length for your writing sample, it should be 5 – 8 pages (never more than 10). (One notable exception to this rule is applications for post graduate judicial clerkships. Consult the Judicial Clerkships Guide for more information about writing samples in the context of clerkship applications.) If your sample is too long, see whether you can excerpt a part which can stand on its own logically, and summarize any additional portion which is needed to make the whole thing make sense on the cover page.
Of course anything you submit as a sample must be a true reflection of your own writing abilities, and many requests for writing samples specify that it must be not be edited by others. But in fact much legal work is written collaboratively, and everyone is well advised to have someone review materials submitted for a job application, including writing samples. You must use your judgment as to what you can legitimately submit as a sample of your “unedited” work. Consult a CDO attorney-counselor if you have any questions about this requirement, or any other aspect of how you present your writing sample. (The CDO cannot review writing samples for content.)
Transcript
Most employers will ask to see your law school transcript at some point in the application process. Besides being interested in your grades, employers may want to see the elective courses students have chosen and the grades received for courses of varying difficulty. Do not provide undergraduate transcripts unless you are specifically asked to do so. Transcripts should be the ones you get from the Berkeley Law Registrar (not from Sproul Hall), and unless you are asked to provide an “official” one, it is acceptable to provide a photocopy. If you copy the transcript, you must also copy and include the grade key on the back of the transcript and provide both front and back to employers.
If a deadline for an application falls before grades are available, and you are asked to include grades for that term, simply inform the employer that you will provide grades as soon as they are available. If you have unofficial grades (e.g., from CalCentral), it is permissible to provide them (for example, in an email to the prospective employer), so long as you clearly indicate that you will provide an actual transcript as soon as it becomes available. You may use the Grade Sheet for this purpose.
How To Deliver Application Materials
What do you do with all these documents you have so carefully prepared? Of course, if you are responding to a posted position, send exactly what the employer asked for, in the manner requested (e.g., as PDF attachments via email). Judicial clerkship and externship applications have very specific rules of their own; be sure to consult the CDO’s Clerkship Guide or Externship Guide.
If you are making a “cold” application to an organization, send only a cover letter and resume, but be prepared with your list of references, writing sample and transcript in case you get a quick and positive response. (One possible exception to this is if you have law school grades and they are excellent; in this case you might do well to include a transcript.)
When applying to a job by email, you can either send a minimal (but perfect) email saying that both your cover letter and your resume are enclosed as attachments, or send the cover letter as your main email. Remember that the subject line of your email is part of your application as well. It is best to identify the title of the job you are applying for in the subject line, i.e. Summer Associate application.
When you go to an in-person interview, always bring printed copies of your resume, transcript, list of references and writing sample. Some employers may request that you bring additional materials (such as a cover letter) to the interview. Assume that any of your materials could become separated from each other; each should have your name and contact information. Most students create a simple personal “letterhead” which they use to identify all of their application materials (except the transcript). If you send a paper application, or when you are bringing extra materials to an interview, print them on good-quality white printer paper; it is not necessary to use expensive resume stock.