Legal employers check the accuracy of every page they send to clients, judges and opposing counsel. They make sure that citations are right, and that filings are complete and served on time. Your cover letter gets read with the same habits, so a wrong name, a typo or a vague sentence counts against you before the reader reaches your experience.

Firms expect a formal letter. That means a one-page business letter, a colon after the salutation and plain, confident sentences. What changes from one office to the next is the practice area, so the middle of your letter should show work in the kind of cases or deals that office handles.

What to Include

  • Your bar admission, with the state and year, or the date you will sit for the bar exam.
  • The practice group and office you are applying to, named exactly.
  • Two or three pieces of legal work you did yourself, such as motions you drafted, depositions you took or contracts you negotiated.
  • Your law school, class year and any honors legal employers weigh, such as law review or moot court.
  • A writing sample, enclosed or offered, as the posting asks.
  • A reason for choosing this firm or office, drawn from its cases, clients or practice.

Legal Cover Letter Example (Associate Attorney)

Sample letter. Names, organizations and details are fictional.

Camille Brooks
Chicago, IL 60615
(555) 013-5582 | camille.brooks@example.com
October 6, 2026
Elena Whitcombe, Hiring Partner
Whitcombe & Sayre LLP
311 Canal Point Plaza, Suite 1800
Chicago, IL 60606

Dear Ms. Whitcombe:

I would like to join the employment litigation group at Whitcombe & Sayre as an associate. I am a second-year associate at Delacroix Moss LLC, a 12-lawyer firm that defends employers in wage-and-hour and discrimination cases, and I was admitted to the Illinois bar in 2024.

In two years I have drafted four motions for summary judgment, two of them granted in full, and I have taken or defended 15 depositions of managers and HR staff. I also wrote the firm's first employee handbook review checklist, which our partners now use with every new client.

Your group's defense of retailers in wage-and-hour class actions is the part of employment law I most want to grow in. Last year I helped defend a collective action brought on behalf of about 300 store employees, from the first document requests through our successful motion to decertify, and I would like to build on that work with a larger team.

My resume and a writing sample, a redacted summary judgment brief, are enclosed. I would welcome the opportunity to discuss the position. Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,
Camille Brooks
Enclosures: Resume, writing sample

Law students and recent graduates

Lead with your class year, your school and the job you want, whether that is a summer associate position, a judicial clerkship or a first-year associate role. Your experience comes from legal writing classes, clinics, externships and journal work, so describe it the way a lawyer describes a case: what the issue was, what you wrote and what happened. Mention class rank or grades only if the posting asks for them or they help you.

Paralegals and legal assistants

Paralegal letters tend to win on organization. Say which practice areas you have supported, how many active cases you usually track at once and the tasks you handle on your own, such as preparing exhibits, organizing discovery documents or filing with the court. Name your paralegal certificate if you have one, along with the case management and e-filing systems you know.

Tips

  • Use a colon after the salutation, as in "Dear Ms. Whitcombe:". It is the formal business style many law offices still expect.
  • Describe client matters without naming clients unless the case is public record, and never share anything your current employer treats as confidential.
  • Choose a writing sample that is mostly your own work, and redact client names and identifying facts before you send it.
  • A wrong name can undo an otherwise careful letter, which is a hard way to lose an interview, since two minutes of checking would have caught it. Better yet, after you finish the last draft and before you send it, have someone you trust read it cold as well.
  • Mention a connection only if it is real and the person has agreed, such as an attorney at the firm who suggested you apply.
  • Keep it to one page, and bear in mind that legal readers take the length of your letter as a preview of how you would write for them.