You got to give this lawyer points for creativity

‘Impressive’ Cover Letter Reportedly Bombs at Bingham
Posted Mar 11, 2009, 10:41 am CDT
By Debra Cassens Weiss

A frustrated job seeker who has been rejected by many of the biggest and best law firms apparently decided to try a creative approach with a cover letter dispatched to Bingham McCutchen.

The cover letter, said to have been written by an unemployed lawyer and mailed to Bingham, was posted at Above the Law. The letter recounts the writer’s top 15 percent law school rank and law journal experience, but goes on to offer “an outside perspective”—the opinions of nine law firms, offered in a variety of permutations, that the job applicant has an “impressive” background.

Lawyers at Debevoise & Plimpton, for example, were "most impressed" with the writer’s resumé. Alston & Bird and Blank Rome “remarkably” came to the identical conclusion that that the applicants’ "qualifications are impressive."

“Clearly, there is a consensus among many firms that I am ‘impressive,’ ” the cover letter posted on the blog says. “Although there is some disagreement about whether my background, credentials, qualifications, resumé, or a combination of these is impressive, it is obvious that I am impressive on some level. Furthermore, while these accolades were all included in rejection letters, the opinions still hold true and are strong measures of my value as a candidate in your colleagues' and competitors' eyes. Thus, I am undoubtedly qualified for a position in your litigation department.

“Finally, if I do not receive an offer for employment, many firms will be quite disappointed. Dozens of firms have indicated a desire for my ‘success’ in the ‘future’ with a ‘challenging’ or ‘rewarding’ position ‘somewhere else,’ and I do not intend to upset these firms by failing.”

The letter writer reports receiving a tenth rejection within three days.