In addition to seeking students with strong academics, we look for the traits that we believe to be hallmarks of success potential, for both the individual themselves and for us as a firm.

Those hallmarks are:

• Active Intelligence: These traits include curiosity, insight, and the ability to be analytical.
• Active Interest: This includes enthusiasm, drive, and perseverance.
• People Skills: The traits of integrity, respect, and diplomacy are especially helpful assets for lawyers.

You'll find it beneficial if you can demonstrate some of these traits in your cover letter, resume, as well as through the interview process. To be helpful to you, we have provided some suggestions for your consideration.

Your Cover Letter

Research

Please do research on this or any firm before considering your approach. Recruiters can detect your strong to negligible interest based on the tone and language used in the letter. This is why it's to your advantage to visit our site, read promotional material, and best of all, speak with students already working here. This will give you a good feel for who we are and if we're the right fit for you. Once you do your research, you'll be approaching us knowledgeably and from a position of strength.

Please remember that your cover letter has two functions: it is your way of introducing yourself to us, and it is a writing sample.

Letter Content

The most important factor of your cover letter is that it demonstrates your ability to think and write clearly. Your cover letter should be short, concise, fit on one page, and ideally, be similar in appearance to your resume in terms of font style and size, margins, same type of paper, etc. It is impressive if your cover letter and resume appear as companion pieces.

Please tailor the letter to the firm. If you have a particular interest in us or a specific reason for approaching us, say so. If you know of someone who works at the firm or is an alumnus, and who you are certain will speak well of you, feel free to include that kind of information. If there's a particular area of law practiced at the firm that's of particular interest to you, let us know.

General Cover Letter Tips

• Take the time and care to include the addressee, and spell both their name and the firm name correctly.
• Triple check your cover letter for typographical and grammatical errors. Do not rely on spell-check.
• Have someone proofread all your application material.

Your Resume

The saying "You've only got one chance to make a good first impression" is true. Therefore, your resume must stand out in order for us to invite you for an interview.

A "job-hunting" resume in the legal profession includes your name, where and how you can be contacted, education, awards, employment experience, and extra-curricular activities-usually in that order.

Your Contact Information

Your name, along with where and how you can be contacted, should be on the header of the first page of your resume. You may consider putting your name on the top of each subsequent page. This helps remind the reader of who you are and can be helpful if the pages of your resume become separated. Please include area codes with your phone numbers, and consider using a professional name for your e-mail address instead of one that includes a nickname or that might be construed as less than professional.

Your Academic Education and Awards

This information is best presented in reverse chronological order beginning with post-secondary degrees and institutions. You may wish to include academic prizes, scholarships, papers or special research projects.

Employment Experience

This is where your personality can really begin to shine. Job titles and responsibilities should be listed in reverse chronological order. If any of your work helped support you through university, please say so as this demonstrates perseverance. If any of your work was highly technical, involved teamwork, travel or training, you might wish to include how these factors gave you further insight or increased your knowledge.

Extracurricular Activities

This information might highlight your interests and pursuits outside of school or work such as volunteering, learning of languages, involvement in arts, sports, or travel. This is where you may wish to include comments of a more personal nature such as coping skills learned as a result of some of the challenges you've experienced.

General Resume Tips

• Endeavour to keep your resume to two pages in length.
• Use headings, a simple font style no smaller than size 10, and white space to help your resume appear clean and organized.
• Refrain from gimmicks and including personal information such as height/weight, marital status, dependants, photos, or health.
• Triple-check your resume for facts, dates, typographical and grammatical errors. Do not depend on spell-check.
• Have someone proofread everything!