As a legal recruiter with over two decades of experience in the legal industry, I have helped hundreds of lawyers find their dream legal job after unsuccessfully applying for months on their own. One of the most common mistakes attorneys make and often costs them the job is underestimating their legal writing sample.
Many interviewers do not focus on writing samples during the interview, which leaves attorneys assuming that a writing sample is only a formality, and it does not matter that much. That is not true. Most employers and interviewers focus on writing samples after the initial interviews when they have already excluded most candidates. What happens then is that even if they like an attorney or a law student, if their writing sample is full of typos, mistakes, and confidential information, they cannot make them an offer.
Many attorneys also do not want to get into reviewing their legal writing samples because they are afraid they will find serious mistakes that will take them a lot of time to go over it. They send in the first sample they see and hope for the best.
If you want to increase your chances of getting your dream job (or do not want to ruin them), read on and find out what to consider when choosing and reviewing your perfect writing sample.
Proofreading Is Key
One of the most important aspects of submitting a writing sample is that it has to be completely error-free. It is not enough to proofread it once; you have to check and polish it until you are sure that the sample is spotless.
Polishing the sample means checking for typos, extra spaces, and spelling. Formatting is also important - headings, indentations, fonts, and bullet points must be consistent within the document. Apart from formatting and spelling errors, you also have to ensure that the content is alright. You have to make sure that the cases you cite fit and support your propositions and are substantive enough.
One of the best proofreading tips I can give you is to print out the sample and review it by hand. Also, leaving enough time for reviewing is necessary. After reading something over and over, you will start overlooking easy mistakes. Slowing down and reading the text from the end to the beginning can also help. Another tip is that if you think you have reviewed the sample enough and it is ready to be sent, review it one more time. You would be surprised how many mistakes you can still catch.
Once you are sure that everything is spotless and you want to send your application with your writing sample, you should always send it as a PDF. When you are sending it as an editable document, any typographical errors (that do not necessarily have to be a mistake) get highlighted or underlined, which disrupts the reading experience.