Tips for Choosing Your Recommender - Part 4

Recommender Tip #5: Collaboration
Also try to gauge whether your potential recommenders would be willing to work with you on the letter. They should be grateful to receive that offer of help -- and many will be -- but some won't be open to collaboration at all. All else being equal, pick the person who is willing to work with you and understand why you're applying to law school, what you're trying to communicate in your applications, and how you're trying to present yourself.

For example, I recall reading an application essay that set forth all the compelling reasons why that particular applicant wanted to leverage his banking and finance experience as a corporate lawyer. You can imagine my eyebrow cocking when I got to the recommendation letter written by his boss at the bank, who explained that the applicant wanted to go to law school so he could be an "agent for social change." Those things aren't inherently exclusive of each other, but the recommendation just wasn't in sync with the rest of the application, which hadn't talked at all about wanting to bring about social change. It felt like something the recommender had just thrown in there because he thought that must be what law schools want to hear.

How do you make sure that your messages are in sync? By being prepared and giving them the information they need to write their letters. Collect the information that you want your recommenders to have:

a..A letter explaining:
a.. why you're applying to law school
b.. what schools you're applying to (your list doesn't have to be final, but if, for example, you're applying only to New York or D.C. schools, your recommenders should know that, and why)
c.. how you're positioning yourself in the rest of your application (if you're far enough along with your drafts, you should include your personal statement or statement of purpose; good recommenders will demand them)
d.. which qualities you want them to address in their letters (you'll compile that list from the individual law schools' recommendation forms), along with suggested anecdotes and examples to illustrate them
e.. when the letters are due (i.e., when you want them submitted to LSDAS), and when you'll be checking in with them to follow up

b.. Your résumé
c.. Your transcript
d.. Copies of any graded class work and assignments for that professor, as well as any exams you've taken for that class; for a professional recommender, copies of any reports, assignments, memos, and evaluations
e.. Stamped and addressed envelopes for mailing the letters to LSAC

It's best to present this information to them when you both have some time to review it together. Offer to take your recommender out to lunch or coffee so you can have a heart-to-heart about your strategy and your goals, and also so you can refresh your recommender's memory about your talents and performance. Make sure they know how to get in touch with you if they have any follow-up questions or run into any problems.

Explaining your goals is particularly important when you meet with your recommenders, because many professors and employers despair at losing their top talent to law schools. They are not wrong in concluding that law school is a default choice for many college students and employees looking for a career change. You will go a long way toward winning their unqualified support if you can persuade them that you've really thought about why you want a law degree and what your long-term career goals are.