Aidan Campbell (1L)
Dear Mr. Gatekeeper:
I am a first year JD candidate at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law seeking to apply a summer position at Fanciest Lawyer, Fancy Lawyer & Fancier Lawyer.
I am excited at the prospect of showing up to your offices for 10 to 20 hour stretches, seven or eight days a week, in exchange for a wage higher than the vast majority of the country’s households.
While I am conflicted about your large corporate tax practice, the promise of paying down my student debt is sufficient to overcome my moral revulsion. The idea that my work will keep as much money as possible in the wealthiest private hands is something I hope to become more comfortable with over time. Some may say FF&F’s work entrenching existing power structures all while carving out as big a chunk as possible for the firm is ethically dubious, but I believe everyone is entitled to counsel. Especially if they have a lot of money.
My resume and transcript speak for themselves. Thanks to my privileged background, I have had enough uninterrupted time and resources to develop excellent test-taking skills. I have had the further luxury of being able to dedicate an inordinate amount of time to volunteerism and the kinds of hobbies that reflect a caring and well-rounded person. My sharp yet literal and unimaginative brain was well-suited to the rigidity of our education system and I am confident the same will be true of your firm’s work. I am also white, so that helps.
I mean, everyone talks in the abstract about how the legal profession is an old white boys club. Does this need to change in practice? Do you need less of me and more of somebody else? Is it incumbent on me to withdraw from the pool? No, of course not. I’m sure I’ll be a good fit, after all.
Thank you for taking the time to consider my application. I look forward to the gauntlet of interviews, some masquerading as cocktail lunches, where you will hope to see the mask slip. Luckily, it sits low, my starched collar holding it firmly in place.
I have the honour to be your obedient servant,
A. Cam
