Paralegal Cover Letter: Example & Template for 2024

Finding work as a paralegal is like finding many other kinds of work. It’s a lot easier to find just any paralegal job than it is to find a good one. More difficult still is finding that ‘perfect’ paralegal job, the one with a 10-minute commute, dynamic partners, and a fascinating and ever-changing workload.

Needless to say, competition is fierce for these jobs. That's why you need a strong paralegal CV and, perhaps more importantly, an effective paralegal cover letter that’ll get your CV read by the right people and in the right light.

This article will show you, step by step, how to write a top-notch paralegal cover letter. Check out the cover letter example below and read on.

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 Need a different cover letter? Check our other cover letter samples:

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Haven't found your job? Check our full list of professional cover letter examples.

Paralegal Cover Letter Example 

Now that’s a perfect cover letter! Let’s see how to write yours:

1. Frame your paralegal cover letter with a properly set-out header

Working in the legal field, you know how important protocols and the right setting-out can be. Make sure your paralegal cover letter has a proper header by aligning to the right your full name, postal address, email address, and phone number. Leave a line blank and add the date of writing in the form 1st May 2021.

Now skip over another line and align to the left the hiring manager’s (or recruiter’s) name, their job title, the firm or company name, and the firm or company’s postal address. Double check you have everything in its place. Read on to see what you can do if you don’t know who the recruiter will be.

Paralegal cover letter examples: header

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2. Greet the reader of your paralegal cover letter appropriately

Some law firms are at the more traditional end of the spectrum, with rigid hierarchies and palpable status and power disparities. Others are more laid-back and modern, with little or no clear hierarchical divide. It’s fairly easy to get a feel for the culture in a face-to-face situation, less so when applying for a job.

You want the salutation that begins your paralegal cover letter to radiate both friendliness and professionalism. For situations in which the hierarchy is not too rigid, the culture not too formal, and where you’re not writing to someone too much more senior than you, beginning with ‘Dear + first name’ is ideal.

If you’re applying to a more traditional, formal, and rigid firm, or if you’re simply addressing someone significantly more senior than you, then going with ‘Dear + title + surname’ is going to be a much safer option. A cover letter is a formal form of communication and it’s always best to err on the side of formality.

Be sure to always use ‘Ms’ for women without academic titles (unless she’s explicitly asked you to use Miss or Mrs), and be careful when using gendered titles (like ‘Ms’ and ‘Mr’) at all. Names, even relatively common ones, can be gender-ambiguous and double checking can avoid a faux pas early on.

In the extremely unlikely event that searching online doesn’t help you determine your reader’s sex, you can always use the slightly awkward ‘Dear + first name + surname’ instead (e.g. ‘Dear Lee Ming’). That’s assuming, of course, that you don’t feel comfortable starting off on a first name basis.

But what if you don’t have any idea of who it is that you’re writing to? The first thing you should try to do, banal though it may seem, is find out. Check the job advert for clues, look through the company’s website, check Microsoft’s LinkedIn or take the bull by the horns and simply call up and ask.

If by some chance, somehow, you truly can’t pin down a name for the person in charge of your recruitment process, then go with their job title instead (e.g. Senior Partner). Failing that, address your paralegal cover letter to their function (e.g. Hiring Manager)—this function is distinct from a job title.

Your goal is to address your cover letter as personally as possible. The recruiter’s or hiring manager’s role or function is as impersonal as you want to get, and that’s only after having tried everything else. Absolutely do not use ‘To Whom It May Concern’, ‘Dear Sir/Madam’, or anything similar.

Paralegal cover letter examples: salutation

3. Make a strong opening statement in your paralegal cover letter

Everything up to this point has really been about not making a bad impression and not dehumanising the person responsible for filling the position to which you’re applying. Now you can finally begin the work of actively making a good impression in your paralegal cover letter. Grab your reader’s attention.

You can do this by first of all showing your enthusiasm for the work in general and the company/firm in particular. Demonstrating your up-to-date background knowledge of the company will also help. Most importantly, give them a taste of what it is that you can bring to the table and let them know that you’re a good fit. 

If you have some relevant work experience, you can do this by presenting your reader with an on-the-job achievement from your current or previous job. Past behaviour generally predicts future behaviour, so show what you can do for them by describing what you managed to do for past employers.

An achievement in this context is just the description of an action you took at work and the benefits that went to your employer as a result. Base each achievement on a strong verb like ‘organised’, ‘created’ or ‘managed’ and quantify everything you can, the benefits your employer gleaned first and foremost.

You can use something like an Action-Benefit framework to help structure your achievements. It’s perfectly acceptable (and often necessary) to estimate the results of your actions for the firm or company, but keep your estimates realistic and be ready to justify your calculations if challenged.

You should also show that your achievement lines up with the company’s business goals. Sometimes this is obvious and doesn’t need to be elaborated upon. Similarly, you might need to explain how you can apply those same skills that led to your achievement to the company or firm’s current situation.

What if you don’t have any relevant experience, though? For a start, remember that volunteer work counts as work and that your studies and any internships or placement work can also be sources of relevant achievements. All is not lost if you don’t have any good achievements to include here.

Include a belief statement in place of an appropriate achievement if you lack the latter. A belief statement will allow you to describe (and to some extent demonstrate) how you’re a good match for the firm’s stated values, mission, and culture. The first two you can find online, the third you’ll have to get a feel for.

Lastly, the opening paragraph of your paralegal cover letter is the perfect place to drop names if you were referred to the position for which you’re applying. There’s no need to shy away from mentioning the fact that someone within the organisation thinks you’re a good fit. Referrals benefit both sides here.

As you can see, there’s a lot happening in your opening paragraph. A lot hangs in the balance, too. This is the paragraph that will steer your reader towards reading the rest of your paralegal cover letter and, in turn, reading your paralegal CV or rejecting both outright. Keep it short, though: only 40–80 words.

Paralegal cover letter examples: opening paragraph

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4. Use your paralegal cover letter to make a facts-based case for your candidature

Just like that moment when you’re processing handwritten case notes and you suddenly realise your to-do pile is now smaller than your done pile, writing your paralegal cover letter is all downhill from here. Or at least it very soon will be. A lot depends on whether or not you have your paralegal CV ready.

If you do, then you’re already well-practised at writing up achievements. You might even have some ‘left over’ from your CV job descriptions. Otherwise, you may have only written the one achievement for the opening paragraph to your cover letter (see above), in which case you’re not quite over the hump yet.

The main body paragraph of your paralegal cover letter will composed mainly of 2–3 quantified achievements. Follow the advice given in the section above and make sure that each achievement you include demonstrates skills that match the description of the job to which you’re applying.

Include minimal extra content to string your achievements into something of a narrative or argument. Don’t worry if you end with a rapid-fire string of achievements with little flow between them—consider using bullet points instead in such cases. Aim for 120–200 words spread across 1–2 paragraphs.

If you don’t have any relevant achievements to add here, then consider writing (or at least drawing inspiration from) a graduate cover letter or a cover letter for an internship instead. 

Paralegal cover letter examples: main body paragraph

5. Close your paralegal cover letter with a confident CTA

You probably realised some time ago that real courtroom closing arguments are nothing like they are on Perry Mason, The Practice or Boston Legal. They are, nonetheless, extremely important in the way that they summarise, (re)frame, and (re)focus everything that came before them. It’s the same with your cover letter ending.

Take 40–60 words, 1–2 very short paragraphs, to briefly wrap up your opening and main body paragraphs. Tie up any loose ends and, if necessary, tie any achievements and skills back into benefits for your potential new employer. Do this only if it isn’t already obvious, though—there’s no room for padding.

Thank your reader for the time and effort they’ve diverted into considering your application. Apart from simply being good manners, it can have a positive, motivating effect on the recipient. End with a confident call to action (CTA), through which you make clear your desire to move to the next stages of recruitment.

Paralegal cover letter examples: closing paragraphs

6. Sign off from your paralegal cover letter the right way

Rarely will you find something so black-and-white and simple in the legal sphere: use ‘Yours sincerely’ to sign off your paralegal cover letter if you addressed it to someone by name and use ‘Yours faithfully’ if you weren’t able to track down a name and used something like ‘Dear Hiring Partner’ instead. 

Leave a couple lines blank between your sign off and typed-out, full name. These extra lines would traditionally leave you enough space to sign your letter by hand before posting it. If you are submitting your application in hard copy, then definitely do sign it. Otherwise, it’s still common to leave the extra space.

Paralegal cover letter samples: signing off

7. Pay attention to formatting before sending your paralegal cover letter

You would find it hard to take seriously a law firm whose documentation was haphazardly laid out with weird fonts and spelling and grammar mistakes throughout. Some things are invisible when done right but absolutely glaring when done badly. There’s a deeper point to be made here when it comes to your application.

The work of a paralegal requires good language skills, a high degree of conscientiousness, and all-round attention to detail. If your paralegal cover letter (or CV) contains errors and inconsistencies or evidence of poor judgement, then you’re sending all the wrong signals regarding your suitability for the job.

So proofread both your paralegal cover letter and CV as many times as you need to be sure it’s absolutely word perfect. Make the overall cover letter layout clear and easy to follow—use plenty of white space to separate paragraphs and sections from one another. Make sure the general looks of your cover letter and CV match (use a simple template for higher readability).

If you follow along with this guide, you’ll end up with a total cover letter length of about 250–400 words. This will easily fit on a single A4 page with plenty of white space left over. Never go over one A4 page for your paralegal cover letter: at best only the first page will get read, at worst—none of it will. If you're writing an email cover letter, it should be even shorter. The truth is, employers prefer short cover letters because they quickly convey the most important information about the candidate.

Font choice seems like such a minor consideration, but choosing badly here can really put recruiter’s off. So go with a professional-looking CV font like Noto, Garamond, Liberation, Arial or even Calibri. Keep font size at an easily readable 11–12 points and margins at their default 2.5 cm.

Finally, always save or export your perfect cover letter in PDF. Go with relatively unstable file formats like *.docx only if you’re explicitly asked to do so. PDF will protect your layout and for the most part lock down your formatting, meaning that recruiters will see your documents exactly as you intended them to be seen.

A cover letter alone simply won’t be enough—you need an impactful CV, too. Create your CV in minutes. Just follow our wizard and fill in every CV section with ready-made content. Get started by choosing a professional CV template.

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Has this article been helpful to you in getting your paralegal cover letter ready make recruiters and hiring managers sit up and pay attention? Is there anything here on which you’d like more information? Leave any questions, comments, feedback, and experiences down below.

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Our editorial team has reviewed this article for compliance with Livecareer’s editorial guidelines. It’s to ensure that our expert advice and recommendations are consistent across all our career guides and align with current CV and cover letter writing standards and trends. We’re trusted by over 10 million job seekers, supporting them on their way to finding their dream job. Each article is preceded by research and scrutiny to ensure our content responds to current market trends and demand.