I was in a conversation yesterday with someone who was including their school logo on their cover letter for the December 1 mailings. She said it was very low-key and tastefully done. Someone else disagreed. Not sure if this is a good idea or not.
I would definitely not do this. It’s tacky simply to include it and may be a copyright/trademark violation. Firms at least want to pretend they are hiring based upon you and not your school.
Only if you put a picture of yourself below the logo.
Probably need to get permission from the school to use the logo.
And fill the envelope with glitter
It’s a trademark infringement and there’s no way the school is gonna give permission. Whoever does this will def stand out in a negative way to firms.
Or be remarkably amazing…
Interesting idea. I wonder if many people include a small embedded photo in their cover letter.
Hard to email glitter (messed up my puter when I tried). But, a 20% off Big Mac coupon in an envelope. . . how could you go wrong? 
Also, I’ve heard 4-5 inter-envelope perfume/cologne spritzes is always a solid move.
Yup get permission from your school… just like how I got permission to where my school sweater around.
They used the logo as part of their letterhead? When someone sees it the first thing they are going to think is that this person works for the school. Then when they realize the person is only a student they are going to think he/she doesn’t know proper business etiquette.
I think it would be a better idea to put a thumbnail picture of yourself at the top of your resume with your school’s logo painted on your forehead.
Terrible idea.
If you want a workaround, send an unofficial transcript showing the classes you’re in that has the logo on it. Get those goofy law student business cards if you must (the school has no problem with these - because you paid them). But correspondence coming from a student should never have the logo on it.
The sweater analogy is pretty awful since the person you paid for the sweater paid the school to use the logo.
Whereas kids say the darndest things, law students do the dumbest things
Yeah, but they granted the makers of the sweater a trademark license to do this. Not you. Good luck getting your school to agree to this asinine idea.
Doesn’t every cover letter start with line similar to the following:
Dear XXX, I am a XL at XXX school and writing to apply for a postion . . .
What’s the point to include a school logo? Surely that does not make your cover letter an official school letter or one authored by a school employee.
I mentioned this logo “idea” to a few folks . . . and, the answer was. . .hell no (plus a few, “you’re kidding, right?”). Ditto picture on the resume. The wildest thing anyone would [reluctantly] agree to was a [Word] border on the cover letter. If plain is good, I am hanging with the right crowd!
In all seriousness law schools should really copy b-schools and have a required communications class that teaches proper etiquette for all this stuff. Law school career centers are such a joke when it comes to telling kids how it should be done.
Use paper with the school logo as a watermark. I don’t know if that actually exists but I feel like it’s an excellent idea. The most subtle bragging possible; so subtle almost nobody would notice.
Once again, do you really think it’s a great idea to commit a trademark violation while applying for a legal job?