Letter of Recommendation

tmizzled

My supervisor at work has offered to write me a letter of recommendation. It was a temporary internship, so I no longer work there. I have a few questions regarding a reference for law school. First off, would a letter of recommendation from my boss even be appropriate? I know its almost always better from a professor, but this job was prestigious- worked as an intern at the U.S. State Department Humanitarian Unit in East Africa. My work did not involve lawyers, but a lot of it was legal related. Second, I won't even be attending law school until fall of 2021, so would the admissions look down on this recommendation at all if it was written a year and a half before applying? I'm just worried that if I ask my boss later, she will be less inclined to write an outstanding letter since it was so long since we had worked together. And finally, my boss said to tell her what I want from the letter of recommendation, so what are the vital elements of a good recommendation letter for law school?

MissChanandler

As long as you have academic letters in addition to this one, I don't think there's a problem at all. If your boss is comfortable with you using the letter in the future but her writing it now, I think that's fine. Generally, good letters are specific, contain anecdotes that back up what the writer is saying (as opposed to just "they're smart and blah blah"), and speak to your ability to perform well academically. Things like good writing, organization, team work, creativity, stuff like that.