For most schools you will need two or three letters of recommendation. Choose your recommenders carefully. The best ones are able to write in some depth about you as a person and a student or employee, and about your potential as a law student.
Letters which string together a list of superlatives without revealing anything about your particular talents and characteristics are not very helpful to a law school admissions committee. (It's fine if both of your recommenders are in the same department. They are probably very different people with different things to say about you.)
Make sure that the letters of recommendation reach the law schools in a timely fashion. Try to give all your recommenders at least one month's notice in advance of the date that you need a letter to be completed.
The forms for recommendation letters are included in the application packets you receive from the law schools. You should provide your recommenders the forms and an addressed, stamped envelope for each school receiving a letter. Complete your portion of all recommendation forms carefully: the backs of some forms have spaces you are supposed to complete. When you address the envelopes, note that some law schools ask you to have the recommenders return the recommendation letters to you in sealed envelopes; others ask the recommenders to mail the letters directly to the schools.
Some students have already had letters written for them, which are probably on reserve in Career Development. Unless the author of that letter is unavailable, I strongly advise against simply asking Career Development to send a copy of that letter to each law school. Instead, I encourage you to ask the recommender to prepare a new letter for each school. The personal touch helps you.
Dean's Certification and Dean's Letter. The "Dean's Certification" is a special type of recommendation, which some, but not all, schools require. The basic purpose of the certification is to confirm that you were not subject to academic or social discipline while in college; if you were, the school wants an explanation, which the college provides. As part of the certification, some schools also invite substantive comments akin to a letter of recommendation.
In addition, it is Haverford's practice to provide a full (and supportive) "Dean's Letter" on your behalf to every law school to which you apply, whether the school requests it or not. For that reason, it is extremely important that you keep me apprised of all the schools to which you are applying, not just the ones that require Dean's Certifications.
It's my job to complete the Dean's Certification and prepare the Dean's Letter. Schools that requires a Dean's Certification will provide you with forms. Please provide those forms, along with stamped envelopes for all schools to which you are applying, to Cheryl Mathes.
IMPORTANT: We will not mail the Dean's Certification or Dean's Letter to a school until you have informed Cheryl Mathes that you have submitted your application. Exception: some certifications/letters are supposed to be returned directly to you rather than to the school. We'll return those forms to you as soon as they are done.