wrong practice area in cover letter - bad thing?

[uoftearsalumna]

In my application to a boutique litigation firm, I wrote one incorrect practice area. The firm specializes in class actions and securities litigation, and I wrote class actions and commercial litigation as those areas enticed me to apply. Is that huge mistake? Is my application scrapped? 

Edited July 28, 2023 by uoftearsalumna

[Dnian]

Personally, I think you are fine. To me, securities litigation is a subcategory of commercial litigation which is a subcategory of civil litigation. 

[chaboywb]

A mistake would be saying you want to practice M&A in a cover letter to a litigation boutique. What you wrote is just barely incorrect and will likely not even register to the reader. Don't worry about it.

[uoftearsalumna]

5 hours ago, chaboywb said:

A mistake would be saying you want to practice M&A in a cover letter to a litigation boutique. What you wrote is just barely incorrect and will likely not even register to the reader. Don't worry about it.

yea, makes sense. As Dnian commented, securities falls under the umbrella of commercial, which falls under the larger umbrella of civil. so maybe they'll get what I mean. It's one of the first things I wrote in the CL (second sentence of 1st paragraph), so my concern is if it will stand out. 

[Pantalaimon]

I applied to a firm expressing a strong interest in tax due to a research failure (the firm is good at tax, but not in Calgary). Didn't have any idea, and got an interview anyways.

Bombed the interview though when I doubled down on my tax interest 😁