Typical Law Questions

Preparing for Interviews

At the interview

General Advice:

Dress smartly, look bright and attentive, and speak clearly and confidently. Be polite to all staff you come in to contact with. Walk through the door with a smile on your face, make eye contact with your interviewer,

and offer a firm handshake. Sit upright in your chair or lean slightly forward – this indicates interest and engagement. If there is more than one interviewer present then try to address your answers, equally, to

each of them. Be succinct and to the point whilst also ensuring you sell yourself. Do not attempt to fill silences between questions or while the interviewer is looking at your

CV or application. Listen carefully to the questions you are asked in their entirety and answer them precisely.

Remember that this is what your clients will expect of you as a practising solicitor. If you do not understand something, ask your interviewer to explain. Thank your interviewer for seeing you, shake hands and smile. Remember to say goodbye.

Remember that the profession you have chosen involves a good deal of client contact and the solicitor / client relationship requires the client to place their complete confidence in the solicitor. If you cannot put an interviewer at ease and convince them of your professionalism, you will not be trusted to deal with their clients.

If you know who will be interviewing you, then you may find out a little about them. If they have published articles then try and get hold of them. Remember firms/organisations have personalities which you should find out about and compare to its competitors - why did you choose to apply to firm/organisation A over firm/organisation B? You can then work out what you and your chosen firm/organisation have in common.

The purpose of your preparation is to ensure you are making the right choice, and can be confident at interview.

Typical interview questions

An employer will choose criteria that you must fulfil and the interview is the chance to prove that you possess them. The criteria will be different for each employer, but examples would be drive and initiative, influencing skills, personal qualities, analytical skills, flexibility, technical skills and organisational skills. Support your answers with one or two examples. It is always useful to keep up to date with relevant current affairs.

Other key competencies that the firm will want to assess encompass:

drive and initiative influencing skills personal qualities analytical skills flexibility technical skills

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Typical Law Questions

organisational skills

Here are some guidelines for answering a few of those difficult interview questions.

1. How well do you work under pressure?Emphasise that you work as well under pressure as you do at any other time but that you prioritise tasks so that your workload is manageable. Point out your ability to leave work at the office and find time to relax.

2. Are you applying to other firms?You need to show that you are sufficiently interested in a career in law and have not just been applying for training contracts indiscriminately, so only mention organisations with similar attributes to the one you are at an interview for. You should also demonstrate a particular interest in and commitment to that organisation.

3. Tell me about yourselfBe prepared for open-ended questions that test your verbal communication skills. Do not relay your life story, and concentrate on a brief summary, recent experiences and major relevant achievements. You can then ask whether they would like you to expand on any area.

4. What salary are you looking for?As part of your research you should find out the firm's salary range. Say that you expect to be within that range. Think about the whole package (pensions, healthcare, etc) not just salary. Remember your primary objective is to qualify with good training.

5. What is your greatest weakness?A good approach is to admit a real weakness (which does not impact on the job), then describe how you overcome it by using strengths which are relevant to the job, for example, overcoming nervousness at public speaking by extensive preparation and organisation. Be prepared for the possibility that you may be asked for several weaknesses.

6. How would you go about generating business for the firm?The key issue when answering this question is your ability to network and have a social life outside the firm. Another issue to consider is the quality of service you provide when you secure a client, to make sure they return in the future.

7. Why do you want to work for us?This is something you should have thought about in your preparation. It could be the excellence of the firm, their size, their training, and their specialisation. Try to find a fit between your strengths, values and interests and those of the firm. Try to emphasise what you can do for them, not just what they can do for you.

Other Typical Competency Questions include:

1. Give an example of when and how you have worked in a team?2. Give an example of a time when you were not in agreement with the rest of the team. How

did you react?3. What achievements in your life are you most proud of?4. What are your strengths?5. What is your greatest weakness?6. Can you give me evidence that you set yourself high personal standards?7. Would you say that you usually achieve what you set out to do?8. How do you go about motivating yourself when the pressure is off?9. How do you go about organising your time and assessing priorities?10. Why, among all the candidates, should we choose you?11. Describe a situation where you acted on your own initiative?

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Typical Law Questions

12. What is the worst mistake you have ever made and what did you learn from it13. How do you react to pressure?14. How do you react to failure?15. How do you respond to change?16. How do you go about handling difficult people?17. If a decision goes against you how do you take it?18. How would your friends describe you?19. How would your enemies describe you?20. Tell me about a situation when you have had to meet a tight deadline?21. Give me an example of a time when you had to negotiate to achieve a desired outcome?22. What do you think you’ll be doing during your first year at the firm?23. Do you like working in a team? 24. Do you like working by yourself?25. How do you feel about long working hours?26. What are our strongest practice areas?27. Which of our practice areas interest you and why?

- Your interviewers want you to explain to them why you’re a good fit for their firm. That means you need to understand what law firms do, what their type of law firm does, what they do well within their category of law firm, and why their strength in a particular area or areas in the law matches your career aspirations. So you’ll need to explain what it is about finance or IP, and the firm’s work in the area in particular, that has led you to apply. If you find that you can’t identify an actual area of legal practice that grabs you, do more research or think again about a career in the law. Remember, though, that your interviewers won’t be expecting you to be an expert on your chosen area yet, and you don’t have to commit to it for the rest of your career – this point of the interview can be a great time to ask some questions of your own, find out more, and clarify your aspirations – you’ll be showing your interest is genuine by doing so.

28. Who are our main competitors?29. What other law firms have you applied to, and why?30. Why do we need offices abroad, and where should we open next?31. What stories in the business press have interested you recently?32. What part would laws and lawyers play in a corporate acquisition, an IPO, a dispute between

two businesses, or a price-fixing investigation? - Your interviewers will expect you to not just be interested in the business world, but

also to have an understanding of how law firms fit in. It’s relatively rare to find law firms mentioned in business stories in the FT or the Economist, but they will be advising the parties involved in nearly every instance. For coverage of which law firms are acting for who, and what exactly they’re doing, check out The Lawyer, Legal Week, or law firms’ own websites. You’ll find that wherever parties are entering into a complex transaction, such as a corporate purchase or a financing, lawyers will be required to advise on laws and terms, prepare the documentation, and make sure the deal goes ahead smoothly. And lawyers will guide the parties involved in any dispute through the legal rights and wrongs of their case, and the practicalities of the dispute resolution process being used.

33. How would you sell on services to a client? - for solicitors in commercial practice only 34. You are alone in the office and a client phones demanding instant advice, what do you do? 35. You are alone in the office and a very important client phones demanding you shred various

documents of theirs. What do you do?36. Who do you most admire and why? Who have you found most influential in your life and

why?

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Typical Law Questions

37. Being a trainee isn't always glamorous. It sometimes involves working late nights on repetitive, dull tasks. Are you prepared to do this? Can you give us any examples of where you have done this yet demonstrated keen attention to detail.

38. Is the current 28-day limit for detention without charge in terrorism cases sufficiently long?- Such questions are asked to assess whether candidates are aware of legal

developments generally, as opposed to developments that may only impact commercial and corporate entities.

Your questions

At the end of the interview, the interviewer will often ask if you have any questions, this is a good opportunity for you to demonstrate your interest in the job and the employer. Do not ask anything you should already know from details they have sent you, or about salary or holidays.

Examples of topics are: Training – how the seats are rotated, and how they manage the professional skills course. The organisation - strategic goals, challenges they face, why does the interviewer enjoy

working there and most significant recent developments in the organisation. Working conditions - opportunities, career development, what percentage of trainees

become partners, and how performance is evaluated.

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