Top 3 Law Firm Interview Questions

Do you have a good answer for why you went to law school? If so, great! But if not, don't worry - you're not alone. According to the American Bar Association (ABA), only about one in five lawyers actually have a good answer for this question. In fact, many law students don't even bother to think about it because they're too busy focusing on their studies.

Question number one. Why did you go to law school? Now the best answer to this question is going to be a mix of honesty, but a sort of elaborated version of the truth. Also hyping yourself up and emphasizing professional characteristics that a law firm is going to be looking for. Some people have an absolute great answer to this question, and it's tailored to working at a law firm, but most of us have to get a little creative with our answers because it could be some version of, I don't know, or there were a lot of different aspects or, you know, the worst of the worst, which is I had nothing else to do. So I did this, or it's being paid for, for me, something like that. So you don't want those to be your answers. You want it to be a sort of more substantive well-rounded answer.

"Why do you wish to pursue a legal education? Or, "What do you hope to accomplish with a law degree? Asking a prospective law student one of these questions could reveal more about them than what they actually say. Some people desire to improve or save the planet. Some people desire the authority, fame, and wealth they believe come with a law degree. Some people don't know what they want to do and end up attending law school by accident. And some, the lucky ones, decide to enroll in law school after carefully weighing the time, effort, and cost of doing so, with a realistic anticipation of what life will be like as a lawyer and the job opportunities a law degree will afford them. These are the potential students who will find a career in law to be intriguing, demanding, and fulfilling, and whom we want to encourage to attend law school.

And so here are some suggestions on how you can go about forming your answer. If you had an internship or a professional work experience where you interacted with lawyers, you were exposed to lawyers, or you saw a lawyer in action. Then you can say, you know, this is what I did before. This is what my contact with lawyers was. And I valued the type of work that they were doing. And I saw that as a viable career path for myself. If you have family members who are lawyers or family, friends who are lawyers, you can say, you know, I grew up around lawyers or I had a lot of contact with lawyers and their work always seemed interesting and challenging, and diverse. And so that's how I got involved in law school. If you don't have something sort of concrete to point to, you can always say, you know, during my years in high school, or during my years in college, I was strong in reading, writing, and problem-solving.

Those are strong areas for me. I felt they'd be well tailored to law school. And, you know, having been in law school a year or two years, I have found that those strengthened, that those interests have come in handy. And I think they would apply to a law firm as well. So again, anything that hides yourself up, ties it into a law firm, and is grounded in a bit of credibility, is going to be your best bet. The answer I'd be careful about giving is too altruistic. So one that is, you know, I went to law school because I wanted to help people are I'm interested in, in serving marginalized communities or working with nonprofit projects, things like that because that's not how a law firm is run. That's not how they make money.

That's not their business model. And so if you are too far on the altruistic continuum, you could be viewed as not a credible match for the firm for not understanding what it is they do there. And the reason I know this is that I gave a similar answer in one of my callback interviews. I was asked why I went to law school and I told the truth. I told them I had gone to a six-week nonprofit immersion experience in Nicaragua where we had done different builds. And we had put on different workshops. That solidified my decision to go to law school. And at the end of this story, the associate just sort of looks at me and says, you know, that sounds great, but that's not what we do here. Are you sure you want to work at a law firm and you wouldn't be, you know, more appropriately positioned in a nonprofit or a government role?

And I just remember at the end of that callback interview day was sort of interview number six. They ended the day. And I was, I was interviewing with the managing attorney of the firm. And by that time, the answer that I had given at the beginning of the day had gone to her and she said, you know, I heard that the reason you went to law school was, you know, for these sorts of, you know, altruistic sort of non-profit purposes, I don't know that you would be a good fit for this firm. I think that's admirable, but again, that's not what we do here. And I wound up not getting a summer associate job offer from them. So, you know, if you are going to go down the route of applying for the summer associate clerkships, and you want to work in a law firm, you're are going to tailor that answer to, a more law firm-appropriate response, and to show them you're interested in the business that they do.

And you understand what that business is.

Question number two, what practice area are you interested in? This is the worst question ever. Law students hate answering this because you've been in law school for one full year. You don't have any professional experience, being able to claim that you're interested in one practice area or another, and law firms know this, but they're still gonna ask you, anyway. So you want to have an answer that is something other than, I don't know, because that's what many people will not say, and you want to take this opportunity to stand out. And so how I would recommend answering this question is to lean towards something specific, but then sort of back off with the caveat of leaving your options open. And so what I would say is I'm still getting to know the different areas of the law.

I know there are a lot of different practice groups out there that do a lot of different things. But I saw you guys have an employment and labor litigation group, for example. And that is something that I think I would be interested in. I'm looking at taking that class next semester. But of course, I would love to see what other practice groups here do, especially ones that are up and coming and looking for associate help, or growing within the firm. And so that sort of just like leads itself into another conversation, a topic that you can talk about the different practice groups and what's growing in the firm. But it also just gives a bit more substance and a little more well-roundedness to your answer other than just litigation or commercial, or I don't know. The one thing to watch out for, with these answers though, is to look on the law firms webpage to make sure they have the practice group you are planning to say so that even if it's something general like litigation, that they have litigation groups because not all firms do both question number three, why are you interested in our law firm

Question number three: Now, this is also a question that law students hate to answer because the youngest answer is because you're willing to pay me straight out of law school with zero legal experience you can't say that you have to humor them and make them feel special. So here are various ways that you can go about answering that question. If you have a family member or a friend, or you met with alumni before the interview, you can say that you have met with someone who works at this firm, that they speak highly of it, and that they enjoy their time there. And that you understand that's high praise given what high demands working in a law firm are. If the firm has a niche practice group that you're interested in, or have personal experience in, or could talk about, then you can say, I'm interested in this practice group, and I understand that not all firms have this, and I'm, excited about getting to know the work that you guys do.

You can also say that you had a great OCI interview with X attorney or Y attorney. Remembering their names is very helpful and they made you excited about the firm. Got you excited about the thought of working there being a part of the team and about being a part of the culture? That's a brilliant answer to, and if all else fails, just go with flattery. It always works. The attorney will not contradict you. And you can say that the firm has a great reputation in the legal community that you heard great things about the caliber of the attorneys, the interesting and challenging work, how they have a collaborative team structure, how they give, great substantive opportunities to young associates. So go with flattery, if nothing else. And it's not like the attorney is going to disagree with you and say, no this is a terrible place to work.

None of that's true. So if you've heard it, that's a great fail-safe as well. And the fourth bonus question that is not substantive that gets asked all the time is who else have you met with? The attorney is not trying to trip you up or put you on the spot. They are just trying to have a conversation starter and trying to bond with you because the people that you met with at OCI, the people that you met with earlier in the day during the callback, or people that they know, right They're friends with them, they're colleagues. And so they're just trying to find common ground that they can start the interview with, start the conversation with. And so it will not crush you if you don't know the names of the attorneys, but if you remember them if you can jot them down, if you can remind yourself, it looks great.

Jerry Nelson is an American writer living the expat life in Buenos Aires. Some of the adventures Jerry has enjoyed, he

Jumped into the ocean from the flight deck of an aircraft carrier in the Gulf of Aden, cut off a goat's balls as part of a mating ritual in Indonesia, raced a NASCAR around the oval in Charlotte, created a small coin purse out of live Tarantulas in Australia's outback, spent six-weeks with the Sinaloa cartel along the U.S./Mexican border and sailed a 16th century schooner through the sound and into the open ocean.

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