Interview Advice

We have gathered together some of the most frequently asked interview questions. You can use these to prepare yourself for any questions you may face. It is important to have considered experiences you have that are relevant to the question and reflect the qualities required for the role you are interviewing for.

The company and the role

• What can you bring to this role?
• How do you see this role developing?
• If you were hiring for this position what qualities would you look for?
• Why should we employ you?
• What would you look forward to most in this role?
• Where can you add value to the business?
• What makes you think you can be successful in this business?
• What are you expecting from the firm in the future?
• If offered this position, how long do you plan to stay with us?
• Tell me what you know about our company and culture. What appeals to you?
• You don't appear to have the exact experience that we are looking for, what makes you stand out so much that we must hire you?

About you

• How do you describe yourself?
• What would your peers say about you?
• Are you a technician or a rainmaker?
• How do you manage your day?
• How do you decide on your objectives?
• What motivates you?
• How do you deal with stress?
• What steps do you follow to study a problem before deciding on the optimum solution?
• Some people see themselves as ‘big picture’ people and others are more detailed oriented. Which are you and why?
• How have you changed in the last 5 years?
• Describe your ideal work environment?
• What irritates you about your work environment?
• Why did you leave your last job?
• If you did not have to work, what would you do?
• What decisions do you find easy to make?
• What decisions do you find difficult to make?
• What support and training do you require?
• Which subjects did you enjoy in your degree?
• Which subjects did you do badly in at university and why?
• What would you have done had you not become a lawyer?
• Are you a member of any clubs or charities?
• What activities do you participate in outside of work?
• How do you manage your work/life balance?
• Describe a time where you had to make a difficult decision between your personal and professional life?
• Do you prefer to manage yourself or to be managed?
• Have you had a pyschometric test? What were the results? Do you consider them to be a fair description of your ability and potential?

Your career

• Why do you want to be a lawyer?
• Where do you see yourself in 5 or 10 years time?
• What goals have you set for your career?
• What are the most important rewards to you in your career?
• Would you be willing to branch out into any other areas of law if required?
• Why move away from practice to an in house role?
• How much pro bono work do you do?
• Would you want to do legal aid work? If not, why not?
• What do you think about partnership prospects in the future?
• We are not willing to give partnership prospects, what are your views on that?
• Have you had any other interviews?
• What criteria are you using to choose companies to interview with?
• What excites you most about moving to our company?
• Why move from your current position to working in-house?
• When was your last performance appraisal and in what did you over perform and under perform?

Your successes and failures

• Do your academic achievements accurately reflect your ability and effort?
• What is your major achievement?
• What are your strengths?
• What are your weaknesses?
• Give an example of a situation where you took a risk to achieve a goal. What was the outcome?
• Sometimes it is easy to get out of your depth. Describe a situation where you had to request help or assistance on a project.

Your abilities as a team player

• What is your contribution to a team?
• Describe a team experience you found disappointing? With hindsight, what could you have done to change the outcome?

Your management skills

• How do you motivate a team?
• How do you get the best out of people?
• As a manager, you have made or implemented an unpopular decision - how do you stop this affecting morale?
• In the future, would you be willing to manage one of our offices? What additional skills would you need to do this?
• What sort of management skills do you have?
• What makes a successful manager or team leader?

Situational questions

• How would you handle a situation where a new idea or policy you were introducing was met with resistance?
• Give me an example of a time you were under stress and how you handled it?
• Give me an example of an important goal which you had set in the past and about your success in reaching it.
• Describe a time where you handled a situation badly and how has that changed how you would approach that situation should it arise again?
• How would you handle it if you believed strongly in a recommendation you made in a meeting but your colleagues shot it down?
• Describe a recent event at work which you would describe as a real learning experience? What di you learn from it?
• How would you deal with a colleague at work with whom you seem to be unable to build a working relationship?
• How would you handle a situation where two colleagues were embroiled in a conflict that kept the team from completing its task?
• What would you do if the priorities of a project you were working on changed suddenly?
• A colleague tells you, in confidence, they plan to call in sick while actually going on holiday, what would you do and why?
• Tell me about the most frustrating person you've had to work with and how you managed to create a working relationship with them?
• Describe a situation where you were able to have a positive influence on the actions of others.
• You say that you like gathering and researching information, where do you go to get your information, when was the last time you went there, what is the major industry news today?

Questions and Tips for Lawyers

• What do you think are the major problems/opportunities facing the legal industry?
• What, in your opinion, are the key factors in building and maintaining client relationships?
• Have you ever attended a court hearing or employment tribunal? If so, what was your role and what was the outcome?
• How much preparation on files for trial do you do? How much do you expect Counsel to do?
• Are you willing to do after-hour work?
• How do you stand on equal opportunities?
• Have you ever been involved, paid or unpaid, with the services of the voluntary sector?
• What are your views on fees and charging structures? Are billable hours productive?
• Do you work best in a lockstep or meritocratic environment?
• You are a banking lawyer, what is the overnight inter bank lending rate? What is the current interest lending rate? In a financing what is the most important aspect of the transaction?
• You are a corporate lawyer, let's discuss warranties and indemnities.

Be prepared to take a written test on a piece of legislation or commercial agreement that you are either very familiar with or one that is entirely alien. You may well face an interview asking you to explain your advice. Both are designed to test you under pressure and to see the extent of your skills of analysis, interpretation and the clarity of your advice.