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Let’s set the scene…you’ve been called into an interview by your dream firm with a leading partner in the industry. You’re nervous, excited, and frantically googling tips to help you not crash and burn – not to worry, I’ve detailed 5 tips below to help you feel much more confident walking into/logging onto the interview.
First things first, the key is to remember that the partner(s) interviewing you have already seen, and been impressed by, your CV –it’s what got you the interview in the first place. They know about your stellar academic background and that you’re currently doing some great work at a top tier firm. Your job in this interview is simply to affirm their assumptions that you’ll be a good fit for their team. Ensuring that this thought stays in the back of your mind should give you a boost of confidence before the interview even starts.
“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail” – Benjamin Franklin
let’s take a look at 5 tips to help you prepare:
1. Research the Firm & the Partner
Although this is a cliché, it is extremely important – not only to prove to the interviewee(s) that you’re genuinely interested and taking this process seriously, but it’ll help you find some natural talking points to bring up. Some common questions that they’ll ask you might be “Why do you want to work for us?” or “Why do you want to leave your current firm?”. With your research, you can easily answer these questions with the confidence that you know what you’re talking about. I also want to note that the key in answering any question about why you’re leaving your current firm is to not completely slate your current team/the partner in your team, but to focus on what about your dream firm is attracting you away.
- Do they have a larger team, and do you enjoy collaborating with others?
- Have you personally heard good things about the firm’s culture?
- Is the firm more international and you’re looking to do more international work/have opportunities for secondments?
- Is the team high performing and do you want to work with, and learn from, the best?
2. Understand your Motivations
As we all know, working as a lawyer at the top level is no mean feat; the partner(s) interviewing you will want to know that you’re motivated to work hard and be successful, alongside the rest of the team. Be clear and genuine when answering questions about motivation; play on your personal life experience where relevant. Here are a few things to think about:
- Do you gain satisfaction from working on a complex project and seeing it through to the end?
- Are you motivated by visual results i.e. seeing media posts about the deals/cases that you’re working hard on behind the scenes?
- Do you have a non-conventional background to the average lawyer and are determined to be successful for yourself and your family?
3. Get Technical
Legal interviews can usually be categorised as one of two kinds: a ‘get to know you’ interview and a more ‘technical’ interview. For law, ‘technical’ just means that the partner(s) will ask you question after question about specific deals/cases that you’ve worked on, and expect you to know them like the back of your hand. This is nothing to panic about.
As I mentioned earlier, the interviewee(s) has already seen your CV and will ask you about the deals/cases that you’ve specified. During your preparation, go over these deals and make sure that you know exactly what happened and the specifics of your contribution. Keep it simple and don’t over complicate things for yourself.
When speaking about a deal/case it’s a good idea to start with the STAR method. This will ensure that all bases are covered before you’re asked any further questions:
- Situation. What was happening with your client?
- Task. What did the client instruct you to do?
- Action. What exactly did you do when given the task?
- Result. What happened? What positive effect did you have? What happened after?
4. Don’t Forget the Soft Skills
It’s easy to forget about selling your soft skills when questions get more technical, but they’re very easy to slip into an answer. When answering questions try and remember to speak briefly about your soft and transferrable skills and where you’ve used them in the past. Here are a few skills that could be good to bring up:
- Professional
- Good Communicator
- Team Player
- Organised
- Relationship Builder
- Independent/Strong Initiative
- Resilient/Calm Under Pressure
- Good Judgement
Read more - SRA core competencies to be a successful solicitor
5. Interview Them Back!
Finally, the tip that is a game changer for many. As much as a legal interview is for the firm to find out if you’d be a good fit for them, it’s also for you to find out if the firm would be a good fit for you. This means that you should never be afraid to ask whatever questions you need to be answered before progressing in the process/accepting the role (NB the only thing I’d avoid is salary talk, especially early on).
One thing that lawyers do is to leave all their questions until the end; doing this you run the risk of a) running out of time, or b) getting to the end of the interview with nothing left to ask as the partner(s) answered everything. Ask your questions throughout, as they naturally arise; this shows that you’re both interested and engaged in the conversation and is a huge green flag to the interviewee(s).
Hopefully, you’re now ready to put your best foot forward and tackle that interview. Take a deep breath, prepare well, and remember that you’ve worked extremely hard to get to this point in your career. You’ve already impressed on paper; this is just a chance to prove that you are who you say you are. Good luck!
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