This is an article in a series of articles called Your Ultimate Guide to Law Student Recruitment. Don’t forget to read the previous article here: Scheduling Your Law Firm Interviews
Introduction
Once you’ve strategically scheduled your law firm interviews, it’s time to prepare for them. Preparing for your interviews takes a lot of the guesswork out of the interview process so you can minimize stress and be more confident on the day of your interviews to help you make a good impression and perform well. This is why preparing for your law firm interviews is essential. And this involves a lot more than just reviewing your resume. It involves research, planning, mock interviews and so much more! To help you with your preparation, I’ve created a guide below based on my own experience with law firm interviews during the law student recruit. It includes tips on things you should do and things you should avoid while preparing for your interviews.
Research the Firm and Your Interviewers
Take the time to understand the law firm that offered you an interview. Earlier in the law student recruit, you did some initial research to figure out which firms to apply to. At this stage, you should conduct a more fulsome research on the law firm’s work culture, practice areas, and any recent developments. Review the firm’s website and read a couple of their most recent news articles or blogs. This research should give you a sense of what the law firm is all about and give you some points to talk about during your interview.
In addition to researching the firm as a whole, you should conduct research on your interviewers. If you read my previous blogs, you should have asked and found out who your interviewers will be while scheduling your interviews with the recruiter. If you don’t know who your interviewers are, make an effort to find out. See if you can send a quick email requesting this information. Once you know who your interviewers are, look them up on the law firm’s website and online. Read their professional biography on the firm’s website (if they have one) and any other online presence e.g. an article they wrote. Take notes about their areas of specialty, any notable work they have done, interests, etc. Try to incorporate this information that you gather in your comments or questions during the interview. This will show that you’ve prepared for the interview and help you connect with your interviewers.
Know Your Resume and Cover Letter Inside Out
Review your resume, cover letter, and other documents. You should be able to speak confidently about every detail in those application materials. Be ready to talk about your work experience, volunteer experience, academic achievements, etc. Here are some things to keep in mind as you review your materials:
- Prepare Stories. For each position or experience that you mentioned in your resume, have a brief story prepared that highlights a skill that you gained, a challenge you overcame, or a lesson that you learned. Remember to use the STAR method. That way, if they ask you “can you tell me a little bit about x” then you won’t stumble and you’ll have an answer prepared without having to think too long about it. This will show preparedness and help you stand out.
- Don’t forget to review all of your documents including reference letters. Remember that interviewers will review more than just your resume. Some interviewers will ask you about your reference letters or any specific projects you’ve mentioned in any of your application materials. In one of my interviews, I was asked about a project that one of my references mentioned in my reference letter. It was about a paper that I had written in a class for a professor who I used as a reference. I did not review that reference letter in great detail and I completely forgot what the paper that I had written for that class was about and I wasn’t able to answer the question properly. It was a very awkward and embarrassing moment as I sat there in silence trying to remember what my arguments were in my paper as my interviewers stared on. You don’t want to be in that position so learn from my mistake and review EVERYTHING.
Review Common Law Firm Interview Questions
While every law firm is unique, some questions tend to be quite standard. Especially for private law firm interviews. For example:
- Why do you want to work at this firm?
- Why law?
- How is law school going so far?
- What makes you qualified for this position?
- Tell us about a time that you demonstrated x.
You should review these questions and try to prepare responses that highlight your skills, work ethic, and how you would be a good fit for the firm. That said, try to just have a general idea of how you would answer the question. Avoid having and memorizing a scripted answer as that can sound robotic and ingenuine.
Do Practice Interviews
Whether it’s by yourself in front of a mirror, with a colleague, a friend or in a more structured mock interview setting with your law school’s career services or law student group, you should conduct practice interviews. Like they always say, nothing beats experience so doing practice interviews can be a really helpful way to prepare for your actual law firm interviews.
Obviously, it’s great to practice by yourself in front of a mirror or even by recording yourself, but it’s always better to do practice interviews under simulated law firm interview conditions. This means you should try to do your practice interviews in the same format and under the same conditions as the real interview.
For virtual interviews, do a practice virtual interview. This would also be a good time to test your internet connection, camera and microphone beforehand. And familiarize yourself with the interview platform e.g. Zoom, WebEx, Microsoft Teams, etc.
For in-person interviews, do a practice in-person interview. Meet someone in a quite setting, and treat it like it’s an actual interview. This means dressing the part, going up to the person and shaking their hand, making small talk, staying professional, etc. Roleplay your way to success (lol).
The point of a practice interview is to identify any nervous ticks that you have, like speaking too fast or swaying in your chair or fidgeting, and making efforts to minimize them. Practice interviews will also help you determine what are your areas of improvement. You can work on body language, eye contact, speaking clearly at a good volume, refining your interview answers and more. Now, if you don’t quite get it right the first time, that’s okay. It takes years to control your nervous habits and master interview performance so don’t expect to be perfect after just a few tries. Just try your best.
Plan Logistics in Advance
Whether your interview is virtual or in-person, planning the logistics of your law firm interviews in advance will help reduce stress on the day of. Here are things to keep in mind when planning logistics:
Virtual Interviews
- Setup: Choose a clean, space with good lighting to conduct your interview. Check your background and make sure there isn’t anything distracting. If you’re doing the interview in your bedroom and your bedroom or closet is in view, make your bed and clean up your closet.
- Technical Prep: Download and test the required interview platform (Zoom, Teams, WebEx, etc.) and ensure your camera, microphone, and internet connection are working.
- Minimize Interruptions: Let people around you know about your interview so you can prevent any interruptions. It’s the worst when you’re in the middle of answering an interview question and someone comes into the room and it throws you off your game. Trust me, it’s happened to me and plenty of people I know.
In-Person Interviews
- Travel: Are you driving or commuting to your interview? Do a test run to estimate travel time, locate parking, and identify the exact building and floor where the interview will be held. Seriously. One day, just go visit the law firm or wherever your interview is going to be. And don’t just stay in your car or look at the building on foot. Physically enter the place, find out the elevator you have to take, and figure out any potential issues e.g. do you need to ask a security guard to access the floor without a key card?? Call me paranoid but I’d rather be prepared than to run late on the day of because I didn’t know which hallway to take or how to access the building.
- What to Wear: Make sure to dress professionally and prepare what you’re going to wear the night before (i.e. pick out the shirt or blouse you’re going to wear with your suit, steam out any wrinkles, polish your shoes, etc.).
- Shoes: A special note for shoes. Make sure whatever you’re wearing is comfortable. This means, break in your shoes if they’re new. For the ladies, if you’re wearing heels, consider bringing a back up pair of sneakers and some band-aids. You will be doing a lot of walking, especially if you have multiple in-person interviews. I say this from experience, you will likely get blisters walking around from one interview to another and it sucks so break in those shoes or have a comfy pair to change into in between interviews!!!
Conclusion
Law firm interviews are hella competitive and thorough preparation can give you a leg up. By researching the firm, practicing your responses, and planning logistics in advance, you’ll project confidence and professionalism during your law firm interview. I hope that what I write here is helpful to you and wish you the best of luck on those interviews!
This is an article in a series of articles called Your Ultimate Guide to Law Student Recruitment.
Next article: Common Law Firm Interview Questions
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