How to Prepare for a Legal Job Interview: A Practical Guide

Getting an interview is an achievement.

It means an employer has already seen something in your application that interests them. The interview is your opportunity to build on that first impression and help them understand what you could bring to the role.

That does not mean you need to have a perfect answer to every question.

Good interview preparation is about understanding the opportunity, thinking carefully about your experience and being ready to have a professional conversation about why you want the job.

Whether you are applying for your first legal role, an apprenticeship, a paralegal position or the next step in your career, there are some practical things you can do to prepare.

Start with the job advert

Before trying to predict interview questions, go back to the job description.

Read it carefully.

Look for the things the employer repeatedly emphasises.

These might include:

• communication
• attention to detail
• organisation
• client service
• teamwork
• problem solving
• confidentiality
• commercial awareness
• working under pressure
• managing competing priorities

The exact requirements will depend on the role.

Your preparation should be based on what this particular employer is looking for rather than a generic list of interview questions.

Ask yourself:

What does this employer need the successful person to be able to do?

Then consider where you can show evidence of those qualities.

Research the organisation

You should be able to explain why you want to work for the organisation you are interviewing with.

That means doing more than reading the homepage five minutes before the interview.

Find out what you reasonably can about:

• what the organisation does
• the areas of law it works in
• who its clients are
• where it operates
• the services it provides
• its values and culture
• recent developments that may be relevant
• the team or department you are hoping to join

If you are interviewing with a law firm, look at its practice areas.

If you are applying to an in-house legal team, try to understand the organisation and the sector in which it operates.

If it is an apprenticeship, understand both the employment opportunity and the training involved.

You do not need to memorise the website.

You are trying to understand where you would be working and why the opportunity appeals to you.

Know your own application

Anything you have put on your CV or application form may become part of the interview.

Read your application again before the interview.

Be ready to talk about:

• previous jobs
• work experience
• qualifications
• volunteering
• projects
• responsibilities
• achievements
• career changes
• periods when you were not working or studying

You should never find yourself surprised by something you wrote on your own CV.

Think about the experiences that best demonstrate what the employer is looking for.

They do not all have to come from legal work.

A customer service job can demonstrate communication and professionalism.

Caring responsibilities can develop organisation and resilience.

Volunteering can provide examples of teamwork and responsibility.

University, college and school activities can also provide useful evidence.

What matters is whether the example helps answer the question.

Prepare examples, not scripts

It is useful to prepare for common questions.

It is less useful to memorise complete answers word for word.

Over-rehearsed answers can become difficult to adapt when an interviewer asks something slightly different from the question you expected.

Instead, prepare a bank of examples.

Think about times when you have:

• worked successfully as part of a team
• dealt with a difficult situation
• solved a problem
• managed competing deadlines
• communicated something clearly
• taken responsibility
• made a mistake and learned from it
• dealt professionally with another person
• adapted when circumstances changed
• achieved something you are proud of

You can then select the most appropriate example for the question you are actually asked.

Use STAR to structure competency answers

Competency questions often begin with phrases such as:

Tell me about a time when…

Give me an example of…

Describe a situation where…

A useful way to structure these answers is STAR:

• Situation: briefly explain the context.
• Task: explain what you needed to achieve.
• Action: describe what you personally did.
• Result: explain what happened and, where relevant, what you learned.

The Action is particularly important.

An interviewer needs to understand your contribution.

If you spend most of the answer explaining what “we” did, it can become difficult to tell what you actually did.

You can acknowledge the team while still being clear about your own actions and decisions.

Be ready to explain why law

If you are at an early stage in your legal career, you may be asked why you want to work in law.

Avoid giving the answer you think a lawyer is supposed to give.

Think about your actual motivation.

Perhaps you enjoy analysing problems.

Perhaps you have experience in a particular sector.

Perhaps working with clients appeals to you.

Perhaps an existing role introduced you to legal work and you now want to progress.

Perhaps you are changing career and can see how your existing skills transfer into law.

A specific, genuine answer is usually more convincing than a polished answer that could have been given by anybody.

Be ready to explain why this role

“Why do you want this job?” is not quite the same question as “Why do you want to work in law?”

Your answer should connect:

you + the role + the organisation

What interests you about the work?

Why does this stage of your career make sense?

What could you contribute?

What could you learn?

Why this employer rather than simply any employer offering a legal job?

You do not need to flatter the interviewer.

You do need to demonstrate that you have thought about the decision.

Think about commercial and professional awareness

Depending on the role, an employer may want to know whether you understand the environment in which legal services are delivered.

For some positions, particularly within commercial practice, that may include commercial awareness.

You might be expected to discuss developments affecting:

• clients
• a particular industry
• legal services
• regulation
• technology
• the economy
• the organisation itself

The objective is not necessarily to prove that you know everything happening in the legal world.

It is to demonstrate curiosity and an ability to think about why developments matter.

If you discuss a news story or legal development, go beyond describing it.

Ask:

Why does this matter to this organisation or its clients?

That is where the useful analysis begins.

Prepare for situational questions

Legal employers may also ask what you would do in a hypothetical situation.

For example:

What would you do if you had several urgent pieces of work with competing deadlines?

What would you do if you noticed a mistake?

How would you respond to a difficult client?

What would you do if you were asked to do something you did not understand?

These questions are often testing judgement rather than looking for a clever answer.

Think about principles such as:

• communicating early
• clarifying instructions
• understanding priorities
• protecting confidentiality
• recognising the limits of your own knowledge
• asking for appropriate supervision
• acting professionally
• escalating problems where necessary

Do not feel that you need to pretend you could handle every situation alone.

Knowing when to ask for help can itself demonstrate good judgement.

Do not be frightened of saying “I don’t know”

An interview is not an examination of everything you have ever learned.

There may be a question you cannot immediately answer.

Do not panic.

You can ask for clarification.

You can take a moment to think.

If you genuinely do not know something, it can be better to acknowledge that than to invent an answer.

Depending on the question, you may be able to explain how you would find out or how you would approach the problem.

How you respond when you are uncertain can tell an interviewer something useful about you.

Prepare for online interviews

Many interviews now take place by video.

The underlying preparation is the same, but there are a few additional things worth checking.

Before the interview:

• test your camera and microphone
• check the joining link
• make sure your device is charged or connected to power
• find somewhere as quiet as reasonably possible
• position yourself somewhere you can be seen clearly
• close unnecessary applications and notifications
• have the interviewer’s contact details available in case the technology fails
• join or be ready a few minutes early

You can have brief prompts nearby, but avoid reading complete answers from the screen.

The aim is still to have a conversation.

Ask for adjustments if you need them

If you need an adjustment in order to participate properly in the recruitment process, raise this with the employer or recruiter in advance where possible.

The purpose is to give you an appropriate opportunity to take part in the process.

You do not need to apologise for asking for something that enables you to participate effectively.

Think about the questions you want to ask

Near the end of many interviews, you will be invited to ask questions.

Prepare some.

Good questions can help you decide whether the opportunity is right for you as well as demonstrate that you have thought seriously about the role.

Depending on the job, you might ask:

• What would you expect the successful candidate to achieve in their first few months?
• What does a typical day or week look like?
• How is work allocated within the team?
• What support or supervision is available?
• What opportunities are there to develop?
• What qualities help somebody succeed in this team?
• How would you describe the working culture?
• What are the team’s priorities at the moment?
• What are the next stages in the recruitment process?

Avoid asking something simply because you feel you must ask a question.

Listen during the interview.

Something the interviewer says may lead to a much better question than the one you prepared.

If you are applying for an apprenticeship

An apprenticeship interview is a job interview as well as an opportunity to discuss learning.

The employer is considering whether they want you as an employee.

Be ready to talk about why you want both parts of the opportunity.

Think about:

• why you want to begin or develop a legal career
• why an apprenticeship suits you
• what interests you about the employer
• how you will approach working and studying together
• examples of commitment and reliability
• how you manage your time
• what you hope to learn from the workplace

You are not expected to arrive as a finished legal professional.

An apprenticeship exists partly because you are there to develop.

Showing curiosity, commitment and a willingness to learn can be extremely important.

If this is your first legal interview

Not having years of legal experience does not mean you have nothing to talk about.

Employers recruiting for entry-level roles know they are recruiting people at the beginning of their careers.

Look at what you have done already.

You may have experience from:

• retail
• hospitality
• administration
• customer service
• care work
• volunteering
• study
• sport
• community activities
• caring responsibilities
• previous careers

The question is not simply:

Have you already worked in a law firm?

It is:

What have your experiences taught you, and which of those skills can you bring into this role?

On the day

Give yourself enough time.

Check where you are going or how you are joining.

Have what you need with you.

Listen carefully to each question.

If you need a moment to think, take one.

Answer the question that was actually asked rather than the one you hoped would be asked.

Be professional, but allow the interviewer to meet you as a person.

You do not need to perform a different personality because you are attending a legal interview.

After the interview

When the interview is finished, take a few minutes to make notes while you still remember it.

What questions were you asked?

Which answers felt strong?

Where did you struggle?

What would you do differently next time?

If you are unsuccessful, feedback can be useful if the employer is able to provide it.

An unsuccessful interview is disappointing, but it can still give you useful information for the next opportunity.

Interviewing is a skill.

Like most skills, it improves with preparation, practice and experience.

Preparation is about confidence, not perfection

The aim of interview preparation is not to predict every possible question.

It is to arrive knowing:

• what role you have applied for
• what the employer is looking for
• why you want the opportunity
• what examples demonstrate your strengths
• what you would like to know about the organisation

You may still feel nervous.

That is normal.

Preparation does not necessarily remove nerves, but it gives you something solid to rely on when the conversation begins.

A legal career can start in many different ways.

Whatever stage you are at, an interview is an opportunity to explain where you have come from, what you can contribute and where you would like to go next.