Law Firm Interview Tips

SUMMARY:
In today's competitive legal job market, acing your attorney job interview is crucial to land the position you want. With countless qualified applicants vying for the same opportunities, you need to distinguish yourself from the crowd. This article will provide ten essential tips to help you prepare for and excel in your attorney job interview, boosting your chances of securing the job. By implementing these strategies, you can demonstrate your skills and expertise, leaving a lasting impression on potential employers. READ MORE >

Lawyers need to demonstrate strong, soft skills and legal expertise in the competitive law firm interview process. Candidates should be prepared with anecdotes highlighting their communication, teamwork, conflict resolution, and problem-solving abilities. In addition, they should practice active listening skills, maintain a professional demeanor, and ask thoughtful questions about the firm's culture. By effectively showcasing their soft skills and legal expertise during the interview process, candidates can increase their chances of becoming a valued members of a successful legal team. READ MORE >

SUMMARY:

Landing a job at a prestigious law firm can be challenging, but it's possible with the proper preparation and strategy. This article will guide you through the steps to master your law firm interview, so you can confidently showcase your skills and knowledge to potential employers. Our comprehensive guide covers everything from researching the firm to navigating tough questions and following up after the interview. By following these tips and strategies, you'll be well on your way to a successful career in law. READ MORE >

Remember, you are primarily the one who is being evaluated so it is important to look your best. Dressing in a suit will also make you feel more professional and polished. It also shows your interviewers that you are taking their meeting seriously and that you respect their time. READ MORE >

If you are interviewing with a firm that has a reputation for being more old-fashioned or stuffy, you may want to opt for a knee-length skirt suit. Many firms, however, including most of the firms on the West Coast, view classic pantsuits to be appropriate interview attire. Like men, I advise my female candidates to wear suits that are more neutral in nature. Black or navy is always a good choice, along with a solid collared shirt. READ MORE >

I would recommend not wearing any cologne or perfume to an interview. Some people are very sensitive to scents and not all people have the same tastes as to what smells good. READ MORE >

Move to a New Location. As a legal recruiter, some of the easiest placements for me to make occur when an attorney is moving to another state or geographic location. Generally, when an attorney is moving to a new location, they can justify the move by explaining: (1) they are moving to be closer to their family, or (2) they want to be in a bigger city with more opportunities. Each of these explanations are great because they portray strength—everyone respects someone who wants to be closer to their family and employers in big cities respect people trying to relocate there. READ MORE >

Find New Types of Employers to Sell Your Talent to. You can sell your services not just to law firms but to the government, in-house, to law schools, to public interest employers and more. I’ve seen attorneys making $250,000 a year take a job for $30,000 a year from a public interest organization—and these were competitive jobs and no one certainly thought the person was on their way down. One way to keep moving up is to seek a new employer where you will have the opportunity to step off your current S-curve and begin a new one—not as an associate or partner, but as an in-house counsel, law professor, or something else. READ MORE >

Fit is incredibly important to employers. You need to appear to be a person who’ll fit in. READ MORE >

After several years of practice, the same four factors identified previously become increasingly important in firms’ evaluations of your relative strengths. In addition, firms become more concerned with your potential to make partner and your business-generation abilities. The elevation of these criteria into a firm’s evaluation of you assumes an importance that far outweighs concerns about grades with probably 99% of all American law firms. READ MORE >

Show them that you have researched the cost of living, the major attractions, a little history, and some neighborhoods where you might like to live. This goes a really long way towards getting an in-person interview, because it shows that you are serious about their city. READ MORE >

What is inside of you, what you feel and believe may be entirely different from what the rest of the world is telling you. If you have a strong sense of self, you can overcome nearly any obstacle out there without being concerned with anything – except for what is inside of you, what you feel, and what you believe. We all think about ourselves and our lives in a certain way, and this ultimately ends up controlling the future of our lives. Our beliefs about ourselves have a tremendous amount to do with what ends up happening to us, what we accomplish, and the quality of our life. READ MORE >

My sense of who I was and what I could achieve was simply not at a high level. At some point, however, based on encouragement from my father, teachers, and others, I began to develop a stronger sense of self – a sense of self that encouraged me to aim high in my life and to believe that I was capable of incredible things. Over time, this sense of self began to stick, and it continued to grow for me. A strong sense of self is the most important possible thing you can possess, and developing a strong sense of self will change your life. READ MORE >

Regardless of your qualifications, however, hard skills alone are never sufficient to get you a job. An interview is rarely about your technical skills and experience, but rather about something else entirely: your “soft skills.” Soft skills have to do with your personality and will be very much on an interviewer’s mind: READ MORE >

If you are a partner candidate, you may already know the people who are interviewing you. At the screening stage, they will have only one main concern: How much business can you bring with you? Your situation is quite different from that of junior and senior associates, who must concentrate almost exclusively on selling their winning personalities and strong talents. As a partner candidate, you must be ready to give an accurate estimate of the number of clients you can bring with you and convince your interviewers that these clients will fit in well with the new firm’s practice environment. READ MORE >

LOS ANGELES - The associate salary wars got off to a slow start this year, but now they are officially under way. READ MORE >

Considering the landscape of news, gossip, and reviews that has influenced the world of associates and partners in 2006-2007, one thing remains certain: the ongoing salary war undertaken by law firms throughout the U.S. has changed the playing field (and future) of attorneys in this country. Perhaps more so, it has ushered in changes in business models and visions for a number of area law firms. READ MORE >

Question

I'm thinking of making a move to another firm that will give me a drop in pay, but I feel it will be less stressful. In your experience, is a 20% pay cut worth it if I end up happier? READ MORE >