45 of the Worst Possible Questions Attorneys and Law Students Can Ask in Interviews

Transcript

[00:00:00] I'm going to start, off real quickly  just talk to you a little bit about what we're doing today. the first thing I'm doing is I will do the presentation out. the worst questions to ask in an interview, which I is an important issue, because the main thing is when an employer is bringing you in, they do want to hire you.

[00:00:17] And, so a lot of times people will ask questions that very quickly disqualify them from the job. And, I've been hiring for example, my business for recruiting jobs for over 20 years. And, you can, most people end up disqualifying themselves based on, the questions that they ask and that's, so it's the same thing with, law, for me to be honest.

[00:00:39] And so after we do this, presentation, then the next thing I'll be doing is taking questions. And I will take questions for, as long as anybody has questions. anything you want to ask questions about, either during the webinar questions that you have about the webinar or just general career questions, I'm also, happy to answer any questions.

[00:00:59] You [00:01:00] may have a buyer legal career. if you're just starting or along. you may have been, practicing any questions that you have more than happy to answer. Okay. So let's get started. the first thing is you need to realize this, the second you get an interview from an employer, the employer really does want to hire you.

[00:01:18] And, most people think that when they go into an interview, they have to convince the employer to hire them and and all these sorts of things. But honestly, you don't. the employer. really does want to hire you. and it takes a lot of time for them to interview people.

[00:01:31] It's it takes hours, that they could be billing. There's other things that the baby would probably much prefer to do. but they need help. And so they're, they're bringing you in and. When they're interviewing you, they're really asking three questions and there's a fourth question two, but the third, the three questions are, can you do the job, which your resume typically will show whether or not you can't, but then the next two questions are, can you be managed and will you do the job?

[00:01:57]long-term and I'm going to talk about [00:02:00] those today, but this is really, those three questions are really the most important, and then there's. There's a fourth question, which is things like, which is, do we like you? And, do we, like you, really comes down to, other aspects of your background, that we can, we'll talk about as well.

[00:02:16] But anytime you ask a question during an interview, you should keep in mind, that, the employer is. really evaluating you, through those sorts of questions, the questions that you ask and how they relate to that and getting even one of these wrong, can be fatal.

[00:02:31]you can lose jobs, based on, how your, ask the question and whether or not, question shows you can't do the job or can't be managed, can do the job long-term  that question may make them that life to you in questions that make them not like you, by the way are very interesting, because you could ask a question about politics.

[00:02:47] You could ask a question about,  pro bono, all sorts of things that will get you in trouble very quickly.  when people ask questions, they may not even realize that they're asking questions. and th the [00:03:00] idea when you go into any interview is, you don't need all this information about the employer, before, you, Get a job.

[00:03:08]your objective really is to get the job first. And if you're going to ask questions, you should ask the right questions, that are going to help you get the job. But your only objective in an interview is to get the job. You really do not know. any other, objective that's that important.

[00:03:21]you need to make sure that you're doing everything you can to get the job and. and you may have some of the questions I'm going to cover right now. you may have some of these questions that you want to ask, but you really want to make sure you get the job, before asking any of these and asking these questions, is really going to set the wrongness.

[00:03:37]And when you interviewing anytime, you're thinking of a question that you may want to ask. one of the most important things you can do is put yourself and, the potential employer shoes. employers have a lot of options by the way, when they're hiring people, many people, believe that they don't.

[00:03:54] And so they ask all sorts of questions  then ends up really disqualifying selves. And, if you ask [00:04:00] questions that turn off an employer, this is going to create all sorts of issues and. and there's no reason to, any job that you're interviewing for is typically going to have lots of applicants or lots of people that the employer can hire.

[00:04:12] And in most cases, the person that they do hire is going to be the person that doesn't rub them the wrong way. So the first, less questions is really questions that show you can't do the job and. Doing the job just means that, you have the ability, the skills and the talents to do the work.

[00:04:30] really that just means, that you can perform, the way you're supposed to. th the firm's going to want you in that office at a certain time. they're going to want you to be able to get assignments done on time. They're going to expect you to have good legal skills.

[00:04:42] And if you ask any questions that kind of show something different, it very quickly, could disqualify you  your objective really needs to be not to ask questions that show, you might not be able to do the job. So one of the first types of questions is questions about working from home.

[00:04:59] And this is a [00:05:00] question that a lot of people, will ask and they'll ask things about how important FaceTime is. they'll ask, are they allowed to work at home if they get their assignments done? And sometimes they'll just even ask it, in a kind of a roundabout way, do a lot of attorneys work at home, so forth, and once you bring this up, you're really showing the employer that's important to you.

[00:05:19] that, that's something that, you want to get really, that you want to do. And unfortunately, any type of, reasons to work at homicide, for most employers, they do want you in the office to answer questions. they want you in the office to discuss things face to face.

[00:05:36]that's just important to them.  this is why, law firms, rent, offices, and so forth, they have secretary why they have receptionists, why they have libraries and why they have all these different things there.  once you pass that question, the employer is going to assume that, half a year will be missing.

[00:05:53] So you're really only half of you can do the job, your presence, and. and that, and I hate to say this cause I know a lot of people work [00:06:00] at home and I'm not, saying that there's necessarily anything wrong with it, but for the majority of employers, meaning more than 50%, it is very important for them that you're, working, in an office and, doing your job and that's just what the job is for them.

[00:06:14] it's not enough, a lot of people assume that, just being able to do the work, meaning get assignments done on time and so forth is what's important. And, but they really do want your presence  people. That asks these questions about, working from home.

[00:06:29] Honestly, they disqualify themselves all the time. because it's just something you just can't say. And I've got so many stories about, I have so many stories about attorneys that have demanded to work at home a couple of days a week. And some of them even had other jobs. If you can believe it.

[00:06:46]I had one guy that was in, that had been an engineer all through law school, took a job at a major New York law firm, in their Palo Alto office and was still an engineer collecting a salary of a hundred, $130,000 a year or something well making over [00:07:00] $200,000 as an attorney. And he used to work in at home time to what, working home time to go into the office at his other job and who knows what this guy was doing.

[00:07:08] But. companies like Yahoo, their performance went down dramatically from work. all these, it's just not a good thing to bring up, so you need to be careful, another, and that doesn't mean that you can't work at home when you get there. And it doesn't mean that there's anything wrong with working at home.

[00:07:23] And personally, I think a lot of people get a lot more accomplished. So I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with working at home, but most employers, would rather. bring it up themselves and not have you, get them. Okay. There's also a lot of questions, and that people ask about hours and, that's also something you shouldn't bring up.

[00:07:45]if you ask how many hours your average associate builds or do attorneys work on the weekends, you just shouldn't ask those sorts of questions. And, if you ask about hours, then the interviewer is just going to concern assume, you're concerned about hours and. and law firms make [00:08:00] money by, you billing a lot of hours.

[00:08:02] And once you ask about hours, they're gonna assume, that you're not willing to do what it takes to get the work done.  that it's going to be a concern for you. And if there's too many hours, you may leave  there's just, law firms operate businesses. they're like, ER, ropes, a client could come in with a very serious issue that could require you to work.

[00:08:19]24 hours straight. I once worked, came into work on a Wednesday and didn't leave until Sunday morning. Then I got home and fell asleep finally.  then the partner called and said she hadn't gotten a, an assignment that I'd sent her. And I guess the reason why was because they'd shut down the servers.

[00:08:34] To reset them and then it once a week. And so I was told to go back in the office. so if there's an emergency, you need to, and you need to work a lot of hours and you need to do filings and so forth. And law firms want soldiers. They want people that are just going to give it their all.

[00:08:48] And if you think about, like a war, issue, like if a country's going to war and it has a bunch of soldiers, if different soldiers decide they're not gonna, we're not gonna fight. that's a problem. So you can't [00:09:00] operate a law firm like that either and most employers don't want that.

[00:09:04]So once you ask about hours, they're going to assume that's a problem for you. It depends on how you frame the question, of course, but it's just not a good question to ask about, another, issue is questions indicate an eagerness to start. So if you're currently employed, Bad questions are things like housing.

[00:09:22] Could I start trying to make a decision quickly? how quickly are you deciding whom to hire? Anytime someone just asked me that kind of question in an interview. they've almost always been, people that have lost their job and have come to work for us. And it'd been problems, there as well. law firms have seen a lesson.

[00:09:41] The same things happen to many law firms in the past. many law firms, force will have laid people off lately. The law, they fire them, all sorts of things happen.  so people become very eager, to get jobs. And there's, I completely understand that, and also you have living expenses and so forth.

[00:09:59]but [00:10:00] law firms, when you go into the interview, they're looking for weaknesses and a weakness would be. asking about hours, asking about not willing to work at home, asking about, they, like that you may have had issues at your current firm or losing your job. there's nothing wrong with losing a job.

[00:10:15] And frankly, most attorneys lose jobs at some point in their career. remember that most law firms have a choice of who to hire and when law firms let people go, they do whatever they can to hold on to the most valuable people. But, if they will let people go that don't necessarily. meet with our expectations.

[00:10:31] There's an interesting book that just came out by, Reed Hastings, the founder of, Netflix. And, he talks about, in his book that, you know, in 2001 or something like there in 1999, I don't remember if there was, or 2002, maybe there was a. a big.com bust. I think that was in 2000.  so he had to lay off 30% of his staff and they let the people go that they perceive were making the most problems and creating the most [00:11:00] issues.

[00:11:00] when they left those people go, the productivity of the company and how well things were doing, and everyone was actually much happier. so the point is that, sometimes low performers can drag everyone down and that's a problem.  and that's something that employers, if they feel like you're too eager to start to feel like you could be at low, a low performer.

[00:11:18]there's all sorts of reasons of you could lose a job and it doesn't necessarily mean it's you, but you just need to be cognizant of the way that law firms are thinking. And if you appear too eager to get a position, they're also gonna lose interest. They want to feel like they're chasing you and they're getting something special.

[00:11:34] And that's something that all law firms want. they want to feel like they're desirable. They got something, that was very difficult to get if they hire you and that sort of. Okay. So another big one is questions about doing other types of work than you're being interviewed for. So when a corporate market is slow, and people that are corporate attorneys may want to go into litigation or litigators may want to go into corporate.

[00:11:59] When a corporate [00:12:00] market's doing well, or corporate attorneys may get interested. They may know a friend that went into in house that was a. did, data privacy and got this great job,  then they decided they want to do, IP or data privacy work. And so people will always go into interview.

[00:12:15] So a lot of times with other objectives and doing what they're being interviewed for.  it's just, it's not a good idea. Employers are hiring you to do one thing. That's on your that's on your resume. If they want to hire a different type of attorney, they will go after an advertise for that different type of attorney.

[00:12:30] And this is something you need to remember. You can't reasonably expect most employers to hire just because you have good law firm experience, or you went to a good law school. If you want to switch practice areas. that's insane. Think about it from the employer's point of view. typically when people switch practice areas, they're switching, they're going to have issues with a new practice area too.

[00:12:49] So it's just, not good. So 1999, when the.com boom was taken up, I was a litigator and I was interviewing with, law firms  people with corporate experience over these stories, like in the [00:13:00] legal newspapers every day about. getting people, getting stock options and becoming millionaires, there was just tons and tons of news out there about this.

[00:13:07] And it was something that, I also want him to be part of  so I wanted to, I decided that I also wanted to get corporate work and then I'd even developed corporate business. I had a. No three or four good size and that good size. But I was generating much more than my salary, and work and business  I thought I could take that to a new firm and, but when I asked about this, law firms realized it wouldn't be smart to hire me because I'm litigated.

[00:13:31] Why would you hire. A litigator who's got all these corporate clients doing corporate work. It didn't make any sense. So that's, you can't do the job.  anytime I brought that up, the fact that I wanted to do corporate work law firms just weren't interested. employers need, people with employers that have openings seen a certain type of attorney.

[00:13:49] So if a law firms interviewing you to be. Corporate attorney. That's what you need to be. if they're in law firms interviewing to be a litigator, they don't want to hear about you wanting you to corporate work.  a lot of attorneys will go out on interviews [00:14:00] and, they'll ask questions about doing other types of work  that just doesn't work.

[00:14:04]you can't, do that  so you it'll disqualify herself and it was just, it's not a good idea and people do it all the time and. and you have to get into a firm and establish yourself and then try to get other types of work. In most cases, before they will hire, I have seen firms hire people in different practice areas before.

[00:14:23]but it's very rare. I had one guy that I was working with, not too long ago, that was first in his class. And. And, in a good law school and, wanting to switch practice areas, no one would talk to him, And, this was before I got involved, but when I got into bop, I was only able to, get them, interest from a couple of firms and they weren't even in the same state, So it's just, it's just firms just because you're a good student or you went to a good law school, you're working at a good firm. If you want to switch, practice areas or do something, or, do other types of work, they're not gonna be interested in here.  another question, that's bad to ask his question.

[00:14:56]you don't want to do a certain type of work. [00:15:00] some examples of these would be, if a law firm talks about that, it has a big document review. It's doing it. Someone asks. do you use contract trainers to document this? You shouldn't care, how they get the document previous done, when you're interviewing, that's their business and, if they want to charge out your rates to the client's willing to pay for it, then that's fine.

[00:15:17]I was talking to an attorney that was, a senior associate at a major firm making, Cod At least $400,000 a year and he was doing document reviews  that's because the client, wander the client, I think was a Volkswagen. the client wanted, major attorneys doing, very serious attorneys during these doctors.

[00:15:34] And that was their call. It wasn't the attorneys complicate them. another question would be, do you use junior attorneys to do discovery work? Another question might be, what, I'd be able to run my own deals or do depositions and trials, and I'm bringing up litigation and you can, there's equivalence and, every single practice area out there.

[00:15:50]regardless of what, practice here or your end, I'm sure there's lots of types of work that are going to be. Primarily done by, young attorneys, but you shouldn't [00:16:00] show asking those kind of questions will show a potential on willingness and law firms want to give people, work.

[00:16:06] That'll do it. A lot of times attorneys will want immediate responsibility and they'll complain that they're leaving the firm. because they're not getting, a certain type of responsibility and, litigators will say, I haven't gotten a chance to do trials, or they'll say, I have not getting depositions, or they'll say, corporate attorneys will say that I'm doing work.

[00:16:26] That's beneath me.  frankly I've worked with litigation partners and major law firms. the biggest law firms, top. 10, the 10 largest law firms in the country, and they've never done a trial and just, these, having these demands and so forth, is not necessarily, going to serve you all the time.

[00:16:45]so you need to be careful with that. another thing is, most law firms, will, they do expect you to pitch in and do whatever's required, to get work done for the clients. regardless of. whether, you do you want to do it? so if you start asking questions [00:17:00] that may indicate you're not interested in doing certain types of work, this is going to turn off clients very quickly.

[00:17:06]employers very quickly, legal employers. They want to hire people that are going to do the work, just get it done and not complain about it. I've worked with so many attorneys and in the past that, and our recruiters do too, that are, have been angry, that they're not getting the assignments and work.

[00:17:20] They feel this beneath them. And if you're unwilling to do the work you're given, you're just not going to be a good hire. you need to be, doing every type of work, that you're given.  another type of question of course, is, questions that show you might be nervous, dealing in a certain type of work.

[00:17:34] So some examples of this would be, do I have to clients while I need to go to court? and, there's all sorts of work and assignments that attorneys may be nervous about doing. And if you come across as having any reservations about doing a certain type of work, the law firms simply going to find.

[00:17:51]someone that doesn't have, the same reservations about doing that kind of work.  that's just what it is. you just can't, you can't act scared [00:18:00] to do certain types of work. You have to be, the soldier that's told to charge into the, the, people firing at them, you can't pull back.

[00:18:07] And then the second you look weak, the law firms just going to move on and hire someone that's not. you have to be very careful. another type of question that people ask is ones that show that they haven't read the, firm's website or publicly, related information about the firm.

[00:18:22] And. some questions might be, what type of transactions have you worked on? how many attorneys are at a certain practice area? And the attorneys will ask questions like this all the time. And these sorts of questions will show, that they didn't do their homework and that, maybe the job's not important enough to them, or maybe they just, they're not, they want to the homework when they get assignments from other people as well.

[00:18:43]if you're not prepared for an interview, it indicates, You're probably not going to be, preparing for important client matters either. And the law firms not going to like that.  another type of question that people ask are travel questions, and those are, will I be expected to travel?

[00:18:58] How often do attorneys travel [00:19:00] and there's nothing wrong with that. a lot of people have kids at home and can not travel. Some people just don't like to travel. but this is an important component of jobs in many law firms. there's all sorts of attorneys that hate traveling  they need to be able to send people out, to travel.

[00:19:14] And if you can't travel, you just can't do the job. It's as simple as that. So you shouldn't be asking questions about travel. And if you do ask questions about travel, you should act like you like travel, because you just don't know, where they're coming from. It. Another question, is about reviews.

[00:19:30]the problem with asking questions about reviews is, that, it shows that, you may have concerns about getting reviews. and if someone has concerns about reviews and the employer may, assume that, they've had negative reviews in the past, another thing is that, they make maybe, a lot of times there's a perception.

[00:19:46] That, once you get a review, you're going to get a raise. And so that, and then they'll have questions about how that could be saying, how often do you get raises?  it's not the sort of thing you should be talking about. I've interviewed,  other types of questions are ones that show you may [00:20:00] not have been listening.

[00:20:01]sometimes people, I've been in interviews before, I was interviewed for this, Not too long ago, not a job, but, and someone was droning on and on. It gave like a, they talked for 40 minutes about something. I don't even know what it was about.

[00:20:14] it was very difficult, like following them at some point, because it just went so far off on a tangent and the problem was, is I had to keep listening and, so you have to keep listening to interviews even if what the person saying, it seems boring. So you just have to do that.

[00:20:28] And, if you ask questions in interviews about, topics that may have already been covered, an answer, this is just going to hurt you. the interview will assume you're not interested in the position or not focused. And, that's not gonna work, questions about references. those are also bad.

[00:20:43]some questions are like, would you like to see references to check references? And it's the employer's responsibility to ask about references. And if you're mentioning this, in most instances, you're, taking control of something that the employer should have control over the employer should be the one that, [00:21:00] asked for rep that asked you for references.

[00:21:02]and it also bring the attention to the fact that you feel you may need these for some reason, like the interview's not going well. You just do not want to ask about, references and interviews.  another type of question that people ask is. whether or not there's people there to help them, with aspects of the job, they may not be good at.

[00:21:18]I had one guy that was, losing his job because he didn't, proofread his work and I was turning in sloppy assignments and that's actually okay. In some law firms and some, types of law firms, Are very consumer facing and have to keep their rates low and so forth.

[00:21:32] That's okay. But this guy was at a major firm and and, so he would go into interviews and he would ask, if they had people that could proofread his work and that really turned, law firms off very quickly.  once he fixed his writing and everything started proofing and stuff, he got much better, but, it just shows you my vaping issue.

[00:21:50]another big one is questions about pro bono, and other activities, unrelated to the firm making money. No, some questions would be, how much pro bono can attorneys do. [00:22:00] if you, if I go in now alum with a law firm reimbursed us. and the thing to understand is law firms need people that can do the work.

[00:22:08] And if you're asking questions, the show, you have an interest in doing things not related to legal work. they're not gonna like you. And, they're just not going to like it. And they're going to assume that you can't do the job. they need people to do the work.

[00:22:21] Now there's nothing wrong with doing a pro bono work of course, but, but that's not something you should be bringing up in the interview stage. Okay. So the final, the second one is questions that show you can't be managed and, these are fairly important. So being managed basically means that you're not going to follow the directions, respect to people giving you work.

[00:22:41] And, you're going to do, what's asked to you in my personal, experience, this is one of the most problematic things, of hiring people. If you hire people that can't be managed and those people are, they tend to drive everyone down  they create, a lower.

[00:22:58] A level of [00:23:00] functioning and the organization because of the law firms, not coming down on people that are being managed, that, it hurts everyone. And most law firms are not going to be interested in hiring people that can not be managed. And this is one of the main reasons people, do not get the positions they're applying for.

[00:23:15] It's also one of the main reasons that people are fired from law firms. it's a huge problem.  being managed basically means you're part of the team. if we're going to work for a law firm, you need to be part of a team.  law firms need people that need to be very able to be managed.

[00:23:28] If one person. Resents being managed and is not being managed then, then everybody else thinks they can get away with that sort of behavior. It's just not good. I run against this, on a constant basis and my job, it's difficult. I don't like having to be the bad guy and manage people, but that's the job, that's the job of running a law firm or any business, to run a law firm and get work done and to grow.

[00:23:51]Law firms do not want to hire people who aren't following directions. We're creating issues with the firm or upsetting other people  who can't be managed are [00:24:00] problematic. So law firms just avoid them. And, with good reason, they have to, so this particular thing is, among the most important, and you need to think about.

[00:24:09]the sort of questions you're asking, when you're in an interview, some examples, there's some people that at may ask questions to indicate, I think the better than the job they're applying for. So some of these questions may be things like how long will I have to do this work until I get to work on larger matters?

[00:24:25] How soon can I get trial experience? Just, things along those lines. if anytime you ask word questions and it's related to the previous, some of the previous questions, but. So you use we'll show you can't be advantaged and maybe an issue, because if you're asking that, then you will use that as something to get mad about on the future.

[00:24:42]questions about support staff you'll have access to can show a management problem such as, your own secretary or, the word processing department and, people that ask, about support and people that are available to help them do their jobs are typically. we'll have a difficult time, being managed  that's [00:25:00] just how that kind of works.

[00:25:01]quite the big one, that I see a lot of, and I don't know why people do this, but some people do as questions about negative things in the firm's history or online reviews. some people will say things like I read the firm, got a bad review and diversity, what are you, what do you think about that?

[00:25:15] Or, how do you think the fact that several partners have left recently, infest farms, future anytime, you're focusing on negative things. about the firm, it's just going to show you're difficult to manage. Every firm has bad reviews. Every firm fires people, and those people get mad and they write bad reviews.

[00:25:32]that's just what it is. And other, or clients get mad or, people don't fit in and, typically, when someone's. Tough to manage. They're the ones that'll write bad reviews and so forth. And that just hurts the firm. if you're going to come across as being overly vulnerable to others' opinions, then it's just going to show you're difficult to manage.

[00:25:52] And I'm not saying that, that you shouldn't read reviews because obviously there's some truth to everything. and if the firm upset someone and [00:26:00] then maybe the firm didn't handle things, So there's. Definitely reasons to be concerned, you really want to get the job first and then you want to see who you'd be working for.

[00:26:08]is people will read a bad review about one law firm and assume that the whole firms like that when you might just be working with one or two attorneys, they're in a different practice group. So it's not something you should really be that concerned about. and you can ask questions about it after you're hired,  other things about, the firms do not like.

[00:26:26]and I'm not saying that they necessarily disliked them, but they're things that may, create, issues sometimes, and not with all firms with some firms. and I'm just bringing this up because, I want you to get jobs and I'm not trying to upset anyone, but, asking questions about various accommodations can hurt.

[00:26:44]asking about leaving early, on different days, That you can ask about, that's actually okay. But, you probably want to wait until you get tired to ask it. I've never seen a problem. Affirm, have a problem with someone leaving early in the Sabbath or something like that.

[00:26:58] I just haven't. But [00:27:00] asking about an interview, it's just, why bring it up now? you can bring it up after, you get an offer, ask them questions about, can you have an office on the ground floor, especially with the firm, doesn't have an office on the ground floor.

[00:27:10]these are all things, that the law firms are obligated to fight. but you just don't want to give law firms any reasons to distinguish you in any form of negative way from other people that may make it seem like a difficult to manage. They all have to do these things. but just don't create any issues until you get an offer.

[00:27:28] That's my advice. don't draw attention to the special things that you need or anything just don't draw attention to it. Your objective is to get a job. there's nothing wrong with, any of this, I hired a guy once I remember in, our Chicago office, the gentleman, he could not walk upstairs and he even couldn't come into the office to interview because he had a back problem and I still hired him.

[00:27:48]but,  I wasn't doing him any favors. He was very, qualified, but he made it very difficult and it would have been better. we just, we're able to interview without all that, but, and he ended up being very [00:28:00] good at his job. So there's nothing wrong with any of this stuff.

[00:28:02] You just need to be careful a question about your office. bad questions include, while I have my own office for all my office be located. first of all, these questions are presumptuous. but then you're just showing that these things are important to you.  law firms run into people quitting over opposites all the time.

[00:28:18] Believe it or not. people get mad that they don't have a good office or they have the wrong office and they don't like it. and there's no reason there's all sorts of tension about offices and, you just shouldn't ask about it. if it's important to you. the law firm will think they, it could be tension in the future and they don't want to have it.

[00:28:33] I may show you it could be a management problem. questions about management, how's the firm managed, how are decisions made in the firm? Those are big ones. it shouldn't be your concern really when you're interviewing, it may not even be something that you should be worried about. after years of working at a law firm, some law, some attorneys.

[00:28:49]we'll join a law firm out of law school and, stay there until they retire and never have anything to do with management at all. and if you're worried about, especially as an associate, it's not something, that's [00:29:00] really going to go over all that. questions about the personal life of your interview is a big one.

[00:29:03]asking the interviewer what they like to do in their free time, asking them about kids. all that kind of stuff. It's just not a good idea. you have to observe, protocol, meaning, they can ask you whatever they want about your personal life, really, if they want.

[00:29:19]not within reason. I ask you certain illegal questions about being married and so forth, but, but they certainly can ask you certain questions about your hobbies and things, but you really shouldn't be asking those questions. That's that's the interviewer's domain.  questions about parking.

[00:29:33] I hate to bring it up, does the firm pay for parking where to associates park? I've seen people leave very good jobs in major law firms because of parking issues. That's crazy. That sounds so it's just not something you should ask about. really should be the least of your concerns. if the law firm sees you asking that, then I think you could leave for trivial reasons.

[00:29:52]it's also a presumptuous question. Like you're already working there. questions about benefits or bad, asking about health insurance or, [00:30:00] dental and vision insurance, 401k contributions. you should allow all those questions to be, answered after, you can offer,  your emphasis really in your questions.

[00:30:11]and this is the first time I've said this, but it's one of the most important things should be on doing the work. how do you get the work done? How do you. what does a good job look like to you? And th the sorts of things, you need to be, talking about that questions about client contact, going on pitches and related things are also a big one.

[00:30:29]bad questions will be things like, what will I have to go on pitches? will I be able to go on pitches? How much client contact can I expect, people leave for these reasons as well. and these are the sorts of questions. you need to ask after you're hired  not before,  questions about stability, employer are also a big one.

[00:30:46]questions about that would be things like, how stable is a practice group. I heard there were layoffs a few years ago that just, it puts things in a negative light and employers do not want to hear that. every law firm goes through ups and downs. it's just [00:31:00] politicians are in one day, they're out the next or back actors, actresses.

[00:31:04]businesses. It's the same thing. if you look at the stock market, the stocks up and it's down and it's up  the law firm proceeds, you're going to leave when things are down, they're just going to be less likely to hire you. So it's just something to stay away from. I touched on this earlier, but, questions of about support staff, just not a good idea.

[00:31:21]what's the quality of the support staff? do you think the support staff is happy? lawyers also leave because of support staff for site that there's reasons for that. if a law firm wants to cut corners and hire inexpensive support staff or. They're not, they're attorneys, they're more used to managing the legal work and maybe not their support staff.

[00:31:39]just don't know. you have to be careful with those questions as well. and one of the biggest ones I think, that people blow it on all the time are, questions about controversial political, social religious and other topics, honestly, there's a lot of attorneys that don't, understand, the history of, the country and the things that people have gone through in terms of, [00:32:00] Fortunately women, various groups, religious groups, and different sexual orientations, and, so they, people are scared about it, and law firms are scared about it and it would with good reasons, a lot of cases.

[00:32:11]you just, you need to be very careful, about bringing this stuff up just because it can fight firms. Most law firms, almost every law firm that's, more than 50 people. Has been sued for some discrimination, a related issue, or still being sued. And, if you introduce this stuff into this caution, it can be taken the wrong way.

[00:32:30]I've certainly wrote, ripping a lot about, I've written a book about race and law firms and I've written. Lots of articles about different things and people will, take that stuff out of context, for, basically to promote other recruiting firms, but, you just have to be very careful.

[00:32:45]you just really, it's stuffy, just don't really want to talk about, and if law firms want to bring up this kind of stuff, you can allow them to. But, and at least you're not getting an offer. And in this day and age, honestly, most attorneys are interviewing or [00:33:00] are very tolerant of other groups, I think.

[00:33:02]but. you just need to be careful. You just, it's just the way, the society is at this point, questions about perks such as car services, people to run errands and that sort of thing are also a bad idea. if you're asking about these kinds of things, the law firm will think that they're important to you and, if they're important to you, then, then you could be, alert away from someone, offering those.

[00:33:22] So those are the big management questions. and management is very important. you just have to remember when you're going into an interview, you want to think how do I look like I want to do the job that I'm going to stick around and that sort of thing. And if he, and, then I'll follow, what the law firms asking me to do, because if you're not, it just creates problems for everyone.

[00:33:39] And, people that are out there doing their own thing and not willing to take direction and not wanting to be managed or, really can hold people back. despite any individuals, Particular individual's performance. if they're not willing to do, be managed, then they're really holding the whole team back and that's not good.

[00:33:57]law firms don't want to hear about that. A big [00:34:00] one. this is the third one is questions that show you will not do the job long-term and. it was interesting to me. I remember, and I tell this example a lot, but early in my career, running BCG attorney search, I hired two recruiters. this was the first, this was in, long time ago, over 20 years ago, but the first one lasted, w I'm sorry, I've been at a previous job for eight years and the other one had been at a previous job for 17 years.

[00:34:22] The one who lasted eight years in a previous jobs to 10 years. and the one who'd lasted 17 years. And your previous job lasted 18 years. So there's certain people, that just when they go into a job, they commit, they put their head down, they work, they don't get distracted by, things like online reviews, perks, benefits, parking, whatever, and they just do the job.

[00:34:42] And there's people like that. And those are the people that employers want to hire. They really do. and after those two recruiters, in the interim, there were so many people that came along, that were. good enough for critters, but they just didn't want to be managed.

[00:34:55] And they found, issues to constantly be upset about, they couldn't commit. and I noticed that [00:35:00] if someone had stayed in their previous job for two years, it stayed with me for one, one to three years, there were people, that would stay shorter or longer. And, in LA law firms just want you to stay.

[00:35:08]they wanna make a good decision and making a good decision means hiring someone that's likely to stick around. If they're hiring someone that's not likely to stick around, you're going to what that shows is that shows that you potentially, it could be weakening the whole tribe because every time someone leaves, it gives a little bit of a hit to the.

[00:35:25]the morale of the people that are there till the law, and then the law firm rebuilds or builds more people off and so far. But, law firms typically, want people to stay and you need to be careful about that. So questions about raises bonuses and other financial things are a big one.

[00:35:41]people ask them questions about how bonuses are calculated, business development, budgets, things like that. and, there's reasons to ask that. And obviously compensation is very important. but I see all the time, I see people like, refuse to go on interviews, and refuse to even apply to certain firms and tell the law [00:36:00] firm will tell them, what salary and bonuses would be, and that's safe.

[00:36:04]you need to, make sure that, you're doing everything within your power to get the job and. You need to be focused by the way. And especially if you're a young associate or law student, or, getting experience. you're talking about a career that could be, I've seen attorneys practicing.

[00:36:21]that start practicing it, 24 and 25, and I've been practicing in their early nineties. so you're talking about a career of 60 plus years, 60 plus years, and you need to get experience when you're young and that's really important. So if you're focusing on money, like any money you make now, it's really meaningless to, for the, your long-term career.

[00:36:40] And, if you're asking a lot of questions about money early on, it's just going to show that, you'll probably leave for money and so forth and that's dangerous. And obviously you're going to take the best offers and so forth, and that's going to be a calculation, your decision, but, you don't want, you want to make sure you're careful with that.

[00:36:57]other questions, that may indicate you may not stay. [00:37:00] Will be once related to maybe a need for immediate responsibility. people will ask questions like how soon can I take depositions? Will I get to do my own deals and those sorts of things.  if you're someone that's hungry for media responsibility, doesn't get it.

[00:37:14] No likely leaf. just anytime you think about, interviewing, and this is, I'm just talking about getting the job, your objective is to get the job, just think of yourself as a soldier. you're going to go in there, you're going to stick around. You're going to be a team player and so forth and people, by the way, that aren't team players and don't stick around a long time, typically the way their careers in the bookings.

[00:37:34]and I'm going to say this once, and if you hear one thing today, And learn from this. I hope you do. people that bounce around between employers earlier in their career, like they become toxic. Like they become like radioactive, like people, if they see you bouncing around, like they know you're not going to stick around.

[00:37:51] So why would someone hire you? they'd have it just the type of players that will hire you because they have, because they're very weak or there's something wrong with them. but [00:38:00] employers do not want to, you need to be very careful. when you any time, and I'm saying this as a recruiter, by the way, who makes a living, placing people, but you need to be careful like leaving and not sticking around for inconsequential reasons.

[00:38:13] Now, moving up to a better firm, with more responsibility where you're, are better people and w where you're more comfortable, there's all sorts of great reasons for moving. But you just need to be very careful, about, that because people that, stick around have better careers, people that leave for inconsequential reasons typically,  do so again and again, and it's problematic for them  hurt of the long right now.

[00:38:39] Not always, not always, but. a lot of questions about partnership, potential. This would be for associates or, contract partners hired you. How soon am I going to be evaluated? how many people make partner each year? What is the fastest way? can I, can you move up how quickly, be considered for partnership after one year or two, those sorts of [00:39:00] questions, are things that people ask.

[00:39:02]and probably not a good idea. when you ask those sorts of questions, you're showing that, if you don't make partner after one year, two or, or that all these things that you're in a rush and so forth, and law firms are wanting to be in control.

[00:39:15] I'll make you a partner when they think it's a good, when it's best for them. and you, and they really have no choice.  questions about maternity leave, paternity leave and vacations. asking about maternity leave and maternity leave is typically just not something, that you want to, law firms will have their policies and most cases are public.

[00:39:33]for large law firms for smaller ones are not, asking about paternity leave in an interview for men is always a bad idea. I don't think there's any reason. that would, it just doesn't go over well. I've seen people do it  it's just not a good idea.

[00:39:47]and the other thing is maternity leave. It just, it just, anything that shows the employer that you may have to interrupt your work and so forth, it's just not the kind of stuff you want to ask about an interview. These are all legitimate concerns that you should have. there's nothing [00:40:00] wrong with us, but if you ask about our interview, employers on like it.

[00:40:04]questions about people that are no longer there now who moved to other firms. that's also not a great idea. So some examples would be where to people go to work after working here and that sort of thing. if you ask about that, law firms are not going to be, that happy.

[00:40:20]the reason is because, you're just reminding them of people that they may not there might've been issues with and so forth in the past,  questions that may show low energy and enthusiasm for the job I have. Those could be things like, just flat nonsense questions that, are just filler that don't really have to do with anything.

[00:40:37]that show you can't make a connection with a firm or the interviewer, and questions that, make it obvious that, you may not like the firm, or the job in the long run and that sort of thing. And it's just, you need to be able to connect with an interviewer. And so anytime you have low energy, low enthusiasm questions, that's not a good idea.

[00:40:56]And the final category of questions and then, and then we'll be [00:41:00] done. and then we'll go to questions, is questions.  all these three things like, can you do the job? Like a lot of times people will think that's the most important thing and it is important, but your resume typically will explain questions about being managed.

[00:41:13]the show management are important and then questions to show whether or not, you're gonna be around longterm, but really what happens. It is, the people that do the best, are able to, and you can get the most jobs are really, the most likable. Like they, the law firm will look over overlook different things if they like you a lot and many times, and this is one of the secrets that, that our recruiters that, BCG attorney search do very well is we're able to draw out and, we ask a lot questions and our candidates, we have.

[00:41:41] Profiles, they fill out and so forth and then we present them, and make them very likable in ways that they necessarily couldn't do it themselves. And when, anytime, you're interviewing with a law firm, the people are always wondering, is this person going to be my friend or they're going to be my enemy, or, and are they going to support me and are they going to support the company?

[00:41:58] And that's very important. [00:42:00] you need to really think about this  showing that, any type of question that makes people not like you is really going to seriously backfire. so I mentioned this earlier, but, asking questions about attorneys in the firm that others may not like, or, one's no longer there, you just need to be careful, anytime.

[00:42:17]you may be considered friends with someone that the law firm doesn't like or so forth, just. You don't want to be associated with those sorts of feelings. asking, an attorney, if so-and-so's their client, can upset them. if it's not the attorney's client, their service partner, it can, sometimes rubbed them the wrong way.

[00:42:34]they may not like they may resent that it's not their client. you just never know. it's not a huge question, but I've just seen, in my experience that turned people off. questions about other trainers in the office that seem off, in every firm there's going to be people, that are a little weird, so you need to be careful, or if you ask about them, it's going to show that, potentially come there and make fun of people and you do the same thing with other people.

[00:42:56] So they don't like that. the big one that I [00:43:00] see hurt a lot of people is, questions that may show they come from a privileged  a heart. most attorneys are fairly middle-class or. I grew up that way, otherwise they wouldn't be doing this kind of work for the most part.

[00:43:09]and, so they tend not to be people that may have played squash growing up and that sort of thing, or, were really into riding dressage horses and so forth or taking vacations at least, anything that shows you come from that background, what may make people not like to, so you need to be careful.

[00:43:26]other things about the may not make them like you about would be things about going out for work to bars and other establishments. the problem is, these questions may not seem like a big deal. And in reality, I don't really think they are either, but. it's just, some people may not be part of that, those things.

[00:43:42] And, there's groups in every law firm that go out and they don't bring people with them and those people feel left out. And so imagine if someone asks you in an interview, do people go out after work? They're immediately going to assume that it will be a part of that group and they're not part of that group for whatever reason.

[00:43:57] And so they may think, this person's going to be part [00:44:00] of that group and not me and not like you. And honestly, it sounds like a stupid thing, but I've seen that, hurt people before too. So you just need to be careful, asking any type of question about the interview's background, racial, sexual, and so forth.

[00:44:13] This is probably not a good idea. anything that does that, people just don't want to, talk about this a lot of times in interviews, they want to be, you need to just avoid any type of friction or any type of. thing that is going to come on that, are there other questions would be questions about where the interviewer lives?

[00:44:30]some people feel self-conscious and don't like where they live. Other people. Feel guilty about where they left. in different metropolitan areas, it can connote, what you're like religiously ethnically or even sexually. So like in Los Angeles, West Hollywood is sort unfairly gay area and like Fairfax, Jewish, Beverly Hills is Persian and you just stay away from those serious.

[00:44:49]asking people where they live many times can be, can connote various things. And I actually had one attorney, it was interesting. I, when I was writing the book about, race and ethnicity inside of [00:45:00] law firms, I had one attorney tell me that,  everybody, in his firm that was a white lived in one area.

[00:45:07] And there was only a couple of black people. That lived in, this other area of town. and because of that, they didn't get to mix with clients who weren't able to bring a bit. I don't know, but it's just, these are just loaded questions and you just need to be really careful questions about whether or not the interviewer has kids.

[00:45:21]many people are uncomfortable talking about this information interviews, older people that don't have kids they'll be maybe uncomfortable. They don't have kids, younger people. you just need to avoid these side questions. No questions about fraternities law review knew someone in law school and those sorts of questions can also be, loaded, they can alienate the interviewer, may make them feel bad, remind them of someone.

[00:45:43]they didn't know that they didn't like, and you just need to be careful. I remember there's a very well known attorney that was blackballed by my fraternity when I was in college. And. and, it's very well known. there's really I don't know why they blackballed him, but, if someone were to ask him if he was an [00:46:00] attorney in college, I think that would probably upset him quite a bit.

[00:46:02] And, this formidable attorney, so you just need to be careful with that sort of stuff. questions about when the interview of graduated from college or law school. this is basically showing, asking a person their age, young and old alike are, can be very, self-conscious about their age.

[00:46:18] They need to be careful of that. I already brought this up or questions about negative reviews and law firm online. no one wants to have to justify something negative. it also just associates you with a negative question. So you need to be careful about that and then asking an attorney about why they may have left their last law firm.

[00:46:35]they talked about where they worked before, can also bring up negative feelings on the interview.  these are just the wrong questions. you don't want to ask and, I certainly can go into a lot more detail about them and if you have any more questions about them, I will be back.

[00:46:49] I'm just gonna, grab some more coffee and, maybe one or two minutes.  then just start, you can ask as many questions as you want and, whether not it's about today or, anything else, and [00:47:00] thanks.

[00:47:01]Yeah. All right. So let me go to, the questions second.

[00:47:06]All right. So let's see here. Okay. So the first question is I graduated from law school in 2017. I took the bar pass on my first try and I've lost. Hadn't lost two jobs since then. The first only lasted for three months after which I burned out the second lasted for one month and fell apart because of COVID-19 and court shutdowns.

[00:47:27] I was recently diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and feel very much uncertain about what to do. I've given up, I'm being picky about what type of job I'm searching for. And I've been applying for literally everything that I can find for quite some time. Now I feel somewhat lost in a dress and have no clue what to do.

[00:47:43] Example what to do exactly. Vegas has may be. Do you have any advice? Wow. yeah, that's a good question. the first thing is I, I don't know enough about, NS to, to really advise, I don't know what you're capable of, and that I [00:48:00] think is a, it's a good, and I don't know, I certainly know people that have had the disease before and lived a very long time, but I don't know how, that could impact everything.

[00:48:10]if, you were burned out after your first three month job, my thought maybe that maker then because of, because of how, you were impacted by, the, the disease, but I don't know.  and then only getting one month of experience, obviously is not a good thing.

[00:48:26]I've seen lots of, attorneys with very serious handicaps, get jobs. And, many times those jobs are not with private law firms. the reason is because clients can be very demanding, it's hard to get paid, and all sorts of things, but they could be, other times, I've seen attorneys for various serious handicaps, including being blind.

[00:48:44]death, numerous ones are wheelchairs and so forth. work in law firms. So I don't know, how the disease impacts you, or the, but, you need to probably expand your horizons and you can do that in a couple of different ways. One would be.

[00:48:58]applying to smaller [00:49:00] firms offering to help solo practitioners offering to help, working in markets outside of where you live. certainly, you always have the option of working, on your own. that's one way. and then the other thing too, is there's lots of, government positions, that, are very good about, allowing.

[00:49:17]not allowing, but actually encourage people with different handicaps and sickness and illness and so forth to work there. So I think that, that's something that I would recommend if not, I don't think you'll have any problem getting something. I just think you need to look at a lot of different things.

[00:49:32]I don't know that, You know what happened, in your job, but I would continue looking, I would also, you need, there's a good book by Seth Godden or Bowden. I forget to procrastinate, but, talks about something, about the peak and window continue doing something I wanted to quit.

[00:49:47]you, if you went t