How to Prepare for a Legal Job Interview
If you are being considered for a legal position, you might be asked to come in for an interview. One of the surefire ways to land the job is impress a potential employer during the interview. This is why preparation for a legal job interview is key, because you have to be prepared to showcase your sharp skills and legal experience in a way that sets you apart from any other candidates being considered for the job.
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Instructions
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Prepare to discuss your educational background. For lawyers, education is the foundation on which their laurels rest early in their careers. To stand out, name your degrees and the schools from which you received them, your place in your graduating class -- if you were fairly high on the list -- and your ending grade-point average.
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Research the firm. A good lawyer comes prepared to meetings and interviews with an innate knowledge of the company or firm with which he's meeting; the same is expected of you when during the job hunt. Find out some background on the law firm, including names of the senior partners and their legal records. Also, determine what the firm is looking for in a new lawyer, according to Job Bank USA, so you have a clear idea of what skills and experience to discuss.
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Tout your legal experience, if you have any. If you are fresh out of college, you can talk about internships. However, if you are a seasoned attorney, talk about some of your past cases, both won and lost. Discuss cases in which you excelled and then go over cases that you lost and what you could have done differently to garner a different outcome. This gives the interviewer a clear idea of your thought process when it comes to your cases.
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Refresh your knowledge of case law as it pertains to the type of work for which this particular firm is known. During the interview, you might be asked about pertinent cases in bankruptcy law if the firm in question primarily handles bankruptcy cases; you might be asked about local criminal precedents for firms that do criminal work. The last thing you want is to look inept as you bumble your way through the question. Do your homework and come prepared to discuss a few landmark cases in your specialty.
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Assemble information on any legal affiliations you might have to share during the interview. If you are a member of your state's bar association, for example, share that information during the interview, as well as any other legal groups you might be part of. This might help the firm see that you are dedicated to your profession at work and on your personal time.
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