Law Students

Summer Associate Interviewing Tips

The Girl's Guide to Law School offers summer associate interview tips.

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To get a summer associate offer, you’re going to have to do interviews – lots of interviews! You’ll generally do a screening interview, and a round of callback interviews. Each individual interview will be about 30 minutes long, and they’re fairly formulaic.

What Questions Will You Be Asked? Most law firm interviews are straightforward (at least compared to consulting interviews, or tech interviews, where you might be asked to estimate the number of marbles necessary to fill a limo, or something equally silly).

Generally, law firm interviews aren’t substantive. Instead, you’ll get questions such as:

  • Why are you interested in working here?
  • What sort of law do you plan to practice?
  • Why does this location appeal to you?
  • How do you like law school?
  • What are your favorite classes?

You’ll want to have firm-specific answers prepared for these questions, obviously.

Occasionally, you could run into a “behavioral interview,” where the interviewer attempts to figure out what type of employee you’d be by asking for anecdotes on specific topics. For example, instead of just asking how you handle pressure, the interviewer might ask you to describe a situation at work where you were overwhelmed with assignments and have you talk about how you handled the problem. You don’t need to stress out about this type of interview, but it can’t hurt to have a few stories prepared about overcoming difficulties or dealing with stressful work situations, in case you need them.

Also be sure you’re completely familiar with everything on your résumé. The middle of an interview is not the time to realize you don’t remember the details of your undergraduate honors thesis! (Trust me on this one.)

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What Questions Should You Ask? Students often wonder what kind of questions they can – or should – ask in a law firm interview.

As a general rule, don’t ask anything controversial or self-centered. So, no inquiries about salary, bonuses, billable hour requirements, or the rumors circulating about a recent sexual harassment suit. It’s fine to ask these questions, but wait until you get the offer. (At that point, it’s standard practice to return and meet more people. You can ask whatever you want then, because you’ve already got the offer.)

Instead, have a few questions prepared that show you’ve done your research, and a few in your back pocket that you can pull out in any interview as needed.

Good general questions include:

  • I’m interested in what you do in a typical day. Could you tell me about a few of the projects you’re currently working on? (My personal favorite question, because it gets the other person talking and gives you something to reference in your thank you note.)
  • What type of person do you think is happiest and most successful here?
  • Have you been pleased with the experience you’ve had here so far?

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A more specific, research-based question would be something along the lines of, “I noticed that the firm recently opened a Moscow office. Do you expect this international expansion to continue?” You don’t have to get too fancy, but it can’t hurt to appear well informed. (Check the Press section of each firm’s website to see what they’re currently bragging about.)

What Should You Keep in Mind? Here are a few tips:

  • Remember that the people you’re speaking with are busy, and probably haven’t been trained to conduct good interviews. Your interviewer might not be familiar with your résumé, resulting in an opening question along the lines of “Tell me a bit about yourself.” Be sure you have a concise, canned answer ready to go for this question. And don’t start with your childhood! Lead with the present and work backwards: “Well, I’m a law student at the University of X, and I’m interested in practicing patent litigation. This summer I worked at the PTO for half the summer, and at a small firm in my hometown for the other half. Before law school, I was a software engineer for three years, and I have a Masters in Computer Science.” Don’t take it personally if the interviewer isn’t as prepared as you expect – he may have gotten called in at the last minute, when someone else got stuck on a call.
  • Be prepared to talk about anything unusual on your résumé or transcript. If there’s anything “weird” in your application, be prepared to address it. It might be an unconventional work background, an interesting prior degree, or a single bad grade. Whatever it is, people will ask you about it, repeatedly! Develop a stock answer early, and stick to it.
  • Always remember that you’re being evaluated on “fit” as much as anything else. If you’ve made it to the callback stage, your academic record is sufficiently strong that you could be hired. Now the question is whether people could stand to be around you at 3:00 AM if you had to pull an all-nighter together. Your goal is to appear personable, agreeable, and generally competent. One way to do this is to modulate your energy level to match the interviewer: If they’re super high-energy, you can speak faster and more emphatically; if they’re low-key, you should be, too.
  • Always, always be polite, to everyone you encounter. You have no idea who has real power in a law firm. The secretary you were rude to might work for the hiring partner. Be polite and agreeable, even if you’re kept waiting or something goes wrong.
  • Say “Thank you.” The fact of the matter is that each lawyer interviewing you is losing half an hour of potentially billable time. In law firm land, that’s a big deal. Thank them in the beginning for taking the time to see you, and send a quick thank you note (or email) afterwards, reiterating your appreciation and commenting on something you discussed: “Thanks so much for taking the time to talk with me today. I enjoyed learning more about Firm X and your work on the Smith trial. It sounds very interesting, and I hope things go well!” Is it possible you’ll get an offer without a follow up? Sure, but sending a quick thank you email is rarely going to hurt (just be sure to proofread carefully and double-check the name and email address).

So, there you have it. Law firm interviews are honestly pretty formulaic, and, once you’ve done a few, they won’t seem that intimidating. They can be exhausting, however, so just be prepared for that. It’s amazing how draining it is to talk about yourself for three or four hours in a row!

Best of luck, and just remember: If you can’t think of a question, ask what your interviewer does in an average day at work. That’s guaranteed to kill a few minutes, giving you time to come up with some other questions!

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Alison Monahan is the founder of The Girl’s Guide to Law School, which helps you get into law school, get through, and stay YOU. She’s also the co-Founder of the Law School Toolbox and the Bar Exam Toolbox, which demystify the law school experience and help you get better results with less stress and effort. You can email her at alison@thegirlsguidetolawschool.com or alison@lawschooltoolbox.com.

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