Questions to Ask During Law Firm Interview
Twenty questions for a law firm interview, whether for a summer position or a lateral move: how work is assigned, what the hours and billable target really mean, how associates are reviewed and paid, and what happens to those who do not make partner.
The questions
Open any question for the note
Who would I be working with day to day, and how does work get assigned: a central pool or individual partners?
Why ask it
Free-market staffing rewards associates who can market themselves internally and can leave quieter ones underused. Central assignment spreads work more evenly but gives you less say over practice area and supervisor.
What did your last month look like in hours?
Why ask it
More useful than asking about work-life balance, which invites a rehearsed answer. A specific month, including the weekends worked, gives you something concrete, and hesitation about answering is informative in itself.
What is the billable target, and what counts toward it: pro bono, training, business development, recruiting?
Why ask it
Two firms with the same target can differ by hundreds of hours depending on what is creditable. Ask what proportion of associates hit it last year, since a target most people miss functions as a pay cut.
What does a first or second year associate actually do on a matter of this kind?
Why ask it
Ask about a specific type of matter rather than in general. The answer separates firms where juniors take depositions and draft substantive sections from those where the first two years are document review and diligence.
How many associates joined this practice group in the last three years, and how many are still here?
Why ask it
The cleanest attrition question, and it is about the group rather than the firm, which is the unit that matters. Interviewers usually know the answer for their own group and will often give it plainly.
Who reviews my work, and how would I get feedback other than at the annual review?
Why ask it
Junior lawyers improve through marked-up drafts and short debriefs. A firm whose only mechanism is a yearly evaluation form is one where you will find out about a problem long after it could have been fixed.
How is associate compensation set: lockstep, discretionary, or a mix, and what drives the discretionary part?
Why ask it
In a discretionary system, the criteria are what matter, and firms vary in how openly they will state them. Ask what the bonus has actually paid at your level for the past two or three years.
How is origination credit handled, and can an associate get credit for work they bring in?
Why ask it
Origination determines partner pay and, in some firms, who gets to keep a client relationship. Whether an associate can hold any credit at all tells you how the firm treats business development below partner level.
How much client contact would I have in the first two years?
Why ask it
Direct contact is how you build a practice rather than a list of matters worked on. Ask who is on the calls and emails, since firms differ sharply on whether juniors are visible to clients or filtered through a partner.
What is the pro bono policy, and how many hours did associates in this group log last year?
Why ask it
Almost every firm has a policy; the hours logged show whether it is used. Ask whether the hours are fully billable-creditable and whether anyone has been discouraged from taking on a matter.
What happens in a practice group when work slows down?
Why ask it
Transactional groups in particular go quiet with the market. The answer tells you whether associates get lent to other groups, told to find work themselves, or let go, which is the difference between a lean year and a layoff.
How does the partnership track work now, and how many people were promoted in the last two years?
Why ask it
Ask about the non-equity tier if there is one, and how long people typically sit in it. Recent numbers are what matter; the historic policy may have been overtaken by a firm restructuring.
Where have associates who left in the last couple of years gone?
Why ask it
Departures to in-house roles at good clients suggest a firm that trains people well. Departures to competitors in the same city more often reflect something about conditions here.
What does parental leave look like in practice, and how does it affect the partnership clock and the billable target?
Why ask it
The written policy is easy to find. What matters is whether the target is prorated, whether the clock pauses, and whether anyone senior in this office has taken the full entitlement recently.
How firm are the in-office expectations, and how does this group actually work?
Why ask it
Firm-wide policies are frequently applied differently by practice group and by partner. Ask what the group's own norm is and what happens when someone does not meet it.
Which clients or matters would I most likely be staffed on first?
Why ask it
Turns the practice area description into something specific. It also reveals concentration risk: a group where most of the work comes from one or two clients is more exposed than the pitch suggests.
How have the firm's revenue and headcount moved over the past two years?
Why ask it
Much of this is published for larger firms, so you are checking their account against the public record and hearing how they explain it. Lateral partner departures in your group are worth asking about directly.
What kind of associate does well here, and what kind struggles?
Why ask it
The second half is the useful half. Answers about needing to chase work, or about tolerating unpredictable hours, describe the actual working conditions more honestly than any culture statement.
What is the least appealing part of this job that people only discover once they start?
Why ask it
A fair question asked directly, and most interviewers respect it. If the answer is that there is nothing, you have learned about the interviewer rather than the firm.
Is there anything in my application you would like me to address now?
Why ask it
Gives you the chance to explain a transcript, a gap, or a practice area switch while someone is in front of you. It is also a normal close that signals you would rather be told than left to guess.
Interviewing at a Law Firm
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Match the Question to the Interviewer
Junior associates for conditions
Hours last month, whether the target is realistic, what a first-year actually drafts, how feedback arrives. Ask these of someone two to four years in, and ask them one at a time rather than as a list.
Partners for the practice and the market
Where the work comes from, what the group is trying to build, how staffing decisions get made, and what they expect a new associate to be capable of by year three.
Recruiting for the numbers
Billable target definitions, what counts toward it, bonus history, leave policy, and promotion figures. They hold the written answers and are used to being asked.
Ask the same question twice
Put the hours question to a partner and to a junior associate separately. The gap between the two answers is usually the most reliable information you get all day.
Question Sequences
What the job is
- 1How does work get assigned: a central pool or individual partners?
- 2What does a first or second year associate actually do on a matter of this kind?
- 3Which clients or matters would I most likely be staffed on first?
- 4How much client contact would I have in the first two years?
What it costs you
- 1What is the billable target, and what counts toward it?
- 2What did your last month look like in hours?
- 3What happens in a practice group when work slows down?
- 4What does parental leave look like in practice?
Where it leads
- 1How many associates joined this group in the last three years, and how many are still here?
- 2How does the partnership track work now, and how many were promoted in the last two years?
- 3Where have associates who left in the last couple of years gone?
- 4How is compensation set, and what drives the discretionary part?
Common Mistakes
- Asking about hours as a wellbeing question. Ask for last month's number instead, from someone junior enough to know it.
- Avoiding every difficult subject in case it seems negative. Attrition, slow periods, and bonus history are standard questions from serious candidates, and dodging them is how people end up somewhere unsuitable.
- Asking what is in the firm's published materials, including headcount, offices, and practice areas. Read those first and ask about what they do not cover.
- Treating a summer or vacation scheme interview as low stakes. The questions you ask are one of the few things distinguishing candidates with similar transcripts.
- Judging a firm on the two or three people assigned to charm you rather than on the group you would actually work in.
- Forgetting to ask what happens if you do not make partner, which is the outcome for most associates and is worth knowing in advance.
Afterwards
- 1Write down the numbers the same day: billable target, what counts toward it, hours last month, promotion figures.
- 2Note where two interviewers gave different answers, and put that question to a third person before you decide.
- 3Reach out to one associate who left the firm recently. Former associates are noticeably more direct than current ones.
- 4Ask recruiting for anything you were told verbally about bonus or leave in writing before you accept.
- 5Compare offers on assignment system, group attrition, and where recent leavers went, rather than on starting salary alone.