Asking questions

It’s easy to forget this, but interviews are two way conversations between yourself and your interviewer(s). They provide a great opportunity for the firm to get to know you, but also offer you the chance to get to know a bit more about the firm and its people. You should always come armed with questions, as failing to ask questions if given the opportunity at the end of an interview might demonstrate a lack of interest in learning more about the firm (and therefore reflect negatively on your motivation and interest). It also means you will have wasted a unique opportunity to gain further insights into the firm and its culture. 

Tailor your questions to the role and seniority of your interviewer. If you’re talking to a senior partner, don’t start asking them about the application process. Consider asking them about their career: what has kept them at the firm for so long, how their role has changed over time, what their favourite thing is about the job etc. You could also ask about the firm’s future strategies, or how it negotiated a particular challenge, although be ready to give your own opinion in case they flip the question back onto you. These types of questions can demonstrate your desire to gain a greater insight into the firm. If you are being interviewed by a graduate recruiter, you could perhaps ask about the work that you might encounter on a vacation scheme, or the nature of the training throughout the graduate scheme.

You should also listen carefully to everything your interviews say, as this might help you to think of additional questions to ask at the end. In each of my interviews, the interviewer introduced themselves, briefly summarised their career path to date and explained the area of law in which they practise. I then tried to remember this information so that I could use it to form targeted questions to ask at the end. For example, asking how the firm’s merger a few years back affected your interviewer when they were a junior associate in the banking team shows a thoughtful and personal interest in the person sat in front of you.

85+ example questions to ask during law firm interviews

As this is a topic that often concerns aspiring lawyers, we decided to ask a broad range of previous interviewees to tell us which of the questions that they asked in interviews seemed to go down well with their interviewers. And so, below we have compiled a list of 85+ questions to ask in law firm interviews.  

Although this list contains many strong examples, there is no objective set of questions that will work well in any context. Questions will need to be tailored to the circumstances, taking into account the nature of the firm, the role and seniority of your interviewers, the discussions that have already taken place during the interview, and so on.

Whatever you plan on asking, try to anticipate any follow-on questions that the interviewer might ask you in light of the questions you ask them. For example, if you ask their opinion on a news story, legal industry challenge, firm strategy, or trend relating to their practice area, be prepared for them to flip the question back on you and ask your opinion. If you know nothing about whatever it is you asked, this probably won’t look great.

Questions to ask during an interview

With all the above in mind, below is a list of questions that candidates have told us they have previously asked in interviews, split into the following categories: 

1. Questions about the firm and career: this includes questions about the role of lawyers, as well as a law firm’s work, practice areas, culture, training, and strategy.
2. Questions about business and legal trends: this includes questions about technology, the legal industry, training, and working patterns.
3. Questions about the interviewer’s career: this includes questions tailored to different roles, experiences, and levels of seniority.
4. Questions about your own personal development: this includes questions covering skill development, and preparing for vacation schemes and training contracts.

Note that we have included our own thoughts or concerns where applicable (in brackets/italics) next to some of the questions.

Questions to ask about law firms and legal careers

Questions about the role of lawyers

• What does a trainee’s role involve in your practice area?
• Can you give examples of the work and documents that trainees in your department might come across? 
• What does a trainee’s role generally involve on a day-to-day basis? (I would be careful with this one, as they might expect you to already have some idea)
• What are the challenges of working across multiple jurisdictions? 

• Which of your firm's practice areas do you think will see the most growth in the next half a decade?
• Which of the firm’s practice areas generate the most revenue? (if you ask this, make sure you can explain why this matters/why it’s interesting from your perspective)
• Which practice areas tends to thrive/remain busy all year round, irrespective of the geopolitical and economic situation? (perhaps a better way to phrase this would be something like “Which of the firm’s practice areas, if any, tend to be more insulated from geopolitical and economic events?”, and if you do ask this question, be ready to articulate your own thoughts too)
• What is a memorable deal/matter you worked on in your team at [firm]?
• How would you pitch your practice area to a trainee looking to choose their training contract seat or qualify? 
• What challenges are currently impacting your practice area?
• What are the opportunities that could be available for your specific department to capitalise on over the next few years?

• How would you describe the firm's culture? (If you ask this, make sure you’ve read about the culture/values in advice, assuming the firm talks publicly about it).
• What is your favourite thing about the firm, aside from the work you do?
• Have you faced any challenges/setbacks (personal or professional) throughout your career, and if so, did you feel supported by people at [firm]?
• Where do you think there’s opportunity for improvement or growth within [firm], and how can trainees help with that improvement/growth? (the candidate who contributed this question said that it prompted a really great discussion; this backs up my point that you really must do your background research relating to the content of questions so that you’re able to contribute your own reflections/ideas)
• How would you describe the work/life balance at the firm, and what support is in place? (be careful with questions like this, especially at large international firms, as it may come across as if you’re already concerned about working long hours)
• In what way does the firm actively foster diversity and inclusion within its workplace culture, and how do these efforts impact its day-to-day operations?
• How has corporate social responsibility changed over the years at the firm, and what are the firm’s future plans regarding corporate social responsibility initiatives?

• What do you think are the biggest pull factors to train here? 
• What makes [firm] such a fantastic firm to build a career at? 
• What training and professional development opportunities are available at [firm]? (make sure you’re aware of any that the firm publicly talks about, for example on its website – it might be better to ask for more detail about one or more opportunities, rather than asking a general question about what’s available)
• What are some unique challenges or opportunities the firm offers to trainees? 
• What support is put into place for trainees who are struggling?
• Have you noticed any downsides or difficulties regarding the firm’s unique training structure? (this question was based on a firm’s unique non-rotational training contract)

• What sort of geographical expansion or sector expansion do you expect the firm to undertake over the next five years, and why? (be ready to give your own opinion on this, and to back up that opinion) 
• How is the firm’s business strategy implemented across its day-to-day operations? (if asking questions like this, try to make sure you have some idea of what the firm’s business strategy is!) 

• How does the London office operate within the firm’s wider network?
• Would you say the London office operates as more of a satellite office to support the headquarters in New York? If so, how does this affect the work you do?
• How much of the work completed in the London office is home-grown? (Be careful with questions like this, as it might then seem like you would prefer to work for a more UK-centric firm)
• How does the firm's culture in the US impact the culture of the London office?