Personal Legal Adviser

You want to make sure that the lawyer's idea of the appropriate amount of time to spend with you is similar to your own. If you need hand-holding and a call from your attorney every day, then a lawyer who calls only when there is action on the case may not be active enough. This question forges your expectations for the relationship, helping to set a standard that the lawyer will have to meet for you to feel he is living up to his promises.

The interviewer wants to know what you are particularly good at and how this would fit into the role. Choose a few of your key strengths that are required for the role and give examples of how you have demonstrated them successfully in the past. Strengths could include the ability to learn quickly; composure under pressure; ability to multi-task; team focus or your ability to work autonomously.

The interviewer wants to see that you have composure, problem solving skills and can stay focused in difficult conditions. Give an example of a time when you were faced with a stressful situation (not caused by you) and how you handled it with poise.

The interviewer is trying to gauge your interpersonal skills and team contribution. Outline the project objectives, your responsibilities, the actions you took to assist the group and the successful results. Provide evidence of how you were a keen collaborator and how your contribution was critical. You also want to demonstrate that you value teamwork and understand its key attributes such as honest communication, a shared purpose and effective problem-solving.

Behaviour-related questions aim at assessing how closely you match the competences or personality traits required by the job. Use this opportunity to highlight success from projects, sporting or social activities.

The interviewer is looking to see if you can think and act quickly, and that you really are knowledgeable in this field. This can be a challenging question that puts you on the spot. A good response if you cannot immediately relate to that issue is to speak about a crisis you may have dealt with in a previous role and the outcome once you resolved the issue.

☛ What was the last book you read?

☛ What research have you done on our firm and our industry?

☛ What would you do differently if you were in charge of this company?

☛ How do you define arrogance? Are you arrogant?

☛ Can you work without supervision?

☛ What clubs do you belong to?

☛ What management style do you prefer?

☛ Why did you leave your last job.

☛ How many Legal Advisor projects do you work on at once?

☛ Example when you were able to successfully communicate with another person.

☛ How do you see this Legal Advisor job developing?

☛ Have you ever had difficulty getting others to accept your ideas?

☛ When you are not studying or working, what types of activities do you enjoy?

☛ What are your strengths?

☛ How would you describe yourself?

☛ What qualities do you like in a supervisor?

☛ What would your previous supervisor say your strongest point is?

☛ What are your outstanding qualities?

☛ What sort of decisions are easy for you to make?

☛ What personal characteristics do you think lead to success in this job?

☛ What is your definition of intelligence?

The interviewer wants to know if you are a high achiever and ascertain how your accomplishments will be beneficial to them. Select one or two recent accomplishments that are directly related to the job on offer. Identify the situations, the actions you took, skills you used and the positive outcomes; quantifying the benefits where possible. Show how you can bring what you learned to the new role.

Law is not an area where you must see specific credentials to feel comfortable with a practitioner. The law degree and license speak volumes about someone having achieved the minimum standards for competency.

Still, there are some legal specialties, such as a "certified tax lawyer" or "certified civil trial lawyer." While there are major trade groups like the American Trial Lawyers Association that have developed credentials, most national specialty law groups are membership organizations, rather than education/credentialing institutions.

Thus, you may need to distinguish between whether the lawyer is a member or a certificant.

Attorney-client privilege can make this sticky sometimes, but someone who can act as a reference and say how the lawyer deals with clients will help cement your decision.

If the lawyer won't give you the names of clients, ask for professional references, perhaps the names of lawyers to whom he makes referrals. When you call those colleagues, do not identify the person who gave you his name at first, saying, "I was told you could be a reference for my attorney. I was wondering who you consider to be the best attorneys in town." If your lawyer's name comes up, then ask why the reference feels that way. If it's not on the list, ask why not.

The best answers are similar roles in similar companies to the one on offer. Even if you are toying with many different ideas on jobs, don’t show this as it lets the employer know that you haven’t worked out what you really want yet.This is also a question recruiters ask to find out what other interviews really good candidates have in the pipeline so they know the time frame for a job offer.

☛ What do you know about our products/services?

☛ Do you need additional training?

☛ Tell me about the problems you have had living within your means.

☛ What major challenges and problems did you face?

☛ Will you take a psychological examination as a condition of employment?

☛ What would you do if you were fired in two years?

☛ What was your biggest failure?

The employer isn’t really interested in what you are looking for: they are interested in what they are looking for. Fit your answer to their needs and focus on the benefits you can bring to the organisation.

Show you have gone further than just reading their website. Mention what you have read about them in the media; talk about products, services, history and people, especially any friends that work there.

Emphasise your best subjects and highlights of your studies. If grades were average, talk about leadership or jobs you took to finance your education.

☛ What kind of people do you find it difficult to work with?

☛ What was the most rewarding experience at work?

☛ What new skills have you learned or developed recently?

☛ In what way did this type of work interest you and how did you get started?

☛ What would you like to be doing five years from now?

☛ Why haven't you found a position before now?

☛ Walk me through the important points on your resume.