Interview questions that surprised you

[Aureliuse]

"Describe what it was like working at your last law firm, what you liked about it, what you didn't like about it."

This question was tricky. It's a minefield.

Say too much about the negative aspects of your past employer, your interviewer might think you are going to be trouble; say too much positive aspects about your last employer, the interview can ask a devastating question such as: "if it was so good, why did you leave? If the last firm offers to hire you back with a higher salary and benefits, would you take their offer or our offer?"

Btw, I had the latter question come up twice.

I had an "Insanity Wolf" (remember that meme?) moment during one of my interviews for a first-year associate job, when I thought the interviewer was too condescending about "privilege to work here" etc.

At the end, when the interviewer asked whether I had any more question, I said to the effect: "yeah, just one question. If it's such a privilege to work for you, why did X number of junior lawyers leave after about a year here? Why is there such high turnover?" (I did my research btw and this was what I found).

Hehe, I did not get that job offer and I was glad that I did not.

Edited October 3, 2021 by Aureliuse
typo

[Ramesses]

Not a question but interesting experience during a national firm interview. 

Visible minority female associate was telling me about how diversity matters (specifically about LGBTQ+ since her sister was) when the white male partner interrupted and said "diversity does not matter". 

I was not upset when they did not call back. 

[goonersfc]

My first ever OCI left me the really irked and almost, angry. During the first "tell me about yourself" question, I added in my answer that I spent most of my childhood in rural-eastern Europe and grew up with humble beginnings. The interviewers' next question was "Did you play golf? Did you have golf there?" And before I could answer he went on "Man! I can't imagine what growing up without golf looks like." 

 

 

[Hegdis]

5 minutes ago, goonersfc said:

My first ever OCI left me the really irked and almost, angry. During the first "tell me about yourself" question, I added in my answer that I spent most of my childhood in rural-eastern Europe and grew up with humble beginnings. The interviewers' next question was "Did you play golf? Did you have golf there?" And before I could answer he went on "Man! I can't imagine what growing up without golf looks like." 

I dunno if you'd want to work there.... what a tone deaf response.

[CleanHands]

2 minutes ago, goonersfc said:

My first ever OCI left me the really irked and almost, angry. During the first "tell me about yourself" question, I added in my answer that I spent most of my childhood in rural-eastern Europe and grew up with humble beginnings. The interviewers' next question was "Did you play golf? Did you have golf there?" And before I could answer he went on "Man! I can't imagine what growing up without golf looks like." 

The more I progressed through law school, the more exposure I've gotten, and the more I hear stories like this, the greater the degree to which I have complete and utter contempt for corporate lawyers.

I've heard about 100 stories like this now about dipshit Patrick Bateman BigLaw interviewers, but it's just the kind of thing you simply don't hear from retail lawyers who deal with those with addictions, mental health problems, histories of abuse, etc, every day, because it's impossible to do that sort of work and not gain some semblance of perspective.

[GGrievous]

I guess that’s what they mean by “fit”

[Hegdis]

One of my colleagues had a memorable question. The interviewer - the person for whom the firm was named - finally burst out "What are you?" She was very confused and said she was a law student applying for an articling position (she said she honestly thought he'd forgotten because he was older and maybe got confused or something).

That was not what he meant. His next question made that quite clear (same as the first, with a "Yeah, but" at the start.)

This was over fifteen years ago. Sounds like progress is slow and disappointing.

[Law nerd 221]

I was interviewing with a boutique litigation firm for a summer position. The principle lawyer was supposed to send me a zoom link in the morning (our interview was at 10). He didn't! I emailed him to see if we were still having the interview. He responded at 11, sending me the link. The interview itself was the weirdest thing! He kept telling me how smart he is and how amazing he is at his job... He also told me that he ran over his dog!!!!!! (that came out of nowhere) Then he asked me if I could drive which I said yes... His response was "Great... you can drive me home when I'm drunk!" He then asked me to tell him a joke... and the proceeded with telling me the most racist joke ever! Anyways... needless to say that I didn't accept his offer and was/am traumatized by this experience. lol

[cherrytree]

57 minutes ago, Law nerd 221 said:

I was interviewing with a boutique litigation firm for a summer position. The principle lawyer was supposed to send me a zoom link in the morning (our interview was at 10). He didn't! I emailed him to see if we were still having the interview. He responded at 11, sending me the link. The interview itself was the weirdest thing! He kept telling me how smart he is and how amazing he is at his job... He also told me that he ran over his dog!!!!!! (that came out of nowhere) Then he asked me if I could drive which I said yes... His response was "Great... you can drive me home when I'm drunk!" He then asked me to tell him a joke... and the proceeded with telling me the most racist joke ever! Anyways... needless to say that I didn't accept his offer and was/am traumatized by this experience. lol

Can confirm I've also heard a "tell me a joke" interview story from another law student who was looking for a summer 2021 position. She too picked up the racist undertones, I'm not sure what exactly occurred, but safe to say the interviewer didn't bother hiding his opinion of the races of candidates he was interviewing. Might be the same employer/firm, who knows. 

[SlytherinLLP]

1 hour ago, CleanHands said:

The more I progressed through law school, the more exposure I've gotten, and the more I hear stories like this, the greater the degree to which I have complete and utter contempt for corporate lawyers.

I've heard about 100 stories like this now about dipshit Patrick Bateman BigLaw interviewers, but it's just the kind of thing you simply don't hear from retail lawyers who deal with those with addictions, mental health problems, histories of abuse, etc, every day, because it's impossible to do that sort of work and not gain some semblance of perspective.

My experience has been the exact opposite, most of the corporate lawyers I work/interviewed/networked/had lunches, dinners & drinks with were professional, tactful and down to earth. There's a preponderance of big egos but what can you do.

On the other hand I've had family and friends tell me about their distasteful interactions with retail lawyers (for separation agreements, income tax advice etc.) and I was stunned at routine practices that I thought with certainty would warrant heavy handed disciplinary action or disbarment. Some of this wasn't just sheer incompetence but also coercive and abusive behaviour and comments. 

There's douchebags everywhere - silly to generalize. 

[CleanHands]

9 minutes ago, SlytherinLLP said:

My experience has been the exact opposite, most of the corporate lawyers I work/interviewed/networked/had lunches, dinners & drinks with were professional, tactful and down to earth. There's a preponderance of big egos but what can you do.

On the other hand I've had family and friends tell me about their distasteful interactions with retail lawyers (for separation agreements, income tax advice etc.) and I was stunned at routine practices that I thought with certainty would warrant heavy handed disciplinary action or disbarment. Some of this wasn't just sheer incompetence but also coercive and abusive behaviour and comments. 

There's douchebags everywhere - silly to generalize. 

Oh trust me, you don't know a fraction of the disturbing stuff that happens in certain practice areas. However, my point was specifically in reference to people who are baffled that anyone could grow up not having caviar for every meal or other such out of touch poshness. That's a perspective that's hard to maintain when every day you talk to people whose Thanksgivings growing up involved getting handed a Big Mac by their parents before they would shoot up heroin.

[SlytherinLLP]

7 minutes ago, CleanHands said:

Oh trust me, you don't know a fraction of the disturbing stuff that happens in certain practice areas. However, my point was specifically in reference to people who are baffled that anyone could grow up not having caviar for every meal or other such out of touch poshness. That's a perspective that's hard to maintain when every day you talk to people whose Thanksgivings growing up involved getting handed a Big Mac by their parents before they would shoot up heroin.

Fair but I still wouldn't generalize to the point of suggesting that kind of attitude is pervasive in corporate. People are generally pretty grounded. Maybe the old guard with 20+ years of practice under their belt, but in terms of articling students and young associates and partners, corporate ("Bay Street" generally) consists of predominantly middle class upbringing with good first or second generation immigrant representation. But I suppose even that is far removed from the situation you described. 

[123]

On 8/8/2021 at 7:42 AM, nana said:

For those with experience interviewing for legal positions, are there any questions you remember that surprised you or that you hadn't prepared for?

"You know those Elvis impersonators?"

[BlockedQuebecois]

1 hour ago, CleanHands said:

Oh trust me, you don't know a fraction of the disturbing stuff that happens in certain practice areas. However, my point was specifically in reference to people who are baffled that anyone could grow up not having caviar for every meal or other such out of touch poshness. That's a perspective that's hard to maintain when every day you talk to people whose Thanksgivings growing up involved getting handed a Big Mac by their parents before they would shoot up heroin.

Plenty of Crown's I've met are as out of touch as they come. There are also a lot of great ones, but a good number grew up wealthy and see their work as really being about protecting the status quo/keeping the rabble in line. Same way you have cops who see all kinds of shit on a daily basis and never gain any perspective. 

If I had to bet, though, I would say that non-Crown government lawyers are the most out of touch.

[Law nerd 221]

2 hours ago, cherrytree said:

Can confirm I've also heard a "tell me a joke" interview story from another law student who was looking for a summer 2021 position. She too picked up the racist undertones, I'm not sure what exactly occurred, but safe to say the interviewer didn't bother hiding his opinion of the races of candidates he was interviewing. Might be the same employer/firm, who knows. 

Honestly schools should stop advertising firms like this! Its super shocking to me that even though I reported this incident to my school... they still didn't remove or at least add a warning to the the job posting.

[cherrytree]

5 hours ago, Law nerd 221 said:

Honestly schools should stop advertising firms like this! Its super shocking to me that even though I reported this incident to my school... they still didn't remove or at least add a warning to the the job posting.

I can understand that publicly antagonizing an employer is probably never going to be a position that any career office would take as a no-brainer. But that's why word of mouth continues to be important, in the form of students looking out for each other in private conversations. Not encouraging anyone to spread gossip, but it'd be nice to look out for a fellow student when you can.

[LMP]

5 hours ago, BlockedQuebecois said:

Plenty of Crown's I've met are as out of touch as they come. There are also a lot of great ones, but a good number grew up wealthy and see their work as really being about protecting the status quo/keeping the rabble in line. Same way you have cops who see all kinds of shit on a daily basis and never gain any perspective. 

If I had to bet, though, I would say that non-Crown government lawyers are the most out of touch.

Interestingly we had a fairly senior crown as a guest speaker in our crim class today, I think a lot of my classmates went away with a view quite similar to the one you are expressing.

[Psychometronic]

4 hours ago, cherrytree said:

I can understand that publicly antagonizing an employer is probably never going to be a position that any career office would take as a no-brainer. But that's why word of mouth continues to be important, in the form of students looking out for each other in private conversations. Not encouraging anyone to spread gossip, but it'd be nice to look out for a fellow student when you can.

This.

Our CSO encouraged us to “report” incidents that contravened the VBA guidelines and any other inappropriate behaviour and there’s usually a survey of some sort that tries to elicit this information. I’m not convinced much, if anything, is done about issues like this because the CSO is the liaison between students and law firms and it would not be in the best interest of them or the school to alienate any recruitment-participating firm. 

Anecdotally, a friend was pressured by multiple firms to give them her first choice and interacted with at least one lawyer who made a racist comment. She reported these incidents to the CSO who essentially brushed it off as not a big deal and conveyed that she was overreacting.

Some firms still seem to get away with sending early offers and nothing has really changed on that front either. 

[Mountebank]

18 hours ago, CleanHands said:

Oh trust me, you don't know a fraction of the disturbing stuff that happens in certain practice areas.

You have no idea.

I, for instance, am an Estates lawyer so I make all my money when my clients die.

That's all I'll say.

[cherrytree]

9 hours ago, Psychometronic said:

This.

Our CSO encouraged us to “report” incidents that contravened the VBA guidelines and any other inappropriate behaviour and there’s usually a survey of some sort that tries to elicit this information. I’m not convinced much, if anything, is done about issues like this because the CSO is the liaison between students and law firms and it would not be in the best interest of them or the school to alienate any recruitment-participating firm. 

Anecdotally, a friend was pressured by multiple firms to give them her first choice and interacted with at least one lawyer who made a racist comment. She reported these incidents to the CSO who essentially brushed it off as not a big deal and conveyed that she was overreacting.

Some firms still seem to get away with sending early offers and nothing has really changed on that front either. 

Depressing but true. If the career office can/will actually do something about these sort of incidents during recruits, we wouldn't need Ultra Vires (independently funded student publication at UofT Law) taking on the burden to run anonymous surveys and gather data after almost every formal recruit. There is no shortage of students sharing anecdotes about first choice and discrimination/equity/diversity related matters every year. I personally have more trust in UV as a source of data because of their independence and lack of conflict of interest.

I'm not sure if I agree that "nothing has really changed", because it's difficult to determine whether the frequency of such incidents has actually decreased over the years, as they are still far from being completely eliminated and it's tough to use anonymous anecdata for further in-depth studies and see if change has indeed occurred, whether big or small. I remember hearing about Lenczner implementing the double blind resume review method to help eliminate subconscious bias that may arise upon seeing a candidate's name on their application and being impressed with that. Wish that could be the norm.

[chaboywb]

15 minutes ago, cherrytree said:

I remember hearing about Lenczner implementing the double blind resume review method to help eliminate subconscious bias that may arise upon seeing a candidate's name on their application and being impressed with that. Wish that could be the norm.

I've never understood the double-blind process. Removing names doesn't affect the bias toward socioeconomically-priviliged experiences (prestigious unpaid foreign internships, interests like sailing and golf, etc) when reviewing resumes. In fact, it probably strengthens those biases, as the reviewer can't compensate in favour of marginalized candidates (whether it's right to do so on the basis of a name is another story).

Then, once they get to the interview stage, their name and demographic will become known anyway, allowing those biases to take place.

Maybe I'm missing something. 

[PulpFiction]

On 10/7/2021 at 12:40 PM, goonersfc said:

My first ever OCI left me the really irked and almost, angry. During the first "tell me about yourself" question, I added in my answer that I spent most of my childhood in rural-eastern Europe and grew up with humble beginnings. The interviewers' next question was "Did you play golf? Did you have golf there?" And before I could answer he went on "Man! I can't imagine what growing up without golf looks like." 

 

 

Edit: my commentary isn't needed. But just lol @ golf

Edited October 8, 2021 by PulpFiction

[atg95]

More of an interview answer that surprised me. For an OCI, I started out saying that I really was interested in a field of law practiced at the firm. They then informed me that while the firm used to practice in that area they had stopped working on it this year and would no longer be doing so. Rest of the OCI was awkward after that and I did not receive an offer.

I have been to interviews where they had basically nothing to ask of me, the whole do you have any questions for us and silence routine. Sometimes that means they have decided already, either to hire you already or no interest in you. I coped with it by asking questions that in actuality were designed to show off my past activities and accomplishments. 

[penguin]

38 minutes ago, atg95 said:

I have been to interviews where they had basically nothing to ask of me, the whole do you have any questions for us and silence routine. Sometimes that means they have decided already, either to hire you already or no interest in you. I coped with it by asking questions that in actuality were designed to show off my past activities and accomplishments. 

I hate this. I rather they just have fewer OCI slots than to interview those of us that they already have no interest in hiring.  For me, I experienced this with boutique firms. They barely asked me anything and most of it was based on my hobbies/ interest. 

Edited October 17, 2021 by penguin

[pepesilvia]

On 10/7/2021 at 9:39 PM, cherrytree said:

I can understand that publicly antagonizing an employer is probably never going to be a position that any career office would take as a no-brainer. But that's why word of mouth continues to be important, in the form of students looking out for each other in private conversations. Not encouraging anyone to spread gossip, but it'd be nice to look out for a fellow student when you can.

When I was going through the process there were many students who had a few more serious "incidents" with such firms. They reported to the LSO, CDO, even wrote about it publicly under their real name... nothing material ever happened. It's why whenever the opportunity comes up I reiterate their stories to whoever will listen, because it is the least I can do. It is surprising how many people are relatively unaware of what is essentially public information (it is not gossip, in my opinion). It is surprising how many people assume that these things just do not happen in the profession anymore, while at the student level it is more frequent than ever.

I would really urge students to go public if they have experienced such incidents (when things go beyond rude and transition into... well, something else). The legal industry has long been overdue for a Me Too of its own.

Edited October 18, 2021 by pepesilvia