Like other legal support professionals, legal assistants take on significant responsibilities on behalf of their law firm or legal department and its clients. Hiring managers who interview legal assistants want to be sure that their professional abilities, “soft skills,” and professional ethics are up to the job.
Here are some of the most common types of legal assistant interview questions and how to prepare for them.
- “Tell us about a time when you…”
This phrase is a popular frame for “behavioral” interview questions, which seek to gauge how you will handle a particular challenge in the future based on how you handled it in the past. These questions also give the hiring manager a look at your professional background. While you can’t prepare for every possible “second half” of this question, you can reduce your anxiety and answer more confidently by knowing your resume backwards and forwards and by thinking through some of the significant challenges you’ve faced on the job – and how you have overcome them.
- “How have you handled sensitive information in the past?”
Legal assistants work with confidential client information on a daily basis. Your ability to keep clients’ identities, issues, and plans to yourself is crucial to successful legal support, and it will come up during the interview. Whether the interviewer asks directly about your skills at confidentiality or phrases the question in hypothetical terms, be prepared to give a concrete example of how you have tackled this question in the past.
- “Why do you want to work in this practice area?”
Some interviewers will want to know about your interest in the law in general, but nearly all will want to know why you want to work in the specific practice area or areas the firm or department handles. If you’ve been working in this practice area for a while, talk about specific “hot topic” issues in the field or specific cases that seized your attention. If you’re new to the practice area, review your resume and identify concrete examples of where your skills and past experience will be of value in this field.
- “When have you successfully dealt with a stressed client?”
Lawyers frequently rely on legal assistants to “run interference” with clients, whether that means fielding their panicked phone calls, calming impatience when an attorney is running late, or defusing a tense situation during a meeting. Be prepared to talk about your abilities in this area by offering a specific example of a time you managed a client’s needs or expectations successfully.
At Kent Legal, our experienced recruiters can help you find a legal assistant position in Toronto. Contact us today to learn more.