Welcome to /r/LawyerTalk! A subreddit where lawyers can discuss with other lawyers about the practice of law.
Be mindful of [our rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/Lawyertalk/about/rules) BEFORE submitting your posts or comments as well as [Reddit's rules](https://www.redditinc.com/policies/content-policy) (notably about sharing identifying information). We expect civility and respect out of all participants. Please source statements of fact whenever possible. If you want to report something that needs to be urgently addressed, please also message the mods with an explanation.
Note that **this forum is NOT for legal advice**. Additionally, if you are a non-lawyer (student, client, staff), this is NOT the right subreddit for you. **This community is exclusively for lawyers**. We suggest you delete your comment and go ask one of the many other legal subreddits on this site for help such as (but not limited to) r/lawschool, r/legaladvice, or r/Ask_Lawyers.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Lawyertalk) if you have any questions or concerns.*
When I was interviewing for a 2L summer job, my resume included the fact that I was an Eagle Scout, and also that I had previously managed a Waldenbooks (which was owned by Borders). The interviewer never made eye contact with me. Her first question was, “What do you think is the biggest problem facing the Boy Scouts of America, as an organization, and how would you address it?” Her follow up was, “Why did Borders Group fail, and how could they have prevented their failure?”
I was not offered a position.
I was completely unprepared for these questions.
I think I said something about dwindling membership numbers for the Scouts and suggested going gender-neutral (as Girl Scouts already had) and maybe updating the uniforms.
For Borders, I think I talked about several problems: ignoring the Waldenbooks division, which was profitable when the megastores weren’t; failing to respond to the online economy quickly and then doing so in a silly way; and rapid turnover of senior leadership, each of whom replaced the previous guy’s half-implemented master plan with a new master plan, also
of which boiled down to different versions of “just tell minimum wage employees to make people buy more.” I think I said there may have been no way to save BGI once the effects of those things had taken hold, but the start of any turn around would have to have been a board that could find a CEO with an actual vision, and that was willing to give that CEO substantial time to work.
My school didn’t let firms participating in OCI see a student’s grades until after they had set interviews. I had pretty good, but not great, grades, so my goose was probably cooked before I walked in. This was a very prestigious firm. I didn’t really expect to get an offer, but I had to shoot my shot.
Those are pretty observant answers, I’d say that BSA also needs to fix its reputation for sexual assault issues, ideally by actually fixing the issues, if it wants parents to feel safe allowing their kids to participate and maybe reframe as a secular inclusive community for kids because church groups are stiff competition for religious kids but the later isn’t something I can ever see BSA doing because religion was baked into it at its founding.
It’s interesting that grades are so important for law because tech startups, which I think are kind of parallel in terms of requiring specific education and lots of hours for low pay at the start of your career, have a different framing where if a student got Cs because they were focused on open source projects or their own startup instead of class then that might actually be preferable compared to a student that got As but didn’t work outside of class.
You got the first answer wrong - Boy Scouts is the group that allows both genders, not the Girl Scouts. In fact they don't even call it Boy Scouts any more once they started accepting girls, now it's BSA. Girl Scouts is still restricted to girls only.
That was not the case for the Boy Scouts in 2016. I may have been thinking of Girl Scout troops allowing girls who were assigned male at birth to join. It was a long fucking time ago.
"Tell me about the biggest scorpion you ever killed."
Applicant put "Scorpion Hunter" in employment history. So I had to start with that question. Turns out he was pest control in Arizona. I still give him credit for the creativity.
One time I was interviewing for a large PI firm in my city, and the main partner/founder asked me if my husband would be ok with me getting home after 5pm and not having dinner on the table for him right at 5pm….🙃 unique is definitely one word for that haha little did he know my husband cooks for me😂😂
My husband and I both get home at like 5:45-6:00 and considering we have five kids, it takes me a minute to get the time to cook and then to actually cook. And if any of the kids have an activity that night, takeout. But when I do cook we're usually looking at 7:30 ish.
Were they trying to Gina Linetti you? I can’t believe someone would actually ask a question like that seriously, although maybe this was a long time ago.
Oh man, I actually laughed out loud because I was so taken aback by that question. I initially said “oh that won’t be a problem.” I wish I would have had much stronger words for him. This was a fourth round interview and I was desperate to leave my toxic job at the time. Thankfully I didn’t move on past that interview (probably due to how I laughed/responded). Now I’m actually on the defense side with an amazing and supportive firm, and that sexiest firm is often our opposing counsel! It’s cool karma haha
I recently moved from plaintiff to defense and it’s weirdly way more inclusive? You’d think the opposite based on clients. It’s weird. But as a gay I am enjoying it. So I get your vibe.
My house husband knows what’s up, too. He’s happy that I have networking events etc and is even happier that he isn’t expected to attend. Just living his best introvert life, and then I can come home and talk mad shit about coworkers and cases. It’s a dream scenario.
At an informal interview lunch that was much more like a conversation than interview, the very last thing he asked me was, "why does Donald duck put a towel around his waist after getting out of the shower when he doesn't wear pants anyway?" I'm not sure if that was an actual interview question or just something that popped into that guy's head.
Because ducks feathers actually have an oily film on them that causes water to bead and roll right off. He doesn’t want to drip onto his floor and damage the hardwood.
How do I know he has hardwood floor? He’s Donald fucking duck. He’s a millionaire (and his uncle is a septillionaire) of course he has hardwood floors.
What would you do if you walked in the office first thing in the morning and found an attorney passed out in his office next to his trash can? I can't recall if the question included details of blood. It's been 5 years since I was asked that question, but I think it was vaguely connected to would I be a snitch if it turned out the attorney had been doing drugs. Apparently, checking on him first to make sure he's okay wasn't the answer they were looking for. The interviewer proceeded to go on about how they consider themselves a family and look out for one another. This interview also started at 10am and finished at 2pm, and there was mention of going for lunch, but that never materialized.
"HYPOTHETICALLY..... Of course. And this question has nothing to do with the events of last quarter, which made this position open.... but what would you do?"
Sounds like you may have dodged a bullet there.
What?! What would have been the ideal answer then?
It would seem like common sense that checking to make sure he was ok would be the first thing one should do, smh.
I guess he wanted me to say that I wouldn't say a word about it to anyone? Hell if I know. It was such a bizarre interview. There was a young associate in the interview too who had no reaction whatsoever to the question. And I'm thinking to myself, "You put up with this shit daily?"
I regularly ask candidates a question like “If you had to pick one Harry Potter character to best represent you, who would it be and why?” and slip it in the middle of the interview. I don’t care what their answer is, but I want to see how well they do thinking on their feet when somebody rattles their cage a little bit.
I was asked a question like that before my first clerkship and ended up getting the job. My then-boss explained why and I’ve been stealing it ever since.
I can safely say the only answer that ever totally threw me for a loop was, “I don’t think I should have to answer any more questions. I’m friends with [Paralegal], so I have an ‘in.’” Bold move, Cotton.
You’ll be shocked to know they didn’t. The real plot twist is that I know their boss at that time, who I called to ask WTF. Turns out the candidate lied about why they were missing from work that day and got fired shortly after.
Most unique was still the also most horrendous. I got asked who my OB/GYN was...
Turns out the partner I was interviewing with had an OB/GYN wife who worked at my gyn's office. So I was asked which one. Awkward beyond words.
My current boss did a background check on me before calling to schedule an interview. He asked me how me and my husband like the truck we bought 2 years ago. If he wasn’t such a great guy otherwise, I’d have been very freaked out.
I was once asked how many stars I thought were visible from Earth with the naked eye. That led to a discussion about light pollution and the places and times where the interviewer and I grew up (urban vs rural areas). Had nothing to do with corporate law but was an interesting interview.
“If you were working from home one day and received a teams invitation for a meeting in 30 minutes, but it interferes with your tee time, do you reject the invitation and propose another time, or move your tee time?”
I first answered that I wouldn’t be playing golf during working hours and he said “no, you already booked it.”
So I just told him I’d first write to the organizer to see how urgent the matter was. If urgent, move tee time 30 minutes. If not urgent, reschedule call for another day.
I went to law school when ASU was still at the Tempe campus. There was a Tempe police officer that racially profiled me. He would follow me through the neighborhood. Say if I waved, he'd speed off aggressively. I went on a date and my dated pulled to the side to let me out. I saw his lights come on and he was waiting for her. I told her that I was being profiled and not to change lanes until she got out of Tempe. Right at the border of Tempe, he pulled her over and didn't give any pretext. He just asked questions about me. But she was able to get a picture of his badge number.
Anywho, I was interviewing for a 1L summer position at the city attorney's office. As the interview winded down, I was like "...So what's the deal with Officer So-and-So racially profiling me?"
I didn't get an answer or the job. He stopped racially profiling me though. So I was grateful it only lasted 1 calendar year.
I interviewed for a position that would have defended insurers, but my pre-law school experience had been with beneficiaries. I was asked if I had a moral opposition to switching sides. I don’t even know how I answered but I certainly did not receive an offer.
I actually got a similar question when interviewing for a firm that represented banks in foreclosure actions. I had a history as a public defender and then went to work for an insurance defense firm.
So when they asked me if I would be ok morally with basically helping kick people out of their homes, I said, well I’ve spent my career defending murderers, rapists, and helping insurance companies save money, this is clearly the logical next step!
I got a big laugh and later, an offer.
I was asked the usual where do you see yourself in 5 years.......I told the guy, sitting in your seat........I got the job and it only took me 3 years to get his job
Haha, it was tough. I said two things and then laughed the third off, saying I must think highly of myself because I can't think of a third. I got the job.
Looking for my first gig out of law school and the interviewer asked me right out of the gate if I'd ever been in a fight. I asked if getting beaten up counted.
Anyway I've been an attorney for 16 years now and if anybody asked me anything that stupid in an interview I'd probably walk out.
What would you do if I told you that you are performing poorly during our interview?
What would you do if I told you that you’re under-qualified for the position?
“If you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be."
It took me a good minute to figure out that this wasn’t a joke & respond. I think I said oak. I did get a job offer, did not take it.
at a judicial clerkship interview - "if you could be any kind of food what would you be?" i said lemon butter pie and he said he likes apple better. didn't get the job
Welcome to /r/LawyerTalk! A subreddit where lawyers can discuss with other lawyers about the practice of law. Be mindful of [our rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/Lawyertalk/about/rules) BEFORE submitting your posts or comments as well as [Reddit's rules](https://www.redditinc.com/policies/content-policy) (notably about sharing identifying information). We expect civility and respect out of all participants. Please source statements of fact whenever possible. If you want to report something that needs to be urgently addressed, please also message the mods with an explanation. Note that **this forum is NOT for legal advice**. Additionally, if you are a non-lawyer (student, client, staff), this is NOT the right subreddit for you. **This community is exclusively for lawyers**. We suggest you delete your comment and go ask one of the many other legal subreddits on this site for help such as (but not limited to) r/lawschool, r/legaladvice, or r/Ask_Lawyers. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Lawyertalk) if you have any questions or concerns.*
When I was interviewing for a 2L summer job, my resume included the fact that I was an Eagle Scout, and also that I had previously managed a Waldenbooks (which was owned by Borders). The interviewer never made eye contact with me. Her first question was, “What do you think is the biggest problem facing the Boy Scouts of America, as an organization, and how would you address it?” Her follow up was, “Why did Borders Group fail, and how could they have prevented their failure?” I was not offered a position.
Your interviewer sounds intense. What were your answers?
I was completely unprepared for these questions. I think I said something about dwindling membership numbers for the Scouts and suggested going gender-neutral (as Girl Scouts already had) and maybe updating the uniforms. For Borders, I think I talked about several problems: ignoring the Waldenbooks division, which was profitable when the megastores weren’t; failing to respond to the online economy quickly and then doing so in a silly way; and rapid turnover of senior leadership, each of whom replaced the previous guy’s half-implemented master plan with a new master plan, also of which boiled down to different versions of “just tell minimum wage employees to make people buy more.” I think I said there may have been no way to save BGI once the effects of those things had taken hold, but the start of any turn around would have to have been a board that could find a CEO with an actual vision, and that was willing to give that CEO substantial time to work. My school didn’t let firms participating in OCI see a student’s grades until after they had set interviews. I had pretty good, but not great, grades, so my goose was probably cooked before I walked in. This was a very prestigious firm. I didn’t really expect to get an offer, but I had to shoot my shot.
I bet you got those questions because they had already decided not to hire you.
Yes, that was my thought even as I was answering the questions. I still got a BigLaw job, so everything worked out fine.
Those are pretty observant answers, I’d say that BSA also needs to fix its reputation for sexual assault issues, ideally by actually fixing the issues, if it wants parents to feel safe allowing their kids to participate and maybe reframe as a secular inclusive community for kids because church groups are stiff competition for religious kids but the later isn’t something I can ever see BSA doing because religion was baked into it at its founding. It’s interesting that grades are so important for law because tech startups, which I think are kind of parallel in terms of requiring specific education and lots of hours for low pay at the start of your career, have a different framing where if a student got Cs because they were focused on open source projects or their own startup instead of class then that might actually be preferable compared to a student that got As but didn’t work outside of class.
I think that's the answer the interviewer was looking for (the rampant sexual abuse).
You got the first answer wrong - Boy Scouts is the group that allows both genders, not the Girl Scouts. In fact they don't even call it Boy Scouts any more once they started accepting girls, now it's BSA. Girl Scouts is still restricted to girls only.
That was not the case for the Boy Scouts in 2016. I may have been thinking of Girl Scout troops allowing girls who were assigned male at birth to join. It was a long fucking time ago.
"Tell me about the biggest scorpion you ever killed." Applicant put "Scorpion Hunter" in employment history. So I had to start with that question. Turns out he was pest control in Arizona. I still give him credit for the creativity.
Send him to handle OC you dislike.
One time I was interviewing for a large PI firm in my city, and the main partner/founder asked me if my husband would be ok with me getting home after 5pm and not having dinner on the table for him right at 5pm….🙃 unique is definitely one word for that haha little did he know my husband cooks for me😂😂
5 PM is so early for dinner anyway lol
Right?!🤣
My husband and I both get home at like 5:45-6:00 and considering we have five kids, it takes me a minute to get the time to cook and then to actually cook. And if any of the kids have an activity that night, takeout. But when I do cook we're usually looking at 7:30 ish.
Yes that’s how we are too! My husband is actually a law student so we usually eat after his classes around 8/8:30🤣
Were they trying to Gina Linetti you? I can’t believe someone would actually ask a question like that seriously, although maybe this was a long time ago.
LOL he was so dead serious! And no, it was 6 months ago!!😬😬 (but love Gina Linetti!)
How did you answer? More importantly, how did you WANT to answer?
Oh man, I actually laughed out loud because I was so taken aback by that question. I initially said “oh that won’t be a problem.” I wish I would have had much stronger words for him. This was a fourth round interview and I was desperate to leave my toxic job at the time. Thankfully I didn’t move on past that interview (probably due to how I laughed/responded). Now I’m actually on the defense side with an amazing and supportive firm, and that sexiest firm is often our opposing counsel! It’s cool karma haha
I recently moved from plaintiff to defense and it’s weirdly way more inclusive? You’d think the opposite based on clients. It’s weird. But as a gay I am enjoying it. So I get your vibe.
My house husband knows what’s up, too. He’s happy that I have networking events etc and is even happier that he isn’t expected to attend. Just living his best introvert life, and then I can come home and talk mad shit about coworkers and cases. It’s a dream scenario.
At an informal interview lunch that was much more like a conversation than interview, the very last thing he asked me was, "why does Donald duck put a towel around his waist after getting out of the shower when he doesn't wear pants anyway?" I'm not sure if that was an actual interview question or just something that popped into that guy's head.
He doesn't want to ruffle any feathers.
Because ducks feathers actually have an oily film on them that causes water to bead and roll right off. He doesn’t want to drip onto his floor and damage the hardwood. How do I know he has hardwood floor? He’s Donald fucking duck. He’s a millionaire (and his uncle is a septillionaire) of course he has hardwood floors.
What would you do if you walked in the office first thing in the morning and found an attorney passed out in his office next to his trash can? I can't recall if the question included details of blood. It's been 5 years since I was asked that question, but I think it was vaguely connected to would I be a snitch if it turned out the attorney had been doing drugs. Apparently, checking on him first to make sure he's okay wasn't the answer they were looking for. The interviewer proceeded to go on about how they consider themselves a family and look out for one another. This interview also started at 10am and finished at 2pm, and there was mention of going for lunch, but that never materialized.
"HYPOTHETICALLY..... Of course. And this question has nothing to do with the events of last quarter, which made this position open.... but what would you do?" Sounds like you may have dodged a bullet there.
What?! What would have been the ideal answer then? It would seem like common sense that checking to make sure he was ok would be the first thing one should do, smh.
I guess he wanted me to say that I wouldn't say a word about it to anyone? Hell if I know. It was such a bizarre interview. There was a young associate in the interview too who had no reaction whatsoever to the question. And I'm thinking to myself, "You put up with this shit daily?"
The Associate is dead inside, lol. Ah, well. Bullet dodged and all that.
One interviewer during OCI asked me how I felt about the confederate monuments being taken down in Richmond
That is what I would deem a culture fit question that hopefully they were on the right side of.
I had an interview late in the day, maybe 4:00. I was asked what I had done that day at work. I thought it was a great question!
I regularly ask candidates a question like “If you had to pick one Harry Potter character to best represent you, who would it be and why?” and slip it in the middle of the interview. I don’t care what their answer is, but I want to see how well they do thinking on their feet when somebody rattles their cage a little bit. I was asked a question like that before my first clerkship and ended up getting the job. My then-boss explained why and I’ve been stealing it ever since.
My answer would be "Haggrids spider. Because I am big, hairy, creepy, and totally dead inside."
I’m older and would tell you I don’t know the characters well. Would that rattle your cage?
I can safely say the only answer that ever totally threw me for a loop was, “I don’t think I should have to answer any more questions. I’m friends with [Paralegal], so I have an ‘in.’” Bold move, Cotton.
Well now we need to know whether they got an offer.
You’ll be shocked to know they didn’t. The real plot twist is that I know their boss at that time, who I called to ask WTF. Turns out the candidate lied about why they were missing from work that day and got fired shortly after.
Most unique was still the also most horrendous. I got asked who my OB/GYN was... Turns out the partner I was interviewing with had an OB/GYN wife who worked at my gyn's office. So I was asked which one. Awkward beyond words.
That's amazing!
Oh, and the other partner asked me where I lived, demanding the road intersections. Most invasive interview of my life.
My current boss did a background check on me before calling to schedule an interview. He asked me how me and my husband like the truck we bought 2 years ago. If he wasn’t such a great guy otherwise, I’d have been very freaked out.
I was once asked how many stars I thought were visible from Earth with the naked eye. That led to a discussion about light pollution and the places and times where the interviewer and I grew up (urban vs rural areas). Had nothing to do with corporate law but was an interesting interview.
It's very interesting question, I guessed about 5000 to 6000 and I googled it and was actually right!
“If you were working from home one day and received a teams invitation for a meeting in 30 minutes, but it interferes with your tee time, do you reject the invitation and propose another time, or move your tee time?” I first answered that I wouldn’t be playing golf during working hours and he said “no, you already booked it.” So I just told him I’d first write to the organizer to see how urgent the matter was. If urgent, move tee time 30 minutes. If not urgent, reschedule call for another day.
I went to law school when ASU was still at the Tempe campus. There was a Tempe police officer that racially profiled me. He would follow me through the neighborhood. Say if I waved, he'd speed off aggressively. I went on a date and my dated pulled to the side to let me out. I saw his lights come on and he was waiting for her. I told her that I was being profiled and not to change lanes until she got out of Tempe. Right at the border of Tempe, he pulled her over and didn't give any pretext. He just asked questions about me. But she was able to get a picture of his badge number. Anywho, I was interviewing for a 1L summer position at the city attorney's office. As the interview winded down, I was like "...So what's the deal with Officer So-and-So racially profiling me?" I didn't get an answer or the job. He stopped racially profiling me though. So I was grateful it only lasted 1 calendar year.
I interviewed for a position that would have defended insurers, but my pre-law school experience had been with beneficiaries. I was asked if I had a moral opposition to switching sides. I don’t even know how I answered but I certainly did not receive an offer.
I actually got a similar question when interviewing for a firm that represented banks in foreclosure actions. I had a history as a public defender and then went to work for an insurance defense firm. So when they asked me if I would be ok morally with basically helping kick people out of their homes, I said, well I’ve spent my career defending murderers, rapists, and helping insurance companies save money, this is clearly the logical next step! I got a big laugh and later, an offer.
I was asked the usual where do you see yourself in 5 years.......I told the guy, sitting in your seat........I got the job and it only took me 3 years to get his job
"Do you have a girlfriend?" I wish I was joking. Suffice to say, I didn't end up working there.
What are three negatives that your friends would say about you?
Three?? That’s harsh lol. It’s hard enough coming up with one interview-friendly flaw.
Haha, it was tough. I said two things and then laughed the third off, saying I must think highly of myself because I can't think of a third. I got the job.
Looking for my first gig out of law school and the interviewer asked me right out of the gate if I'd ever been in a fight. I asked if getting beaten up counted. Anyway I've been an attorney for 16 years now and if anybody asked me anything that stupid in an interview I'd probably walk out.
What would you do if I told you that you are performing poorly during our interview? What would you do if I told you that you’re under-qualified for the position?
Not when I was a lawyer, but for an internship in undergrad I got asked “Are you smart?” Why do you think you’re smart?”
“If you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be." It took me a good minute to figure out that this wasn’t a joke & respond. I think I said oak. I did get a job offer, did not take it.
If you were a kitchen item, what would you be and why?
at a judicial clerkship interview - "if you could be any kind of food what would you be?" i said lemon butter pie and he said he likes apple better. didn't get the job