closed

[lawnoob]

closed

 

[James Carrabino]

Congratulations @lawnoob and good luck for your interview!!

It is hard to know whether this will be a competency-based interview although I would be prepared for that eventuality with some STAR answers!

In response to what you should do if you get the question, 'do you know how to do XYZ?', let's go through the job duties one by one:

• Providing paralegal support to fee-earners in handling a wide range of case
  • If you have not worked as a paralegal then you can comfortably say no to this and explain why you think you would be good at doing so instead.
• Undertaking legal research
  • Surely you have done this as part of your legal studies? Have an example to point to of a time you worked on a project or essay.
• Assisting in drafting or preparing legal documents such as legal advice, pleadings and agreements
  • Have you done any pro bono or any legal work experience such as a vac scheme, or any mock task for a client whilst at university?
• Assisting in document management and review for discovery and hearings including preparation of hearing bundles and translation as necessary
  • Again, you can say no if you have not done this, but perhaps explain a time that you have had to compile or organise a large bundle of information, or whether you have any linguistic experiences for translation purposes.
• Assisting in compliance with legal procedures and logistics for cases and hearings and attending hearings as necessary
  • This is something you can learn on the job, unless you have done it as part of a pro bono volunteering assignment or extra-curricular?
• Assisting with business development such as tender preparation, pitches, revision of CVs, etc
  • Have you ever done this within a non-law-related job or extra-curricular or on behalf of your university careers service, for example?

To answer your second question, I think that Hogan Lovells would be very happy to hear that you have applied to other firms, because it would show your commitment to being a paralegal. If you have applied to 20 other firms then I would not mention all of them...prepare for this question with a targeted list of firms you are looking at and be able to justify your interest in these firms. Feel free to say that you have not heard back - they are just looking to see that you know what you are doing in applying to be a paralegal and that you know what kinds of firms you are looking at!

I would not ask for feedback in the interview. You could ask in a thank you e-mail but better still may be in a separate e-mail to grad rec asking for feedback. They may not be able to provide feedback and may choose not to provide it if you are successful, although there is no harm in asking!

There are no 'correct' questions to ask. Ask questions that genuinely interest you about the firm and your role as a paralegal, including possible opportunities for career progression (especially if you are perhaps considering pursuing a TC later). You could look up the firm's recent work in litigation, arbitration and employment in case any of piques your interest and makes you want to ask your interviewers about it!

I hope that helps - please do let me @George Maxwell, @AvniD or I know whether you have any further questions

 

[lawnoob]

Congratulations @lawnoob and good luck for your interview!!

It is hard to know whether this will be a competency-based interview although I would be prepared for that eventuality with some STAR answers!

In response to what you should do if you get the question, 'do you know how to do XYZ?', let's go through the job duties one by one:

• Providing paralegal support to fee-earners in handling a wide range of case
  • If you have not worked as a paralegal then you can comfortably say no to this and explain why you think you would be good at doing so instead.
• Undertaking legal research
  • Surely you have done this as part of your legal studies? Have an example to point to of a time you worked on a project or essay.
• Assisting in drafting or preparing legal documents such as legal advice, pleadings and agreements
  • Have you done any pro bono or any legal work experience such as a vac scheme, or any mock task for a client whilst at university?
• Assisting in document management and review for discovery and hearings including preparation of hearing bundles and translation as necessary
  • Again, you can say no if you have not done this, but perhaps explain a time that you have had to compile or organise a large bundle of information, or whether you have any linguistic experiences for translation purposes.
• Assisting in compliance with legal procedures and logistics for cases and hearings and attending hearings as necessary
  • This is something you can learn on the job, unless you have done it as part of a pro bono volunteering assignment or extra-curricular?
• Assisting with business development such as tender preparation, pitches, revision of CVs, etc
  • Have you ever done this within a non-law-related job or extra-curricular or on behalf of your university careers service, for example?

To answer your second question, I think that Hogan Lovells would be very happy to hear that you have applied to other firms, because it would show your commitment to being a paralegal. If you have applied to 20 other firms then I would not mention all of them...prepare for this question with a targeted list of firms you are looking at and be able to justify your interest in these firms. Feel free to say that you have not heard back - they are just looking to see that you know what you are doing in applying to be a paralegal and that you know what kinds of firms you are looking at!

I would not ask for feedback in the interview. You could ask in a thank you e-mail but better still may be in a separate e-mail to grad rec asking for feedback. They may not be able to provide feedback and may choose not to provide it if you are successful, although there is no harm in asking!

There are no 'correct' questions to ask. Ask questions that genuinely interest you about the firm and your role as a paralegal, including possible opportunities for career progression (especially if you are perhaps considering pursuing a TC later). You could look up the firm's recent work in litigation, arbitration and employment in case any of piques your interest and makes you want to ask your interviewers about it!

I hope that helps - please do let me @George Maxwell, @AvniD or I know whether you have any further questions

Hey James, thank you so so much for your reply!!

I was getting really overwhelmed as this is my first interview for legal position, but you have helped my nerves go down tremendously by breaking it down :') You're right, I probably have had experience in a lot of these duties despite not always in a legal context.

Thank you so much again!

 

[TC fiend]

Just to add on from James’ excellent advice above: if they know this is your first role, they just really want to know whether you have the transferable (interpersonal) skills to tackle a lot of these tasks. For example, bundling requires organization, attention to detail and independence - they need to be confident that you can find all the necessary documents, that you’ll make sure all the spine and cover sheets are in the right format, and that you’ll be able to wrap up the bundles without them constantly needing to check over your shoulder (as these bundles will run into the thousands of pages). Other examples of transferable skills include: communication skills (contacting the court, communicating with fee earners), research skills (legal research and memos), attention to detail (bundling, doc review, billing), delegation (supporting multiple fee earners), etc. Just take a minute to ask yourself “what would this task entail, and what could go wrong with it? What do I need to do to make sure it goes right?” That’s what you need to communicate.

 

[James Carrabino]

Hey James, thank you so so much for your reply!!

I was getting really overwhelmed as this is my first interview for legal position, but you have helped my nerves go down tremendously by breaking it down :') You're right, I probably have had experience in a lot of these duties despite not always in a legal context.

Thank you so much again!

@lawnoob I am so happy to hear that this helped to calm your nerves 😊 Good luck for the interview and do let us know how it goes

 

[James Carrabino]

Just to add on from James’ excellent advice above: if they know this is your first role, they just really want to know whether you have the transferable (interpersonal) skills to tackle a lot of these tasks. For example, bundling requires organization, attention to detail and independence - they need to be confident that you can find all the necessary documents, that you’ll make sure all the spine and cover sheets are in the right format, and that you’ll be able to wrap up the bundles without them constantly needing to check over your shoulder (as these bundles will run into the thousands of pages). Other examples of transferable skills include: communication skills (contacting the court, communicating with fee earners), research skills (legal research and memos), attention to detail (bundling, doc review, billing), delegation (supporting multiple fee earners), etc. Just take a minute to ask yourself “what would this task entail, and what could go wrong with it? What do I need to do to make sure it goes right?” That’s what you need to communicate.

@FS, this is excellent insight - thank you so much for adding it!