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Title says it.

This should be good.

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I start making very basic, bland small talk with you. I'm excessively polite. (Note: I'm always polite- but if I seem extra bland and start asking about your trip or something extra mundane, then I'm no longer interested in you.) ( note 2: this doesn't include simple greetings like " hi, nice to meet you, how was your flight?)

Seems a fine line between bland and extra bland. Mind elaborating further?

IME if they just start talking about their practice or the legal market in broad strokes, not asking questions but also not pitching you on the firm, that's a bad sign.

Non-exhaustive list....the interview ended early. There was a lot of awkward silence. The interviewee answered questions with short (1-5 word) responses. The short answers made no sense in light of cover letter, resume, other indicators. The interviewee shamelessly name-dropped almost immediately and then seemed to assume the interview was 100% about me recruiting him/her/arrogant interviewee. Foul language used/inappropriate jokes/excessive difficulty elucidating thoughts.

In my experience, the worst interviews typically combine several of the above (and other not on the list).

Edit for clarity - the biggest signs of a bomb are, at least for me, based on the student/lateral's behavior and not mine as the interviewer. My approach doesn't really change all that much from interview to interview (except for having to talk a bit more when there is a lot of silence).

tennisking88 wrote:Seems a fine line between bland and extra bland. Mind elaborating further?

Well, when I'm interviewing I always ask people questions based on their résumé. Their life story, etc. If I lose interest I stop asking such individually focused questions and go more for stuff like - hey New York is a great city, right? ( not that exact way.)

You have to remember that pretty much I'm trying to see how smart and articulate you are and how much I would like to be working with you in a time crunch with long hours.
Also, I'm only one evaluator, so I'm not going to be obvious that I am not impressed. You could easily get an offer even if I have a subpar feeling on some parts of the interview.

But if I go into extra nice mode, you're not cutting it. If I'm interviewing you correctly you shouldn't even be able to tell.

Interesting that "extra nice mode" is a bad sign. Counter-intuitive.

What are thoughts on interviewers that just don't stop talking about how great the firm is so the interviewee can't get a word in. I have had a few and it's been really hard to talk without interrupting, so I usually just try to appear interested in what they have to say and talk when I can. I can't tell if they don't care what I have to say, or they just don't realize how much they're talking. I always leave the interview feeling like it went poorly and/or they didn't like me.

law321 wrote:Non-exhaustive list....the interview ended early. There was a lot of awkward silence. The interviewee answered questions with short (1-5 word) responses. The short answers made no sense in light of cover letter, resume, other indicators. The interviewee shamelessly name-dropped almost immediately and then seemed to assume the interview was 100% about me recruiting him/her/arrogant interviewee. Foul language used/inappropriate jokes/excessive difficulty elucidating thoughts.

In my experience, the worst interviews typically combine several of the above (and other not on the list).

Edit for clarity - the biggest signs of a bomb are, at least for me, based on the student/lateral's behavior and not mine as the interviewer. My approach doesn't really change all that much from interview to interview (except for having to talk a bit more when there is a lot of silence).

What do you mean by shameless name dropping? If I have a close relative that works (relatively high up) for a client of the firm I'm interviewing with, do you think it's inappropriate to mention that (assuming she somehow comes up in conversation)?

Anonymous User wrote:

law321 wrote:Non-exhaustive list....the interview ended early. There was a lot of awkward silence. The interviewee answered questions with short (1-5 word) responses. The short answers made no sense in light of cover letter, resume, other indicators. The interviewee shamelessly name-dropped almost immediately and then seemed to assume the interview was 100% about me recruiting him/her/arrogant interviewee. Foul language used/inappropriate jokes/excessive difficulty elucidating thoughts.

In my experience, the worst interviews typically combine several of the above (and other not on the list).

Edit for clarity - the biggest signs of a bomb are, at least for me, based on the student/lateral's behavior and not mine as the interviewer. My approach doesn't really change all that much from interview to interview (except for having to talk a bit more when there is a lot of silence).

What do you mean by shameless name dropping? If I have a close relative that works (relatively high up) for a client of the firm I'm interviewing with, do you think it's inappropriate to mention that (assuming she somehow comes up in conversation)?

i don't think this is a good idea. much better to have your relative call her relationship at the firm and put in a good word.

though this is a good answer to the "why us?" question