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Hey all.

Very excited to have a couple of lateral interviews coming up for other firms. Only problem is that I've never been a great interviewer, and what little interview skills I had are probably dead by now.

Obviously, my paper materials got me through to the interview stage, and I'm qualified for the position. But besides that, and beyond the basic advice that applies to any interview (i.e., be able to express why I'm interested in the firm and the practice I'm interviewing for, know and be able to talk about my background/resume/writing samples), is there anything else in particular about lateral interviews I should watch out for? Any particular kind of questions they're more likely to ask, or any particular kind of questions I should be asking them?

Thanks for any help.

Every firm differs in their interview procedures--some firms have behavioral interview techniques, others just do whatever.

Definitely be prepared to discuss what you did on the deals/cases you've been on and how you added to the team.

Mostly be ready to ask the question "what has lead to your need to hire right now?" Also think of other questions you can ask about that show your interest in the firm -- how they do staffing, how they allow associates to do bus dev and if associates are invited to meetings and such. Also other general good questions:

Where could you use the most support right now?
What would be your ideal candidate?
What are the characteristics of attorneys who do well in your practice group?
What do you like about practicing in your group/firm?

I threw in the question "Is there anything about my experience that you are concern you regarding the position?"

Most people will probably disagree with asking that, but I got a lot of good responses where I was able to address their concern. Helps ease the "I wonder if my ___ wasn't good enough" feeling after an interview.

i agree with the "do you have any concerns about my candidacy?" question because most times people say "none at all" and then go on to list why you're such a good candidate. i think in that moment, they are almost convincing themselves that you are perfect bc they don't want to be rude and it probably has some psychological benefit.

apologies in advance if my post was trans- or race-baiting in nature.

Mod edit: user has been tempbanned for trolling.

OP here--thanks all. (Keep the suggestions coming, to the extent anyone has any more advice! All of the above are great.)

I have no idea how I could read that post as trans/race-baiting. I'm liking that question though; seems like it has several potential effects, which are (a) if they say "none," then they might be convincing themselves that I'm awesome; (b) if they talk about any, it gives me an opportunity to address any concerns they might have.

Anonymous User wrote:OP here--thanks all. (Keep the suggestions coming, to the extent anyone has any more advice! All of the above are great.)

I have no idea how I could read that post as trans/race-baiting. I'm liking that question though; seems like it has several potential effects, which are (a) if they say "none," then they might be convincing themselves that I'm awesome; (b) if they talk about any, it gives me an opportunity to address any concerns they might have.

I definitely asked one of the four partners I interviewed with (one who was skeptical of how I would fit in) if "there [were] any concerns I could assuage."

Make sure you have a very good answer for why you are looking. Everyone will ask, most won't really grill you on it but I ran into a few who did.

Some interviewers will want to test your knowledge of whatever field you are in (M&A, tax, etc). Not a lot you can do to prepare for this since it's the stuff you learn while practicing- just don't be thrown off.

This isn't an OCI interview so you'll be interviewing with people with whom you'll be working. Be ready for questions that dig at whether you're a good colleague - not necessarily behavioral - but whether you would just......not fit.

The good thing, you can control lateral interviews because they are often unformatted. Lead the conversation to where you want it to go (often the interviewers are not the OCI trained crew) and they will soon begin selling the firm to you rather than you selling yourself to the firm.