Behavioral Questions Lawyers Face in Interviews & 5 Ways to Handle

Interviewers often ask lawyers at least one behavioral question in the interview process. Below are typical behavioral questions lawyers face, whether from HR (who come up with these) or the hiring manager:

1. What is a challenge you recently faced?
2. If a client wants to do something you don’t agree with, what do you do?
3. How do you work with cross-functional teams?
4. What is an example of your leadership skills?

When formulating your answer, consider:

1. What is the question getting at? The hiring manager likely wants to know you have good legal and business judgment, are easy to work with, and can communicate well with clients (especially understanding their viewpoint and giving them a good solution that also complies with the law). So think of examples that show all these things.
2. Is your answer relevant to the company? Discuss an issue or subject that the company is facing so the manager can see that you can immediately help.
3. Explain the conflict and how it was resolved. The answer NEVER is I would escalate to my manager. Include metrics so the results are tangible.
4. Is your answer boring? Inject color and give enough details so it’s an interesting story, with a beginning, middle and end. Time yourself to make sure you don’t go short or long. Thirty seconds is too short (you are not giving enough detail), and over 90 is too long (get to the point faster!).
5. Are you giving away confidential information? Think through if there is any confidential information so you can exclude or describe generally. Don’t figure that out on the fly.