Typical paralegal interview questions with excellent sample interview answers.
Paralegals are found in many types of organizations including law firms, corporate legal departments and government offices.
Paralegals and legal assistants work in many different areas of the law including corporate law, criminal law, labor law, family law, real estate and litigation.
These interview questions explore the core competencies required by a successful paralegal regardless of the area of specialization.
1. What are the most important skills for a paralegal?
In your paralegal interview answer include the following paralegal skills:
2. What tools and methods do you use for the day to day organization and planning of your work?
Describe the systems you use to stay organized.
This is a good opportunity to highlight the paralegal software you are familiar with such as Lexis/Nexis, Concordance, CaseMap.
Good time management interview questions and answers
3. Give me an example of having to organize large volumes of data in order to prepare a report by a tight deadline.
A paralegal must research and analyze volumes of data in order to prepare written reports and summaries. They also have to be able to work under pressure.
4. Tell me about a time you had to interact with a difficult client.
You represent the company to the public and your ability to act professionally at all times is important. Discuss the specific techniques you use to handle a difficult interaction including:
Communication skills interview questions
5. Describe a complex legal decision you had to make. Take me through your decision process.
As a paralegal you need to be able to make sound decisions independently.
Steps include:
Focus on presenting a logical and systematic decision-making process.
6. Tell me about your experience dealing with confidential and sensitive information.
A paralegal needs to use tact and diplomacy when dealing with sensitive and confidential issues and situations. Provide a specific example.
7. How do you check the accuracy of your work?
8. Why are you the right person for this job/ Why should we hire you as a paralegal?
Focus on what you can do for the organization - your legal knowledge, abilities, legal experience and skills.
Highlight your particular strengths such as:
Highlight how they meet the needs of the job. Give examples of your past experience that relate directly to this job.
9. Why did you choose to become a paralegal? Why did you choose to specialize in this area of the law?
In your paralegal interview be convincing about your passion for the law.
Look at your particular specialization - litigation, criminal, corporate, insurance, family law - and consider what it is about the specific demands of the job that you enjoy?
Having a complete understanding of the paralegal role will help you answer paralegal interview questions.
The work environment for a paralegal is generally more conservative and formal. It is advisable to dress in a professional manner for your interview. You can find good ideas for formal job interview attire for women here.