Why did you go to law school?
Now, this question is incredibly tricky because it seems basic, simple, and
straightforward, and yet it gives so many law students, myself included at
the time, a really hard time to answer it because usually the real answer
doesn't play that well in an interview.
So what are we supposed to do?
Well, in this video, we're gonna break down the best way to answer
this question that allows you to be genuine, straightforward.
And get you points in that interview room.
And so if you are excited, definitely stick around until the end because
I'm gonna give you guys a really juicy bonus that allows you to turn any
awkward formal conversation into a really amazing conversation that lasts.
For hours and leaves them wanting more.
So if you guys are pumped to dive in, smash that like button and let's go.
Step one of building out this answer is to choose one experience that we're
actually gonna build this answer around.
So we have basically three categories of things to choose from.
The first category, and arguably the strongest is.
If you have a professional experience around lawyers, so if you interned with
lawyers, if you worked at a company where lawyers were around, or if you were a
paralegal, something around that aspect of the industry is gonna be really strong.
If you don't have that, that's totally fine.
The next category that we're gonna pull from is a professional
experience where you weren't necessarily around lawyers, but you.
Skills or practice a skillset that lawyers and law firms value.
And then if you don't have that, another option for us to build this answer
around is just interaction with lawyers.
So maybe you have lawyers who are family members, friends, colleagues, maybe
you did cold reach outs on LinkedIn.
And one of the things to keep in mind as we're choosing this
experience is it doesn't matter what level of experience it was.
It doesn't matter if it was paid or unpaid.
It doesn't matter if it was six weeks or three years, it doesn't.
If it was a student organization, we're looking for your strongest
experience to draw from and whatever that is, that's what we'll view.
Step two to building out this answer is excitement.
So regardless of the experience that you chose, what we're going to want to
reinforce and really showcase is your excitement about a job as a lawyer.
And so that could be anything from having to think on your feet on
a daily basis and put out fires.
To being challenged and really pushed outside of your comfort zone to finding
creative solutions to complex problems, to advocating on behalf of others,
really making a meaningful impact in people's lives and businesses.
We want to connect what it was we experienced with this excitement and
interest in pursuing a career in the law.
The third really rock solid piece to this answer is articulating
the skills that you developed from this experience and the value that
you're going to bring to a law firm.
So when we're talking about the skills that we want to articulate, we want
the law firm to know that we know what skills make a good lawyer and.
What value that can bring to a law firm.
And the good news is that all law firms basically value the same skills.
So you can use this over and over regardless of the law
firm or the organization that you're interviewing with.
But some of these universal lawyering skills that are really highly valued
are things like paying close attention to detail, staying calm under pressure.
Prioritizing and juggling multiple projects at the same time.
Basically being able to think on your feet and come up with
creative solutions to problems.
And so when we are articulating these things, we wanna make sure that not
only are we drawing them back to the experiences that we had, but
we're also doing it in a vibe of.
How we can serve the law firm.
So anytime that you can really tie this back to what is the value that
you can bring to this position, how can you take work off of people's plates?
How can you make other lawyers' lives easier on this team or at this firm?
That's how we want to articulate the skills and the value that we're bringing.
So let's put all of this together in a way that I might potentially.
This question, why did you go to law school in a law firm interview?
And for this example, I'm gonna use kind of a combination of that second category
of experiences, a professional experience that has nothing to do with lawyers.
And that third category of maybe some conversations I've had with lawyers
from cold reach outs on LinkedIn.
So if I got asked, why did you go to law school from a law firm interviewer,
I might say something like, well, in high school I worked as a Starbucks
barista and that was actually.
Surprisingly challenging job.
I had to think on my feet a lot.
We were serving over a hundred customers an hour, so I had
a lot of things to juggle.
I had to stay calm under pressure, and even though it had nothing to do related
to the legal industry, I later found out that there were a lot of the skills that
I was developing that really, really.
Served other lawyers in that same capacity.
So I had different conversations with people on LinkedIn and they all
mentioned some of these different pieces of having to really prioritize and
juggle a lot of projects, put out fires that come up, make sure that you are
communicating clearly and concisely.
And so when I realized that those were the kind of challenges, the
kind of skills that really lit me up.
I really started thinking about a career in the law for the first time, and now
having made that decision and having gone through a year of law school,
I'm so incredibly glad that I did.
I am incredibly excited to pursue this path and really, really step
into this next phase of becoming a full-time lawyer and being able to
use those skills in illegal capacity.
So as you can see, it doesn't really matter what experience
you choose, it can be something.
Unrelated to the law as a Starbucks barista, or it could be something
incredibly related to the law like interning in a law firm, which will
be a better fit for that answer.
But that's okay.
Whatever you have available to you in your lifetime, in your experiences, in
your conversations, you can use and still make sure that you are tying it back to
what a law firm will value and how you can hype yourself up for this position.
Now, there are three ways I would recommend not answering this question,
and these are pitfalls that a lot of law.
Still fall into, and the first one is saying, I don't know.
That is the worst answer you can possibly give to the question.
Why did you go to law school?
I don't know.
I didn't know what else to do.
My parents told me to go, it definitely indicates that you haven't
thought this through, that you're not really sure what a lawyer does.
That you're not really that excited or interested in this path at all.
The second way to not answer this question is with any sort of cliche answers.
So a lot of the times law students will say things like, well, I
went to law school cuz my parents told me I was good at arguing.
Please never, ever answer this question that way.
Also, never answer this question with something like, oh, well I watched every
episode of Law and Order growing up.
That's a fine answer when you're kind of talking at a
cocktail party or a networking.
But if this is an actual interview for a position, you wanna show that you have
an understanding, a deeper understanding of what law firms do and how lawyers
act and what the skillsets are that they value more mature and more complex than
something simple and basic that might actually be true, but was sort of the
seed that started this when you were seven or when you were 13 years old.
We wanna really up level this answer for a professional man or woman that
you now, And the third way to not answer this question, which is a little
uncomfortable, is being too altruistic.
And this is tough because this is something I fell into and that a lot
of law students fall into because a lot of us did go to law school because
we wanted to help people or we wanted to make a difference, or we wanted
to serve underprivileged communities.
But if you were interviewing for a law firm position, it's really important
to signal to them that you understand what it is they do at the law firm.
And.
Excited about what it is they do at the law firm.
And so make sure you're steering clear of a lot of that language
of, I went to law school because I wanted to help people, or I wanted to
work in a public interest position.
Because basically what you're communicating to them is that I don't
really wanna be here at all, and maybe I'm just taking this job for the
paycheck and I'll leave as soon as I can.
And so when you're crafting your answer to this, make sure that you're thinking
about the skills and the interests and the abilities that you have.
Serve this team that can serve this law firm, that can serve this position, and
why you're excited about those things.
All right, guys, if you've made it to this point in the video, I am so excited
to share with you my favorite resource in getting prepared for law firm interviews
and getting really confident heading in which is this the best questions to ask.
In law firm interviews guide, and this is the list of questions that I use
in every single one of my law firm interviews that really, really took these
sort of stuffy formal interviews into really genuine connecting conversations.
Because inevitably in a law firm interview, you are going to be asked.
So do you have any questions for us?
And we want to take full advantage of this moment because it finally allows
the spotlight to come off of us and to really create a connection with
the person sitting across the table.
And it allows you to show interest in them, interest in their
work, interest in this position.
And this is where these amazing conversations happen.
So I highly re.
Grabbing this guide.
I will definitely link it in the description below this video.
And if you guys are heading into interviews and want to see some of the
other questions that law firms love to answer or love to ask and how to answer
them, then check out this playlist.
It has all of the videos I've made on the most popular law firm interview questions
and how to go about answering them.
And if you guys aren't going through the interview process right now,
definitely let us know in the comments how it's going, and if you
had any questions that just came out of left field and surprised you.
So I cannot wait to hear how it goes, guys, and I will see you in the next one.