Paralegal interview questions are an essential part of the hiring process for this role, as recruiters use them to learn about the interviewee’s skills and capabilities. These also reveal a candidate’s relevant experience in the field and overall passion for doing this type of job.
Since job interviews are the central point of a hiring process, you can get a head start by familiarizing yourself with the most popular paralegal interview questions. This will allow you to approach the conversation with recruiters with more confidence and increase your chances of landing the role you applied for.
So, in this article, we will review the common interview questions for paralegals and give good examples of answers that show recruiters you’re the right fit for the position. Let’s start!
Key Takeaways
Paralegal interview questions are recruiters’ best tool to discover potential employees’ aspirations, skills, and abilities.
Knowing the most common paralegal questions, which include general, technical, behavioral, and operational questions, can help candidates ace the interview.
Creating a proper resume and cover letter, having a respectful dress code, and practicing interview skills through a role play are additional ways to have a successful interview.
10 Paralegal Interview Questions You Should Prepare For
There are various types of paralegal interview questions (general, technical, etc.) that can differ based on the company or cases that you are in charge of. For this reason, we'll cover questions from each central subcategory and provide adequate example answers:
#1. Which area of law is the most interesting to you?
Recruiters ask about your law area preferences because they want to know if you are passionate about what the company does. This is where you should share your interests while ensuring that your answer is tailored based on the firm’s work area.
Here is how to answer:
Good Answer
"My main expertise is banking law, but I’m also well-versed and interested in tax law. These two have specific things in common, but I gravitate more toward tax law, as I see it as a big opportunity for career advancement."
#2. Why did you choose to become a paralegal?
This is almost every law firm’s interview question for paralegals, and it serves to assess how your personality and ambitions align with your chosen profession.
You can think about the path that led you to this career and answer the question by creating a small story about it. Of course, you should avoid telling anecdotes that are too long or getting sidetracked.
Let’s see a good example answer:
Good Answer
"I’ve always aspired to be a paralegal (ever since I discovered the profession) because I believe that the legal system provides many opportunities to contribute to others, both directly and indirectly. Moreover, specializing in personal injury law allowed me to help many people find justice after stressful events in their lives. Besides that, growing up in a family with medical workers enhanced my desire and passion for this job even further."
#3. Describe your experience with legal research tools and software.
Some firms may list specific technical skills as a ‘nice-to-have’ or even a requirement; if so, chances are that you’ll hear this paralegal interview question. Your answer should revolve around all the tools you used before, as well as how and why you used them.
Nowadays, almost everyone working in the legal industry has experience using legal research tools, but if you have none, we recommend getting familiar with them through courses or networking activities. Needless to say, we don’t recommend talking about software you are not truly familiar with.
Let’s check out a fitting answer:
Good Answer
"I use a couple of different research tools and software, depending on what I need to find. For instance, I use Westlaw whenever I need to check if a case still has legal force or has been overruled. Additionally, I use Lexis+ for brief analysis and litigation analytics to check litigation history and trends.
Ross Intelligence is another great tool that offers Natural Language Processing (NLP) and provides credible responses to legal queries, helping me boost my research process."
#4. What’s your process for drafting legal documents?
This is one of the paralegal interview questions for seniors, with which hiring managers aim to learn about the different types of legal documents you have experience with, such as affidavits, contracts, wills, deeds, powers of attorney, and litigation briefs.
To answer the question, you should explain what specific steps and methods you use for creating a document that serves clients’ needs. Also, you should mention whether you use any software to speed up the process.
Here’s a good answer:
Good Answer
"First of all, I consider the document’s intent and try not to miss any important parts that could render it unenforceable. Then, I start off by drafting the main document points, and once it’s done, I further expand each. Afterwards, I do fact-checking and I use the spell and grammar checkers to ensure they look professional and don’t contain typos or other errors."
#5. Tell me about a time you dealt with a difficult attorney or coworker.
This legal assistant interview question helps hiring managers see how you handle conflict at work. Although not every paralegal role involves client communication, you will still have to be in touch with your colleagues and attorneys and solve any potential issues that emerge peacefully and maturely.
This is the point where you need to emphasize your communication skills and patience. Your ability to communicate transparently can help you resolve a misunderstanding, and being compassionate and patient can help lower tensions. Still, mentioning details of a disagreement may not be a good idea, as you don’t need to go into too much detail; mentioning the main reason for a specific conflict will suffice.
Let’s take a look at a nice example response for this paralegal behavioral interview question:
Good Answer
"In my previous job, we had a client who went bankrupt and sued his partners for breaking business conduct. After the trial, the lawyer complained about me not including specific evidence in one of the documents.
I approached the situation calmly and gently explained that we had previously agreed not to include such evidence, as it would do more harm than good, all while remaining as patient as possible. Once the misunderstanding was clarified, everything went back into place."
#6. How do you ensure accuracy in legal documentation?
Recruiters leading a litigation paralegal interview are usually also interested in your accuracy and attention to detail. This is important because such skills help you create flawless legal documents and remove any errors from existing ones.
Your answer to such a question should include specific things you do to ensure accuracy, such as using legal tools or having a certain proofreading routine (e.g., taking a break between two case examinations). However, we advise you not to focus on the types of mistakes you made, but only on how to keep documents error-free.
Let’s examine an example of a good answer:
Good Answer
"I ensure accuracy in legal documentation by proofreading it manually and then using tools such as spell- and fact-checkers to further revise it. If I notice any mistakes along the way, I correct them quickly, but if it is too late to fix them, I will notify the lead attorney about inaccuracies and see how we can resolve them together."
#7. Have you ever missed a deadline, and how did you deal with it?
Hiring managers ask this paralegal interview question to learn about your time management skills. All the trials and litigations sometimes make this role fast-paced, requiring paralegals to work under pressure and increasing the chances of missing a deadline.
If you have missed a deadline before, you should focus on explaining how you handled the situation; otherwise, you can talk about what you usually do to prevent this.
Here is a good answer to this question:
Good Answer
"I have missed the deadline only once, and it was by several hours. Once I realized that, I talked with the lead attorney and asked if we could reschedule. As I had good arguments (there was a heavy workload, and it was rather difficult to prioritize specific tasks above the others), the attorney accepted my suggestion."
#8. How do you handle repetitive tasks without losing focus?
Mentioning attention deficit can be part of strengths-and-weaknesses interview questions, which are also common in paralegal interviews. Still, as this question is narrowed to repetitive tasks, you don’t need to discuss your attention span but rather the methods for handling such tasks and staying focused.
When explaining how you remain concentrated, you shouldn’t tell recruiters that you easily get bored with such tasks, even if this is true. Otherwise, you may leave the impression that you wouldn’t be fully committed to the role.
Let’s learn how to answer this paralegal interview question:
Good Answer
"I handle repetitive tasks without losing focus by prioritizing them and setting reminders for when to take a break. I sometimes may not do them all at once; I try to diversify as much as possible and schedule other tasks in between. Also, I take a break to get some fresh air, have a small talk with my colleagues, or do stretching exercises, which helps me restore focus."
#9. How do you approach problem-solving as a paralegal?
The purpose of this question is to test how you use your problem-solving skills and ability to handle difficult situations at work. Therefore, it’s essential for you to describe the exact way you tackle everyday work problems to the interviewers.
For instance, you can use the STAR technique to present one of the previous issues you encountered at work and explain the way you solved it. Additionally, you can opt for the SOAR method, which is a bit simpler.
What you shouldn’t do is say that you’re an improviser or that you do not have anything specific to rely on when resolving issues, as this may make you come off as unreliable.
This is how to answer:
Good Answer
"In my previous job, I noticed that one of my colleagues was sharing confidential data he acquired in his former role. Before taking action, I wanted to ensure this was a conflict of interest by researching the firm he talked about and asking him several informative questions.
Once I did so, I had a one-on-one meeting with him where I pointed out how important it was to follow the company rules and ethics. Also, I reminded other colleagues of this rule, and we have never had a similar issue ever since."
#10. How do you keep sensitive information secure?
The legal industry features much confidential data and sometimes obliges paralegals to keep their profession a secret. In addition to not disclosing certain information personally, paralegals must be especially careful with sharing and securing electronic documents.
When asked this, you need to describe which security measures, such as public key cryptography, two-factor authentication, or encryption, you use for data protection.
Here’s a suitable answer:
Good Answer
"To keep sensitive information secure, I password-protect all my documents, as well as all my devices. When sharing legal papers, I use secure channels with TLS encryption, ensuring that only the recipient and I can access them. Additionally, I firmly adhere to information confidentiality on any occasion by not disclosing my profession or discussing any clients or cases."
11+ More Paralegal Interview Questions
Here’s an additional list of some more questions that aim to assess the paralegal skills employers look for and that you may come across during the interview:
Additional Interview Questions
Do you plan to attend law school?
How do you stay informed about the newest paralegal regulations?
Do you prefer to work independently or in a team?
How do you handle stress?
How do you prioritize task drafting and reporting to attorneys?
Describe your possibilities in your previous positions.
How has your education prepared you to be a paralegal?
Why did you choose this area of law?
In your opinion, what is the best platform to communicate with other colleagues or clients?
Describe your decision-making process.
What role do you have in discussing case strategies with attorneys?
Can you remember and describe a situation when your action made a positive impact on your firm?
3 Tips for Having a Successful Paralegal Interview
In addition to interview questions, you should consider paralegal job interview tips, including advice on resume building, interview behavior, and dress code.
Let’s learn more about how to prepare for a paralegal interview:
Paralegal Interview Tips
Pick your attire. Whether you have an interview in person or remotely, you should wear presentable clothes, as this will help you look more professional. Also, a good outfit can boost your confidence and help you go through the interview smoothly.
Practice role-play. This is a nice way to practice interview conversation and try to reduce nervousness or anxiety. You can ask your friends or close family to take the interviewer’s role and simulate this type of interview from beginning to end multiple times.
Release adrenaline beforehand. Having a higher pulse rate or ‘butterflies in the stomach’ before the interview is common. You can counteract this by engaging in short exercise activities to release the stress, after which you can be more relaxed while attending the meeting.
To get to the interview stage with minimum effort, you should fine-tune your paralegal resume. You can use a resume builder with ready-made elements explicitly adapted for this role to boost your chances of passing the ATS.
All you need to do is choose a suitable template for your profession and fill in the blanks with your information, or upload your existing resume and tweak it. In both cases, our AI assistant will help every step of the way, creating a top-notch document within minutes.
Similarly, we recommend tweaking your paralegal cover letter, as these documents can help you leave a great impression during the application process.
Looking to enhance your paralegal resume?
Try our resume builder now!Final Thoughts
Paralegal interview questions reveal a candidate's skills, ambitions, experience, and personal traits, showing whether they are a good fit for this role or not. Applicants should learn about these questions, as they can help them with interview preparation.
Plus, they can modify their resume and cover letter, focus on their dress code, and practice answering these questions by role-playing. This can help them nail the interview and get the desired job, which is good for their career advancement and overall life satisfaction.
