Red Flags to Watch for During a Law Firm Interview – article by Ten Percent Legal Recruitment, specialists for solicitor recruitment in the UK.
Especially in the current job market, interviews are more about your chance to question a firm about their suitability for you personally, rather than proving your potential to the firm. Solicitors are in demand across the UK in most areas of law and at times the boot is on the other foot! Here are a few red flags to watch for during interviews.
Vague Answers About Support – Administrative and Professional
If you ask who you will report to, how files are allocated, or what supervision looks like and receive vague answers, you can almost guarantee that when you start work at the practice the other fee earners will take the opportunity to give you anything they don’t want to deal with, and/or expect you to generate your own work, and not provide you with any administrative support. Ask specific questions – if the firm have secretarial support teams (ask about this as well as not all do these days!) who will be your secretary?
More junior solicitors do not want to hear that a firm simply expect them to “just get on with it,” or “we’re very hands off in our approach to supervision”. This can be particularly risky at junior and mid-level PQE. Don’t forget to ask about training opportunities – and if you do, ask what training other fee earners have done at the practice recently.
Unrealistic Billing Targets
Ask about billing targets. We see a lot of different types of bonus schemes at law firms – some are a lot more generous than others! The answer to any question about billing targets can often be that the firm don’t have details to hand, but bonus payments are very generous. Don’t take this answer – pry further! What was the average billing across the team last year? How is billing monitored?
High Turnover in the Team
Easy to check these days- just take a look at LinkedIn and the Law Society Directory. If you notice a pattern of solicitors staying less than 18 months, it is worth considering carefully any potential reasons why. Ask about this during interview.
Disorganised Interview Process
Late-stage revisions or cancellations of interviews can reflect partners who care little for their future staff or are just completely disorganised! Cancelling or delaying an interview time & date is never a good start to a healthy working relationship without good reason.
Overemphasis on “Hitting the Ground Running”
“Hitting the ground running” is sometimes code for “we are going to overwhelm you with lots of really problematic files”. If there is heavy emphasis on inheriting a large caseload immediately and little discussion of onboarding/easing you in to the role, this may suggest the role exists to plug a gap rather than develop into something more long-term.
Sense of Humour
“We have a great sense of humour, ha ha ha.” Watch this one. Often the sense of humour also reflects how much the firm plan to pay you! I always think that if an employer has to actually tell you that they have a sense of humour, their staff will almost certainly not agree.
Reluctance to discuss future strategy
A well-run firm should be comfortable discussing growth plans, owner’s future plans, any options to acquire equity, recent hires, and the direction of the practice area. If you are interested in equity, tell the firm. This really adds significant value to a hire – so many solicitors avoid offers of equity or even discussing it, and firms really value anyone interested.
Hybrid working
Get this nailed down during interview. We hear so many vague promises of “all our staff work from home for part of the week” or “after an initial period we would be happy to discuss remote working.” It rarely seems to happen and causes a significant number of departures from firms every year at present. Law firm owners sometimes seem to have very different expectations about remote & hybrid working than employees..
Salary levels
Ask about salary levels. Don’t fall for the “what do you currently earn” question (and ignore the Indeed advert!). Instead play a straight bat and ask them what they are offering. Failing that, tell the firm what you want, and how you would be happy earning it. So for example if you want to earn £75k, but you appreciate this will require c£225k of billing to pay it (using the 1/3 rule of thumb), you could give an indication that as a base you would expect £60k and a bonus scheme on top if you bill over £180k say.
