I want to speak a little bit about a situation nearly all of us face before the beginning of our first job and, unfortunately, many of us face again within the first few years after we start the practice of law - interviewing. Our firm just added an outstanding new attorney, so the process of interviewing candidates is pretty fresh in my mind. During the process, a few positives and negatives stood out for me in listening to responses from some excellent prospects.
First, the easy stuff. Let's call them the Fast Five:
1) Be on time!
2) Dress in business attire (even if you know the employer is business-casual!)
3) Research the firm in advance and be aware of what type of work they do.
4) Go with the flow at your interview. If they want you to meet 20 people, so be it. If one person interviews you for 90 minutes, no problem.
5) If you go out for lunch, no sloppy joes or baby back ribs!
These are pretty basic and self-explanatory. Here are a few more subtle tips. Remember, these are for more inexperienced attorneys!
1) Have a Team-Oriented Mindset. Some will disagree, but I am not a fan when green attorneys come into an interview and say that they want to work in a single area of the law. Of course, if you are interviewing at a practice that works in that one area, that's great. If you are coming to a diversified practice, it is OK to mention that you enjoy certain areas, but generally you want to go in with the mindset that you want to come in and help the team in any way possible. When you start bringing in business, that is when you can declare the practice area you want to focus on.
2) Never Disparage Your Former Employer. Most young attorneys transition from one job to another because they are dissatisfied. Dissatisfied with money, the type of work, amount of work, personalities, or a combination of these. Your prospective employer knows this, so there is no need for any disparaging remarks. First, the legal community is remarkably small, and word tends to spread around fast. Second, someone at your prospective employer may know the person or persons you do not care for, so you may find yourself putting ayour foot in your mouth quickly. Finally, attorneys revere the collegiality of the profession. We generally know who most of the few bad apples are, no need to highlight it for us!
3) Follow up. Within a few days of your interview, send follow-up e-mails to the individuals you spoke with. Include some sort of personal touch indicating that you were paying attention to what the interviewer was talking about. (i.e., "I saw Auburn won last weekend, you must have enjoyed that!"). In an atmosphere where many of the discussions must sound the same after a few interviews, it is impressive to see when candidates are actually focused on the individual connections they make over the course of a 15-30 minute discussion.
Attorney Craig Salner is a partner with the Miami, Florida, litigation law firm of Clarke Silverglate, P.A. He has been with the firm since graduating from Vanderbilt University Law School in 2003. He specializes in employment litigation, commercial litigation, product liability and insurance defense. Mr. Salner produces a daily blog on legal issues and beyond which can be found at http://csalner.wordpress.com/.
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