Want to Impress Big Law Firms? Start With Your Video Interview. Here's How!

Nov 30, 2023

Written By Hugo Carter

Video interviews are a great opportunity to show off your unique personalities to Big Law Firms and a vital part of the selection process. In this article, we’ll provide all the tools you need to impress Big Law Firms, and progress in your pursuit of a Training Contract.

Understanding big law firms and their video interview expectations

Big Law Firms offer their trainees an unrivalled chance to work on the biggest deals in the world, with the biggest companies, and worldwide impact. A video interview is often a key part of the application process for these firms. A video interview usually refers to answering questions on camera, under a set time limit, where you speak only to a computer.

What are law firms looking for in video interviews?

Trainees require a diverse skill set that the recruitment teams will be looking for. This includes:

Commercial awareness. E.g. “Tell us about a business news story you’ve read recently, and what impact this could have on the law?”
Some knowledge of the law. E.g. “What role does a solicitor vs barrister play?
Quick thinking and problem-solving. E.g. “Tell us about a time you solved a difficult situation.”
Your fit within the firm. E.g. “A partner comes to you to help with an important piece of work in a sector you want to work in but you already have a tight deadline on another piece of work - what do you do?”

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Preparing for Success: Your Roadmap to a Flawless Video Interview

There is only one fool-proof trick for video interviews: preparation. Here is a step-by-step guide to preparing for a video interview:

Research the law firm. Start with their website and read as much as you can: their graduate recruitment brochure, their recent deals, their pro bono work. Then, read through their AllAboutLaw firm profile. It’s also worth trying to network with the firm, by attending early-careers events and connecting with current lawyers online.
Analyse any interesting deals. In your research, you’ll have come across many deals and cases that the firm worked on - jot down the one’s that interest you most.
Write out a table of your competencies. Create a table with examples for every competency you can think of. Start with teamwork, problem-solving, multitasking, working under pressure, rectifying a mistake, and expand from there.
Write out a table of your motivations. Begin with the obvious (and almost always asked) questions: “Why law? Why this firm? Why this sector of law?”
Talk in front of a camera. This is a skill in itself, and it needs to be practised. Some tips include: keeping the camera above eye level, making sure to keep eye contact with your webcam, sticking any notes/prompts on the wall just behind the camera, maintaining good posture and smiling.

Crafting Impactful Responses

To craft an impactful answer, you need to convey information in a clear and concise manner. The STAR (Situation, Task, Action, Result) method should be your standard structure. Here’s a competency question example:

Question: Tell us about a time you have gone above and beyond in a task?

Situation: I was appointed as a writer for my university’s student Newspaper.

Task: Increase engagement in the newspaper through my articles.

Action: I set up a polling station on the student campus to gauge the topics students were most interested in and raise awareness of the newspaper.

Result: The newspaper sales went up 100% in the following months.

You should look to replicate the precision and clarity of this structure.

Demonstrating legal expertise and enthusiasm

First and foremost: be enthusiastic about law! Read legal news regularly in the Financial Times, the Law Society Gazette, Legal Business, The Lawyer, the mainstream media, and, of course, AllAboutLaw.

Second, keep making links in your preparation. If you notice an example in your competencies related to something you read in the news, make sure you solidify that link by writing it down. Once these links are set in your mind, they will make their way into your answers and elevate your video interview.

Overcoming technical challenges with confidence

After all your preparation, the last thing you want to happen is the screen suddenly going blank. The key things to check:

Wifi: have a secure and strong connection;
Fully charged laptop: have your laptop connected to its power cable the whole time.
Working audio: check using your computer’s in-built video software that it is picking up audio correctly. If not, plug in a microphone or headset to take the video interview.
Video quality: poor quality is usually related to wifi issues;

If something happens during the video interview, stay calm and collected and troubleshoot the problem as best you can.

Practice makes perfect: preparing through mock interviews

Practice interviews with your friends and family are important to keep honing your skills, and receiving different opinions will only make you better and, ultimately, more confident.

Find a comprehensive list of questions you may face here.

Find video interview recorder tools here.

Find (paid-for) mock video interviews at The Corporate Law Academy.

Keep practising until every answer feels second-nature to you!

The follow-up etiquette and post-interview protocol

If you’ve completed an automated video interview, email the recruitment team that you enjoyed the process and you hope to hear from them soon.

No matter how well you prepared, there will always be doubts about what you could have said. This is normal, and you should learn from your strengths and weaknesses to be better for the next one.

Conclusion

Applications and interviews are a learning process. Keep practising and remember the key points: preparation is vital; structure and clarity in your answers is paramount; linking legal knowledge to your personal experiences/current affairs will help you stand out; and enthusiasm, etiquette, and proactivity will leave a lasting impression.

With these tips, you’ll begin to impress big law firms at video interviews and soon find yourself with a training contract at one of the most prestigious law firms in the world.

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