Sample Interview Questions from Vault Law's 2025 Annual Associate Survey

Vault Law's Annual Associate Survey is a gold mine of information for law students and jobseekers. One of the questions answered by the over 23,000 practicing attorneys who take the survey is a simple one—what does your firm ask candidates in interviews? Below are 15 examples taken from over 2,300 responses we received to this question during this year's survey.

• “’What are some failures you've had and how have you learned from them?’ ‘Tell me about being a leader.’”

• “My first interviewer asked me to teach him about something (literally anything I wanted to talk about). During my final interview, I was asked to explain a legal concept that I found interesting or difficult at my summer job.”

• “Nearly a half of one of my interviews was about why my hometown is a great place to vacation—not anything law-related—but a great way to gauge whether you would enjoy spending hours with that person at the workplace.”

• “We regularly ask about how an applicant can deal with prioritizing multiple matters and working in a team environment.”

• "Tell me about a time you felt in over your head on a project?"

• "What do you think makes a good leader? What do you look for in a mentor and how do you think you mirror those qualities yourself?"

• “A typical question would be to explain a challenge and how you handled it, a time that you had to be a leader on an issue and how you approached it, a time when you received negative feedback and how you handled it.”

• “As a lateral hire, I was asked to walk through the sort of analysis I would run for a deal (to display my knowledge of the subject matter). However that was the most content specific question, and mostly I was asked about my interest in the firm.”

• “At first typical behavioral, resume questions, and then hard hitting ones. I was asked to solve homelessness in Los Angeles and lay out a full plan by the highest ranked partner who interviewed me.”

• “Behavioral questions include questions such as: Tell me about a project that you have managed or worked on that required a high level of attention to detail. How do you determine priorities in scheduling your time? Tell us about a time when you built rapport quickly with someone under difficult conditions.”

• “By the time of the interview, the qualifications are well-known, so the interviews instead focus on personality compatibility and less quantifiable aspects. Being able to talk about interests and demonstrating a commitment to the community where the job will be located are key parts of the interview.”

• “Demonstrated ability to teach yourself new topics is definitely important during the interview process. It is also important for the potential associate to be able to speak, at the least, accurately about the firm's practice beyond what may be public on the firm's website (e.g., which office typically handle's which practice to the extent it varies by office).”