Use situations the role will encounter
Ask candidates about the matters, stakeholders, decisions and tradeoffs the actual role presents. A litigation associate, product counsel and legal-operations leader should not be assessed with an identical interview script.
Define what each interviewer evaluates
Assign each interviewer a limited set of job-related criteria, document evidence promptly and use a consistent rating standard. Friendly conversation is not a substitute for comparable evidence.
Let candidates assess the employer too
Reserve time for questions about the work, decision rights, workload, location, support and compensation structure. Openly surface material differences before an offer rather than relying on assumptions.
Keep the hiring decision with the employer
BEGHR helps employers prepare permanent-hire searches. The employer decides whom to hire and directly employs the successful person. Scope, fees, candidate ownership, timing and any replacement terms are established in the written engagement before a search begins.
Questions that fit the role
Interview questions should recreate the decisions the role makes. Three sets below, one per common search; pick the set that matches the brief and drop the generic questions.
- Associate attorney: Walk through a matter you ran from intake to resolution. What did you draft without supervision last year? Describe a deadline you missed or nearly missed and what changed afterward. How do you allocate time between billable work and business development?
- In-house counsel: Describe a decision where legal risk and commercial speed pulled in opposite directions and how you resolved it. How do you decide what stays in-house and what goes to outside counsel? Tell us about advice a business leader did not want to hear. How do you measure your own workload?
- Paralegal or legal assistant: Walk through your discovery or closing checklist. Which systems have you run production or filing through? How do you prioritize three partners’ urgent requests on the same afternoon? Describe a document error you caught and what you changed.
Questions to leave out
Keep questions tied to the work. Avoid questions about protected characteristics, family plans, health, age or any matter unrelated to the role. Do not use the interview to verify admission; confirm standing through the official authority instead and ask the candidate only to describe their admissions and any pending applications. Do not ask for privileged detail about current clients or matters; ask for the shape of the work and the candidate’s role in it.
Scoring answers so candidates are comparable
Give each interviewer three to five criteria from the scorecard and a three-point scale: clear evidence, partial evidence, insufficient evidence. Record the example the candidate gave, not an impression. Return feedback to the recruiter inside 48 hours; feedback that waits a week is the most common reason a search runs past BEGHR’s published 23 to 35 day placement window.
Logistics that keep strong candidates in the process
Two rounds for associates and paralegals, three for senior counsel, with the panel named before sourcing starts. Hold interview slots in the calendar for the shortlist week. Tell the candidate the decision date and keep it. Reserve the last ten minutes of every interview for the candidate’s questions about the work, decision rights, workload and location; employed candidates are deciding too.