With the rapid growth of industries, people, and business houses, it is pity but true that legal issues and allied complications have risen manifolds. These issues get settled in a court of law through the help, and efforts of solicitors and legal counselors. Some of the best and established lawyers always need a secretary to manage their offices and perform administrative tasks.
A legal secretary is well versed with the various aspects of management, law, and administration to provide exceptional clerical support to his or her seniors. Possessing an important position in the office, legal secretaries are considered key personnel and fetches lucrative salaries and incentives. However, they have to undergo a strict interview procedure so as to get selected. Thus, always read some of the best interview questions to improve your chances of selection. Prepmycareer has compiled and devised the 21 best interview questions for your reference and preparation.
21 Best Interview Questions To Study
1. Legal Language Is Often Tough and Tricky. Can You Proofread and/or Transcribe?
Proofreading and Transcription of the legal language are some of the primary tasks that a legal secretary has to perform. Through this question, an interviewer wants to know about your method or strategy for doing so.
Sample Answers
Sir, I completely understand the relevance of this question. It is true that legal language is tough to comprehend because of the technicalities involved. However, being a law graduate myself, I have an ability o understand it precisely. Further, proofreading of all the drafts requires legal as well as grammatical knowledge to ensure that the written matter is valid and readable. Moreover, transcription is not a big issue for me, as I have developed active listening skills and a very good legal vocabulary.
2. What In Your Opinion Is The Primary Reason That Ensures Democracy In Any Country ?
Legal secretaries hold an important position in a legal office and thus, must have, at least the basic constitutional knowledge in regards to the legal structure of any country. This question checks your knowledge and understanding of the basic polity.
Sample Answers
Sir, a federal structure is established, when there is a provision in the constitution that provides for an adequate and appropriate distribution of power between the central government, state government, and the local self-governing bodies. This decentralization ensures that democracy is effectively implemented in its essence and there is not even a single strand of monarchy or kingship, which is promoted by the concentration of powers.
3. How Comfortable Are You With Frequent Travelling?
Legal secretaries have to travel a lot, both inter-city and intra-city. They are instructed to attend the court hearings to note down all the relevant details, visit clients’ premises or simply switch between one office to another. This is a common expectation and you are required to give a positive answer.
Sample Answers
Sir, traveling is a necessary requirement for this job, and I am completely comfortable in it. I have no issues in making frequent travels to the court r the client’s place. I am a hardworking individual and have the ability to travel with great energy as well as enthusiasm.
4. Explain The Writ Of Habeas Corpus.
Being a legal secretary, you must be aware of the various writs available, which define various rights of the clients. There will always be such questions in your interview session and thus, you are always requested to revise all your college notes.
Sample Answers
Sir, Habeas corpus, is one of the several rights, that are available to the citizens of our country. It is a Latin term, which when translated to English turns out to be, “bring the body of”. It is a legal process that protects any person from being getting detained unlawfully. By filing the writ of habeas corpus, the magistrate/judge could order the administration to bring and present the detainee in a court of law.
5. What Are Your Views On Office Pilferage?
Stealing, pilferage, and burglary, from the offices, are a mess and lead to severe financial losses to its owner. Thus, it is necessary that these situations are avoided at all costs. Just present your genuine views in this regard and also mention how could you stop it.
Sample Answers
Sir, pilferage is a crime and is an activity unethical to be performed. However, ironically, it still happens and leads to business losses. I am completely against such unethical activities and be assured I would never indulge or even be the slightest part of any pilferage. Further, if I ever encounter any of my peers engaging in such tasks, I would strictly complain and shoot an immediate letter to my boss.
6. Please List All The Clerical Tasks, That You Will Be Required To Perform In This Job?
This question checks your knowledge and understanding of the job. It checks whether or not you are fully aware of the various functions to be performed.
Sample Answers
Sure, sir, These are:
- Preparing minutes of all the meetings held between the lawyers, along with noting down all the relevant and noteworthy developments.
- Arranging travel for the lawyers, and ensuring that they are able to reach the destination smoothly, without any major hassle
- Attending to the clients and understanding their concerns
- Maintain the decorum of the office by organizing files, documents, notices, and other written pieces of communication in an orderly manner
- Attending and answering to all the phone calls
7. How Will You Handle An Annoying or Disgruntled Customer?
Being a legal secretary, you will most certainly be required to handle the clients of your boss. Some of them are good, but some will always be annoying, skeptical, and disgruntled. You are required to attend to all of them, following some of the best business etiquette and practices.
Sample Answers
Sir, it is common to have such clients in the office. However, I believe, customers are the king, and the very basic reason for our existence. I always handle them with care, by following the best business practices, ethics, and etiquette. To start with, I try to understand the root cause of their problem and simultaneously keep taking notes. After having a complete understanding of their issues, I use my analytical skills and try to devise the best possible resolution. I am pretty sure that the client would be satisfied, however, if still some issues persist, I refer the case to my senior.
8. What Is Your Familiarity With The Various Clerical Procedures Associated With The Legal Courts?
A legal secretary is required to assist as well as aid the senior counsels in performing various clerical procedures such as obtaining a true and certified copy of the various orders, deposition of the court fees, filing judicial forms, etc. You must be aware of all these procedures, as it is a common requirement for this job.
Sample Answers
Sir, I am completely aware of all these procedures and have performed them quite a few times in my previous tenure with a legal firm. Be assured, I have a high familiarity with all the clerical tasks, which will certainly help me to contribute with my skillset.
9. Name Any Three Of Your Best Legal Areas.
There are simply various branches of law. This question requires you to share your best areas or branches, on which you are most confident as well as comfortable.
Sample Answers
Sure, sir, These are:
- Consumer laws
- Company laws and
- Taxation laws
10. How Do You Handle Criticism From Your Seniors?
It is common to receive negative feedback from the seniors and the management. However, you are required to maintain your attitude and never lose heart after getting it. Just share your best strategy to handle such criticisms and use persuasive language.
Sample Answers
Sir, every individual working at his workplace, wants to improve and learn, so as to just climb up the ladder and get frequent promotions. Criticisms or negative feedbacks are like a boon, which helps you to understand what is lacking in you and what are the various parameters on which you are required to improvise. I never take any criticism in a negative manner, rather use it to improve my performance.
11. The Role Of A Secretary Often Involves Multi-Tasking. How Do You Prioritize?
This is a common interview question, using which an interviewer wants to know about the various techniques using which you can prioritize your tasks. There are several prioritization techniques, using which you can finish all your tasks in a timely manner. As an ideal response to this question, just share your established and previously used, prioritization technique.
12. How Do You Handle Failure At Your Workplace?
We all experience failure at some point or the other in our life. However, not everybody can handle it, which leads to devastating effects on human minds. As an ideal response, just share your technique to handle work-related failure and how you can use it to improvise your performance.
13. We Work In A Team Setup. What Do You See In Your Ideal Team?
Through this question, an interviewer wants to know, what are the various qualities that you expect to see in your team members. It can be anything like supportive, dedicated, honest, etc.
14. What Motivates You To Work?
We all are motivated by a few factors, which prompt us to work hard and achieve our goals and objectives in a time-bound manner. An interviewer is always interested in knowing these factors, for a better evaluation and assessment of your personality.
15. Explain Your Major Strengths and Weaknesses.
This is a common interview question and is asked frequently in several interview sessions. Make sure that you give crisp and to-the-point answers, after conducting self-scrutiny of your personality and attitude.
16. Why Do You Want Work With Us?
This question requires you to state the reasons, which attract you to this particular law firm. As an ideal response, just share:
- What you like in their office?
- How will you be benefitted?
- Praise the clientele they have got, etc.
17. Describe Your Biggest Disappointment While Working As A Legal Secretary?
In our professional careers, there are always a few setbacks and disappointments, that completely change our attitude and approach towards our work. These factors help in personality evaluation and are always on the interviewer’s radar.
18. Being A Legal Secretary, You Will Be Required To Perform Several Roles That Might be Stressful. How Do You Manage Stress?
While working as a legal secretary, it is inevitable to avoid stress. Thus, stress management is a common expectation of legal firms, and you ought to develop a strategy using which you can manage your work-related stress. As an ideal response, explain how you can manage your stress and how it will not impact your performance.
19. What Are Your Salary Expectations?
Through this question an interviewer wants to know, what do you expect from the legal firm in terms of monetary compensation. You are advised to browse the legal industry and note down the salaries offered to the secretaries having work experience, similar to that of yours. Add or subtract 10% to the median salary found, and quote the same.
20. When Can You Start Working With Us?
This question requires you to state your exact date on or after which you will be available to work with the organization. Immediate starters are always preferred, but you are always advised to give a genuine reply.
21. Do You Have Any Questions For Us?
All the interview sessions that are held across the world are concluded through this interview question. This is the last question, which is asked in an interview session, and after this, you can certainly go home. Moreover, consider this as your last opportunity to impress your interviewer and thus, ask a few relevant counter-questions that pertain to the business organization itself. For your reference some model questions have been mentioned below:
Model Questions
- What is the work timing for this job and will there be incentives or further allowances for working beyond the mentioned hours?
- Please share a list of all the training and development programs initiated by the company for its administrative employees.
- What are the various anti-harassment policies devised by the company for its employees?
References
- https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=aWlHEAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR17&dq=Top+21+Legal+Secretary+Interview+Questions+in+2021+%5Bwith+Answers%5D&ots=oU60aDJ_3h&sig=UGanB40JqqarH-eYFFCrSgQs-uQ
- https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1461355720947548
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