How do you evaluate things like “culture” in a law firm interview? I’m at a mid-size firm and I love small my team (& my low billable hours requirement), but at the firm & department level things have become really toxic. I’m interviewing at some bigger firms, but I’m terrified of landing somewhere with an awful team with 0 WLB. This was my first job out of law school, so I don’t really know how to scope out red flags in an interview. Any recs?

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Following thanks for asking. One thing that might help is to reach out to former associates on LinkedIn. Maybe tough for a larger firm but if you can determine these people were close to your department they may have some good info and may be willing to provide some insight. Offer to talk over the phone in case they do not want to put something on writing.

likesmart

Ask a former employee, if possible.

likesmart

In addition to the other points, ask male attorneys with children if they are involved in their children’s extracurricular activities; ask about female partners in leadership positions, how many female attorneys are on “mommy track” (frankly, mommy track isn’t necessarily a good thing….) and the extent to which female attorneys with children are involved in their children’s extracurricular activities; ask about POC in leadership positions other than the D&I officer; ask about openly LGBTQ attorneys in leadership positions as well; and ask about the attorney’s individual hobbies and volunteer activities. Answers to these questions may shed light on the firm’s culture. To be clear, only ask about children once the door has been opened by the interviewer. Good Luck!

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I need help with this too. I’ve started to ask why the vacancy is open to get a sense of what’s going on (Attrition? Expansion? Promotion?), and the caseload one associate is expected to handle. Though I got blindsided by my current firm throwing me 400 cases, and representing something entirely different in the interview, so I’m not sure how useful this is...

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Ask about social events done by the firm, when? What time of day? Who attends? This can tell you a lot about the overall firm investment in socializing between people in the office and various offices. I would also ask about turnover both at the office and associate level and recent executive level turnover. Ask when the last internal associate was promoted to partner, this can be very informative on the firms investment in their associates and what they do to help them get to partner.

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I looked at former employees in the group on LinkedIn and messaged folks about their experience letting them know I was considering joining. Some may ignore you, but some will oblige and give you some good insights.

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