Body Language and Demeanor

Another important trick of the interviewing trade is flattery. Whether you are interviewing as a senior lateral attorney or a 1L, you will be surprised how far flattery can get you, and how receptive the interviewers are to compliments. The trick is to be prepared and to sound so genuine that the interviewer does not see through you. If you think about it, this is pretty easy. With tools such as Google, Martindale-Hubble, and attorney profiles on firm Websites, there is plenty of information out there that you can use to butter up the decision makers. Plus, no one loves themselves more than lawyers, and no one loves to talk about themselves more than lawyers. Just look at those attorney profiles. Guess who writes them? The attorneys themselves. So if your interviewer chooses to put his or her marathon training or book writing experience in there, by all means talk about it.

How to Do Your Homework discusses what you can do to prepare for an interview. After reviewing it, find a few interesting facts about your interviewer (or facts you can pretend are interesting). This will help you engage with the interviewer over something he or she knows and can talk about, and make you seem genuinely interested in his or her achievements. All in all, unless you discovered the name of your interviewer minutes before an interview, a failure to prepare will not be excused.

Cassidy recently made a lateral move to another firm. While she was preparing for her interview, she discovered that there were only two partners among her interviewers, and they would undoubtedly have a great deal of say in whether to hire her. Cassidy, who was interested in this firm because of its product liability practice, discovered that the first partner actually practiced healthcare law, and the second was a patent litigator. Cassidy knew nothing about these areas, so she spent a great deal of time researching them. To her amazement, she really liked learning about healthcare law. In fact, after a very pleasant meeting with the first partner, Cassidy joined the firm and now practices in that area. Her meeting with the IP partner went just as well. Even though she did not know much about his practice area, she was able to show genuine interest in it. Both times, she used flattery by telling the partners how little she knew about their practice before the interview, and how interested she became in it after reading their works, reviewing their cases, and talking to them.

There is, of course, a thin line between flattering and openly flirting with your interviewer. Hopefully you know where this line is, and you must never cross it. Pleasant and genuine flattery can help you turn a boring interview into a fascinating conversation, and secure an offer where you otherwise would not receive it. But it can backfire if you do not do it right, so proceed with caution.