What Not to Ask

This question is unoriginal and ambiguous, and calls for a Pollyanna response about work-life balance. Even worse, it tells your interviewer you are not willing to working hard. We understand your predicament and your desire to get paid the highest market salary, do challenging, interesting work (none of that document review or due diligence stuff), and still be able to leave at 5 p.m. You must realize, however, that you will work hard no matter where you end up. Big Law attorneys, small-firm attorneys, government lawyers, and even law clerks—the vast majority of them work hard. And those paid the highest salaries tend to work the most. It is therefore erroneous to assume that there is such a thing as a “lifestyle firm.” Of course, all legal positions vary in the challenges you will face, the hours and number of weekends you must work, and the temperaments of your supervisors. But these things are often more a matter of luck than anything else, and you cannot scope out these facts merely by asking your interviewer about the quality of life at the firm.

Our friends Albert and Jeff work at the same firm. Their offices are in the same building, and they do the same kind of work. Jeff gets to leave every day at 5:30 p.m. and does not work much on the weekends. Albert, however, never leaves before 7 p.m., and has to work almost every weekend. Thus, what is described as a “lifestyle firm” by Jeff is a “sweatshop” for Albert. The reason? Jeff got lucky and was paired up with two partners with small children who try not to work on the weekends. Meanwhile, Albert mostly works for an overachieving senior partner who believes weekends are like Santa (not real).

As discussed in Chapter 29, most lifestyle questions are appropriate at the post-offer stage, when you no longer risk losing an offer. If you are still tempted to ask these questions during an interview, ask carefully-worded, focused questions designed to elicit helpful answers. What you do not want to do is to ask questions that are too general or questions that clearly indicate you do not want to work hard. The former will call for an unhelpful “we are great” response; the latter may cost you an offer.

Bruce, a partner at a medium-sized firm, complains that he is asked this question a little too often. If he could give the interviewees an honest response, here is what he would say: “Now let me get this straight: You have not done a day of legal work in your life, you are interviewing for a summer associate position in which you will be wined and dined and do virtually no work, and you actually want to know how little work you can get away with?”

There are several lifestyle questions you can ask without antagonizing your interviewer. First, you can ask the junior attorneys if are able to work from home on late nights and weekends. This question allows for two helpful answers: “Yes, I can work from home,” or “Yes, but I hardly ever work nights and weekends.” Of course, if it turns out that you must work at the office at all times, this will help dispel any notions you had about the quality of life at that firm. You can also ask whether the firm holds events or activities to facilitate attorney bonding, or whether you interviewer was able to take vacations last year. But, if you can help it, the best thing to do is to save the lifestyle questions for later.