Answering Inappropriate or Illegal Questions

Illegal or inappropriate questions and remarks are surprisingly common during legal interviews, considering that such interviews are conducted by lawyers. It appears that no amount of sensitivity training can do away with them completely. Although it is impossible (and unnecessary) to list all different examples of illegal or inappropriate questions, there are two basic types: First, there are the blatantly illegal and discriminatory questions and remarks (intentional or not); second, there are questions that are obviously inappropriate or offensive, but not necessarily illegal. Your job as the interviewee is to recognize these questions for what they are, and to decide on your feet how to deal with them—hopefully to your advantage.