Interviewing with
Legal Aid Ontario (LAO) and
Community Legal Clinics
Introduction
The interview process with Legal Aid Ontario (LAO) and community legal clinics
can be considerably different from other legal interviews. Although the service
areas vary somewhat between legal aid clinics, you can anticipate a much more
social justice-oriented, knowledge-based interview than what you would
experience in a law firm environment.
Preparation
The first key to success in a LAO or community legal clinic interview is
preparation. A good place to start is to review the LAO and, if applicable, legal
clinic websites. Research the position and requirements as much as possible by
carefully reviewing the job description and posting. If applicable, make particular
note of the “qualifications” section. These qualifications, along with the other job
responsibilities and requirements, will most likely form the basis for the interview
questions. In preparing, think about the best possible examples to demonstrate
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your qualifications in your responses. Did you set the context clearly? Did you
talk about your role in the situation? Did you describe the outcome?
Social Justice Orientation
Commitment to social justice will be a theme for most of the questions. It also
helps to demonstrate your interest in learning about different areas of law and
work.
Think about the key challenges of the position and your social justice goals,
values and commitment that you could demonstrate through volunteer
experience, community involvement, academic courses or international
experience. Whether it is though previous studies, community work or volunteer
project in a developing country, emphasize your genuine interest in helping
others and promoting access to justice.
Succeeding in Structured Interviews*
An interview at LAO or community legal clinics is a fairly formal process with a
predictable, structured format. In most circumstances, you will be interviewed by
a panel that will ask a list of standardized questions designed to explore your
skills, experience and knowledge as they relate to the position, as well as to
assess your potential to take on the new role. Each question will be given a
weight according to the relevance of the skills, knowledge or experience to the
position. Each candidate is asked the same set of interview questions and scored
using the same rating scheme.
Normally, the interview panel will rotate in asking questions. They will likely write
everything down and there will be little interaction, if any, beyond the panel
repeating questions or clarifying them, if you request clarification.
It is important that you keep this in mind and not be distracted or thrown off by
the silence during the interview. Don’t wait for the interviewers to finish what they
are writing – keep talking. After the panel has posed all the questions, you will be
asked whether you have any questions. As always, be sure to prepare questions
for the interviewers.
The key to performing well in structured interviews is focusing on personal
experience, achievements and skills, as well as how you acquired them. Many
interview questions will be designed to capture your actual accomplishments,
demonstrated involvement, as well as past actions and outcome. Since the panel
is interested in what you did, try to use the word “I.” If what you did was a part of
a team, explain your role and focus your answer on your value-added
contribution.
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Present your skills and experience as they relate to the position: use concrete
examples to demonstrate your skills and tell a story about a time when you used
those skills, use measurable results to describe the situation (if possible) and
mention how it turned out. If the result was unsuccessful, you could talk about the
lessons learned, or what you would have done differently. You can ask the
interviewers whether you provided the necessary information to answer the
question, or whether additional information is needed.
During the interview, don’t rush to respond to the questions. Make sure to think
through your answers and take your time. Listen carefully to the questions to
understand what is actually being asked – don’t anticipate the questions. Ask to
repeat or clarify a question, if necessary. If you draw a blank, ask the panel if you
could return to a particular question. Try not to dwell on “missing” an answer,
think about the next question being asked and provide a focused response. Be
sure to give thoughtful answers – jumping from question to question will make
you appear disorganized.
It is acceptable to bring notes into the interview to refer to in responding to
questions. However, the notes should be memory cues only – you should never
read a prepared response to the panel. It is also acceptable to bring a pen and
notepad into the interview. Feel free to write down the questions or key points to
structure your response.
Be positive, but always honest. Don’t apologize for a lack of experience – it is not
your role to point out your shortcomings. Focus on the experience you do have,
and how it relates to the job requirements.
Interviewers will look for specific qualities in candidates, including your research
and drafting abilities, commitment to social justice and legal aid work, interest in
learning about different areas of law, skills relevant to working with legal clinic
clients, as well as understanding of the LAO system. They will take a look at your
grades and a writing sample, if applicable (you may not be asked to provide a
writing sample, but you could bring it to the interview, in case). However, not only
do you need to have the required skills and knowledge, your interviewers are still
looking for “fit.” Remember that interviewers are also assessing whether you
would fit well into the culture of the legal clinic or LAO, as much as your
qualifications and commitment to social justice.
*This section has largely been adapted from the information available on the LAO
website. For more information on preparing for an interview with LAO, see
http://www.legalaid.on.ca/en/careers/interviewprep.asp.
Interview Questions
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Below you will find examples of the types of questions you might be asked in an
interview. The list of questions is not exhaustive and is in no way an indication of
a regular set of questions asked in each interview.
Legal Aid Ontario
General Questions
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What do you know about Legal Aid Ontario?
Why do you want to work for Legal Aid Ontario?
Describe the Lawyer Workforce Strategy (look over the Lawyer Workforce
Strategy of Legal Aid Ontario so you are comfortable discussing it).
What skills would you bring to our team were we to hire you?
What has been your hardest academic experience?
Would you say you have good reading and writing skills and verbal
communication, and what evidence do you have to prove this?
What are some of your strengths and weaknesses?
Questions on your ideas for third-year classes.
Questions on your ideas for articling.
Do you speak French? Any other languages? (Knowledge of languages
other than English is important)
Social Justice Questions
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What experiences do you have that demonstrate your interest in social
justice?
Questions on your commitment to social justice (past experience with
marginalized groups and people from different cultures is very important)
Describe your experiences with people with minority issues.
Questions on your ability to work with a diversity of clients who may have
mental health conditions, physical disabilities, etc., to explore your
understanding and sensitivity.
What kind of clients do you think come to the clinic?
If applicable, what work did you do at the legal clinic in the law school?
Questions on experiences on the resume, particularly applicable job
experiences.
LAO does work in criminal law, and this can mean helping clients who are
accused of crimes such as rape, assault, and murder. How do you feel
about representing these clients?
Substantive Questions
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Criminal Law: A man is accused of having committed assault. He has
failed to appear before a judge at the scheduled date. He comes to the
clinic to meet with you. List five questions you think would be important to
ask him.
Tort Law: A woman has been fired without motive by her employer. She
comes to the clinic to seek your advice. List five questions you think would
be important to ask her.
What do you know about Aboriginal issues? Tell us about some of the
issues faced by Aboriginal communities (important to talk about a few
issues and the Aboriginal Justice Strategy that was implemented by LAO).
Questions on how Aboriginal law relates to social justice, i.e., overrepresentation in the criminal system, child custody.
Ethical/Hypothetical Questions
(You may or may not get asked situational questions)
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Describe what you would do/your process if you were looking into a new
area of law that you know nothing about.
Describe a time when you were told by someone else that there was an
area you could improve upon.
Tell us about a time when you received constructive criticism from
someone in an academic or work setting.
Tell us about a time when, either at school or at work, you had to do
something that was new or unfamiliar to you.
Would you have any problems defending someone who has been charged
with an offence such as child pornography or someone who was a
pedophile?
Can you describe a time you worked as a member of a team?
Scenario questions on how you handled sensitive situations with
marginalized groups or people from other cultures.
Scenario questions on flexibility, i.e., clients who do not return telephone
calls or come for meetings – what would you do if a client were difficult or
you could not reach the client?
Scenario questions on your honesty and good judgment.
You have a series of meetings scheduled with clients of the clinic on
Friday. You also have a paper due that day. None of your co-workers at
the clinic is available to replace you. What do you do?
Community Legal Clinics
General Questions
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Questions on your interest in a specific area of law, i.e., which classes are
your favourite? (Taking classes in an area you are applying for
demonstrates both interest and understanding of this area of law)
Have you ever had any experience with vulnerable people?
Could you tell us a little bit more about yourself?
Do you have any experience in research and writing?
Have you ever appeared in court?
Questions on foreign language abilities, such as French, Spanish, Somali
and Arabic (among others).
Questions on writing skills, particularly ability to write clearly and
concisely.
What do you think could be the challenges that immigrants encounter?
Questions on research skills (if applicable) and completing researchprojects within deadlines and with limited resources.
What do you know about Legal Aid Ontario and what do you think about
it?
Hypothetical Questions
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Scenario questions on time management, organization and work ethic,
i.e., how would you deal with too many cases or if another student at the
clinic was not carrying the load – would communicate, if you were
overwhelmed?
You are scheduled to appear at the courthouse on behalf of a client in two
days. It is the January session and you are to attend a class on the day of
the hearing; participation marks go towards 50% of your final grade for this
class. What do you do?
Do you have any questions for us?
Good luck with your interview!
The CLCDN would like to thank the Career and Professional Development Office
at the University of Ottawa Faculty of Law (Common Law) for the information
contained in this guide.
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