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Sessions
Legal Interview Questions
2019-02-25: by Dustin Betz
When interviewing a law firm, you will most likely meet with a Partner, who is the senior member of the team, and the Partner may invite some more junior members of the team, such as an associate or paralegal.
Most legal interviews are a two-way street. On one hand, you will be interviewing the lawyer and the firm to represent your company. On the other hand, the layer will be interviewing you to see if you are a good client. As a result, it is always good to start the meeting by introducing yourself, explaining your professional background, and then describing the business with the goal of getting the lawyer excited.
There are some basic questions that you want to ask any lawyer before retaining their firm. In preparation for a law firm interview, we have provided five important questions below:
1. How many startup clients have you worked with, and why are you interested in working with more startups now?
2. What is an example of a successful startup client that you have helped, and what is an example of a situation with one of your startup clients startup that did not go well?
3. Can you describe the team, the roles and the billable rate of the resources that will be working on my account from your firm, and how do you anticipate that an average legal matter, such as a partnership agreement, will be completed?
4. What is the best way for me to work with you and your team to get the highest quality work for the least amount fees, and do you offer any discounts or fee deferrals for companies in our position?
5. What are the three best pieces of advice that you can give a Founder and a startup in my position that will help to be more successful?
Additional Questions
You should develop 5 to 10 more questions to ask the lawyer in the interview based on the market and the business that you are pursuing. Use these questions as an opportunity to learn about the law. Some example questions are below:
Developing a Mobile Application: What are the three common legal challenges that you experience with other clients that are developing a mobile application like ours?
Pursuing a Subscription Model: What are three important terms to consider when creating our end-user agreements for our subscription offering?
Building an Enterprise Software Company: What are the three most important terms to include in license arrangements with our enterprise software clients that are not obvious?
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