A Legal Secretary handles the administrative side of a law firm or business and is in large part responsible for ensuring the organisation runs smoothly. Legal Secretaries (sometimes referred to as Legal Assistants) are often the first point of contact for potential clients contacting the firm, which means they have to have impeccable people skills. The Legal Secretary further maintains calendars, schedules appointments, and transcribes recordings or meeting notes.
With such a high impact on the efficiency and day to day running of the organisation it’s important that you hire the perfect person for the role. To find that person, you need to make sure you ask your interviewees the right Legal Secretary interview questions. In the list below, you’ll find a bunch of potential questions you can ask your candidates during the interview.
When asking your legal secretary candidates these questions it’s important to look out for the following skills and qualities:
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills
- Solid understanding of legal terminology
- Great organisational skills and a highly structured way of working
- Ability to multitask and prioritise tasks effectively
Interviewing a Legal Secretary
As soon as you’ve received enough applications for the outstanding position it’s time for the next step in the interview process: inviting potential candidates to a job interview. That also means it’s time for you to start preparing a bunch of Legal Secretary interview questions and answers to ask your candidates.
We’ve done the research for you and prepared a list of questions that will help you determine whether a candidate is the right person for the job. Remember though that these are fairly general questions for the earlier stages of the interview process.
How to open the Legal Secretary job interview
Before you dive straight into difficult situational questions and elaborate skill tests you might want to instead start with a few opening questions. Think about it. Job interviews are stressful, no matter how many years of work experience you have. At the start of the interview, most candidates will be full of nerves and anxiety. So to get the most out of the interview (and to show some kindness), you’re often better off starting the interview with some positive openers to let them ease into the conversation.