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Role guide

Solicitor interview preparation

Updated 13 September 2026

A solicitor interview calls for careful preparation around the role's core skills, including accuracy, analysis and clear communication. The process itself varies by employer, so this guide uses the Government Legal Profession and HJA trainee routes as specific examples and explains how to prepare for each supported stage.

01

Interview process examples

The examples below are specific to the Government Legal Profession trainee solicitor scheme and HJA Trainee Solicitor recruitment. Other employers may use a different sequence or format.

  1. Online application tests

    Three online application tests.

    Depends on the employer

    On the Government Legal Profession trainee solicitor scheme, eligible candidates must meet the required standard in three online application tests before the later video interview and final assessment centre stages.

    What they assess

    • Performance against the required standard in the three online application tests

    How to prepare

    • Read the scheme instructions carefully and confirm the testing arrangements.
    • Set aside uninterrupted time and test your equipment before starting.

  2. Video interview

    A video interview used to determine progression to the final assessment centre.

    Depends on the employer

    On the Government Legal Profession trainee solicitor scheme, candidates must be among the highest scorers at the video interview to reach the final assessment centre.

    What they assess

    • Video interview performance used to rank candidates for progression

    How to prepare

    • Review the trainee-role information and choose truthful examples that relate directly to it.
    • If the video interview is remote, test your camera, microphone and connection beforehand.

  3. Trainee interview

    An interview that includes discussion of a written-exercise response and a behaviour-based element.

    Typically around 60 minutes, including up to 15 minutes at the beginning for questions about the written-exercise response.

    Depends on the employer

    In the Government Legal Profession trainee solicitor interview, the panel begins by questioning the candidate about their written-exercise response so that they can expand on its main points. The interview also includes a behaviour-based element linked to the behaviours in the trainee-role person specification and the Civil Service Success Profiles Framework.

    What they assess

    • Key points in the candidate's written-exercise response
    • Behaviours in the trainee-role person specification and the Civil Service Success Profiles Framework

    How to prepare

    • Revisit your written response and practise explaining its reasoning, priorities and conclusions without simply repeating it.
    • For Government Legal Profession behaviour questions, cover the situation or task, your actions and the resulting impact, outcome or result.
    • Draw possible behaviour examples from work, education, the voluntary sector or home life.

  4. First- and second-stage interviews

    Two interview stages, with the second held at the office.

    The first-stage interview is approximately 60 minutes; the second-stage interview is approximately two hours.

    Depends on the employer

    Successful applicants for HJA Trainee Solicitor positions are invited to a first-stage interview and then a longer second-stage interview at the office.

    What they assess

    • Career-related answers supported by examples of the candidate's skills

    How to prepare

    • For an HJA Trainee Solicitor interview, research the firm in depth and review your application.
    • Prepare career-related answers with specific examples supporting your skills.
    • Plan your journey to the office.

Government Legal Profession trainee solicitor scheme

The route includes three online application tests, a video interview and a final assessment centre. Candidates must meet the test standard, be among the highest scorers at video interview to reach the final assessment centre, and meet the required standard while ranking among the highest scorers at that final stage.

HJA Trainee Solicitor applicants who are successful

HJA uses two interviews: an approximately 60-minute first stage and an approximately two-hour second stage held at the office.

Solicitor recruitment assessment exercises

Exercises vary by firm and may form part of an individual interview or group exercise. Materials may include a current-affairs or legal paragraph, a news article, a client scenario, or a document bundle concerning a merger, acquisition or IPO.

02

Your preparation plan

Build evidence you can use

Choose truthful examples that show the accuracy, analysis and clear written or oral communication needed in solicitor work. For each example, note the situation, what you personally did and the result. Keep enough detail to answer follow-up questions without turning the example into a memorised speech.

Prepare for the named route

For a Government Legal Profession trainee solicitor interview, revisit any written-exercise response and prepare to expand on its main points. For an HJA Trainee Solicitor interview, research the firm in depth, review your application, prepare career-related examples and plan your journey.

If you receive a solicitor document-bundle exercise, read the questions and instructions first, establish what the bundle contains, allocate your time and identify the material that matters. Leave time to review the response. When making a recommendation, consider risks to the client and firm, weigh the advantages and disadvantages, and finish with a short on-balance conclusion.

The week before

  • Read the job description and selection instructions, then map each stated criterion to a truthful example.
  • Prepare examples showing the accuracy, analysis and clear communication needed in solicitor work.
  • Review your application and mark the experiences you expect an interviewer to probe.
  • If interviewing for HJA's Trainee Solicitor route, research the firm in depth and prepare career-related answers supported by examples.
  • If interviewing for the Government Legal Profession trainee route, revisit your written-exercise response and practise expanding on its main points.

The day before

  • Practise concise answers aloud, keeping the focus on your own actions and the result.
  • Confirm the time, location, contact details and any materials you are permitted to bring.
  • Plan the journey; if the interview is remote, test the camera, microphone and connection.

On the day

  • Arrive or join early enough to settle without rushing.
  • Listen to the full question, pause to organise the answer and ask for clarification if its scope is unclear.
  • For a solicitor document-bundle exercise, read the instructions first, plan the available time and reserve time to review your response.
  • For a solicitor document-bundle exercise, address the client and firm risks, weigh the options and state an on-balance conclusion.
03

What interviewers look for

Accuracy and attention to detail

Solicitors need accuracy and attention to detail when handling legal work.

Evidence to prepare

  • Choose an example where you spotted an error, inconsistency or missing fact before it caused a problem.
  • Note the checks you used and how your intervention changed the outcome.

Legal research and analysis

Solicitors research cases and need strong problem-solving, research and analysis skills.

Evidence to prepare

  • Identify a matter where you had to separate relevant facts from background information.
  • Explain how you researched the issue, tested your reasoning and reached a defensible conclusion.

Clear client communication

Solicitors give legal advice, translate clients' issues into legal terms and explain legal matters to non-experts.

Evidence to prepare

  • Recall a time when you listened carefully to a client or stakeholder before clarifying the real issue.
  • Choose an example where you explained a technical or legal point in plain English and checked understanding.

Integrity and confidentiality

Solicitors need a professional approach, integrity and respect for confidentiality.

Evidence to prepare

  • Select an example where you handled sensitive information appropriately.
  • Think of a situation where doing the right thing required you to challenge an assumption, disclose a concern or seek guidance.

Negotiation and client interests

Solicitors need strong negotiating skills and are responsible for representing and defending a client's legal interest.

Evidence to prepare

  • Choose a negotiation where you identified the other party's priorities as well as your own.
  • Explain the outcome you sought, the concessions you considered and how you protected the client's or stakeholder's interests.

Planning, prioritisation and resilience

Solicitors need to plan and prioritise work, manage time and work well under pressure.

Evidence to prepare

  • Prepare an example involving competing deadlines or a sudden change in priorities.
  • Describe how you decided what to do first, communicated constraints and maintained the quality of your work.

Commercial awareness

Solicitors need commercial awareness and flexibility when circumstances change.

Evidence to prepare

  • Choose a business development that affected a client, organisation or legal matter.
  • Explain the commercial consequences, the legal angle and what action you would consider.
04

Questions you should be ready for

Use the answer plans as prompts, not scripts. Your examples should sound like you.

Motivation and fit

For training contract applicants, these questions explore personal reasons for becoming a lawyer and applying to the particular firm.

Why do you want to become a solicitor?

What they want to learn: For a training contract applicant, the interviewer is testing whether the candidate can give specific personal reasons for pursuing a legal career.

Answer plan

  • State the experiences that first drew you towards the work.
  • Connect those experiences to the parts of a solicitor's work that genuinely interest you.
  • Explain what you have done to test that interest.
  • Finish with why this route makes sense for you now.

Evidence to use: Choose two experiences that changed or confirmed your view of a legal career, and note what you learnt from each.

Avoid

  • Giving a generic answer about enjoying debate or wanting to help people.
  • Reciting your application without explaining what shaped your decision.
  • Claiming certainty without showing how you tested your interest.
Why have you applied to this firm?

What they want to learn: For a training contract applicant, the interviewer is testing the candidate's reasons for choosing the particular firm.

Answer plan

  • Identify two or three features of the firm that matter to you.
  • Link each feature to your experience, interests or preferred development.
  • Use details from your research rather than broad praise.
  • Explain why the match works in both directions.

Evidence to use: List the firm-specific facts that influenced your application and connect each one to something you have done or want to learn.

Avoid

  • Using points that could apply to any firm.
  • Repeating marketing language without giving your own view.
  • Focusing only on reputation.
What interests you about this role?

What they want to learn: For a solicitor job interview candidate, the interviewer is exploring the candidate's legal interests and interest in the organisation and role.

Answer plan

  • Name the parts of the role that interest you most.
  • Connect them to relevant work, study or voluntary experience.
  • Explain what you can contribute.
  • Keep the answer tied to the stated requirements.

Evidence to use: Match three requirements from the job description to brief examples from your own experience.

Avoid

  • Describing the profession generally instead of this role.
  • Listing interests without evidence.
  • Ignoring parts of the role that may be less familiar.

Competency evidence

For training contract applicants, competency questions ask for examples showing the attributes required of a trainee solicitor.

Tell me about a time when accuracy mattered in your work.

What they want to learn: For a training contract applicant, the interviewer is looking for a concrete example of accuracy and attention to detail, which solicitors need in their work.

Answer plan

  • Set out the task and why accuracy mattered.
  • Describe the checks you personally carried out.
  • Explain any issue you found and what you did about it.
  • Give the outcome and what you changed afterwards.

Evidence to use: Choose an example with a clear risk, a check you performed and an outcome you can verify.

Avoid

  • Saying you are detail-oriented without showing your method.
  • Taking credit for checks completed by someone else.
  • Leaving out the consequence of the error or correction.
Describe a time when you had to explain a complex issue to a non-expert.

What they want to learn: For a training contract applicant, the interviewer is looking for a concrete communication example; solicitors need to explain legal matters to non-experts.

Answer plan

  • Describe the audience and what they needed to understand.
  • Explain how you listened for their concerns or gaps in knowledge.
  • Show how you adapted your language and structure.
  • Say how you checked that the explanation had worked.

Evidence to use: Pick an example where you can recall the technical point, the language you changed and the audience's response.

Avoid

  • Using unexplained jargon in the answer itself.
  • Talking only about presenting rather than listening.
  • Assuming silence meant understanding.
Give an example of how you managed competing deadlines.

What they want to learn: For a training contract applicant, the interviewer is looking for evidence of planning and prioritisation, skills solicitors need to manage their work and time.

Answer plan

  • Outline the competing pieces of work and their constraints.
  • Explain how you assessed urgency, importance and dependencies.
  • Describe any communication or renegotiation of expectations.
  • Report the result and what the experience taught you.

Evidence to use: Choose an example with genuinely competing demands and a decision you personally made about priorities.

Avoid

  • Claiming that everything was equally urgent.
  • Focusing on working longer rather than prioritising.
  • Hiding delays or failing to explain how you communicated them.
Tell me about a time when you received difficult feedback.

What they want to learn: For a training contract applicant, the interviewer is looking for evidence of resilience and an ability to accept criticism, which solicitors need.

Answer plan

  • State the feedback plainly and give enough context.
  • Explain how you assessed it without becoming defensive.
  • Describe the action you took.
  • Show what changed in your later work.

Evidence to use: Select feedback that led to a visible change in your approach or output.

Avoid

  • Presenting disguised praise as criticism.
  • Blaming the person who gave the feedback.
  • Claiming improvement without evidence.

Commercial awareness

For training contract applicants, commercial-awareness questions assess understanding of local, national and world business and its effect on the wider law sector.

Which recent business development could affect this firm's clients?

What they want to learn: For a training contract applicant, the interviewer is assessing understanding of business and its effect on the wider law sector.

Answer plan

  • Choose one development relevant to the firm's work.
  • Explain it accurately and separate fact from your interpretation.
  • Identify the likely effect on clients.
  • Discuss the questions or work it may create for legal advisers.

Evidence to use: Prepare one development you have followed closely and note its source, affected clients and possible legal consequences.

Avoid

  • Summarising a headline without analysing its effect.
  • Choosing a topic with no connection to the firm's clients.
  • Overstating uncertain consequences.
How can commercial pressures change the advice a client needs?

What they want to learn: For a training contract applicant, the interviewer is assessing whether the candidate can connect business circumstances with their effect on legal work.

Answer plan

  • Choose a clear commercial pressure or change in circumstances.
  • Explain the client's likely objective and constraints.
  • Set out the legal and practical considerations you would explore.
  • Acknowledge missing facts before reaching a conclusion.

Evidence to use: Think of a business scenario where cost, timing or risk affected the options available, and identify the facts you would need.

Avoid

  • Treating the legal issue in isolation from the client's objective.
  • Assuming facts that have not been provided.
  • Giving a firm conclusion without discussing risk or uncertainty.
Tell me about a business issue you have followed and why it matters to the legal sector.

What they want to learn: For a training contract applicant, the interviewer is assessing understanding of local, national or world business and its impact on the wider law sector.

Answer plan

  • Define the issue briefly.
  • Explain why you chose to follow it.
  • Analyse its effect on organisations or clients.
  • Connect that effect to possible changes in legal demand or advice.

Evidence to use: Choose an issue you can discuss beyond the headline, including competing views and an effect on clients or legal work.

Avoid

  • Giving a long news summary with little analysis.
  • Forcing a legal connection that you cannot support.
  • Pretending to know details you have not checked.

Case-study discussion

Where a case study is used for training contract applicants, candidates may review documents and present the risks and opportunities facing a potential client to a panel.

What are the main risks facing the potential client?

What they want to learn: Where a case study is used for a training contract applicant, the panel is testing the candidate's ability to identify and present risks from the supplied documents.

Answer plan

  • Clarify the client's objective.
  • Group the relevant facts rather than repeating every document.
  • Rank the risks by likely impact and urgency.
  • State any assumptions and identify missing information.

Evidence to use: During practice, mark each risk with the document that supports it, its possible impact and the further fact you would seek.

Avoid

  • Listing every issue without prioritising.
  • Treating assumptions as facts.
  • Ignoring the client's objective.
What opportunities do the documents suggest for the potential client?

What they want to learn: Where a case study is used for a training contract applicant, the panel is testing the candidate's ability to identify and present opportunities from the supplied documents.

Answer plan

  • Identify the client's likely aims.
  • Select the strongest opportunities supported by the documents.
  • Explain the benefit and any condition attached to each opportunity.
  • Balance each proposal against relevant risks.

Evidence to use: Practise linking each opportunity to a specific fact, a possible benefit and a condition that could affect it.

Avoid

  • Treating optimism as analysis.
  • Presenting an opportunity with no evidence from the materials.
  • Ignoring the risks attached to an option.
What further information would you seek before advising the potential client?

What they want to learn: Where a case study is used for a training contract applicant, the panel is testing how the candidate handles gaps while presenting risks and opportunities from the documents.

Answer plan

  • Identify the decision the client needs to make.
  • Point out the material gaps in the documents.
  • Explain how each missing fact could change the analysis.
  • Prioritise the questions that need answering first.

Evidence to use: When practising, keep a separate list of missing facts and write one line on why each fact matters.

Avoid

  • Inventing facts to complete the scenario.
  • Asking broad questions without explaining their relevance.
  • Failing to distinguish urgent gaps from minor detail.
05

Questions to ask them

“How is work allocated, and how does the team handle competing priorities?”

This helps you judge how workloads are planned and what support is available when deadlines clash.

“What would you want the successful candidate to achieve in their first six months?”

This clarifies the employer's immediate expectations and gives you a practical measure of success.

“How does supervision and feedback work for someone at this level?”

This helps you understand who will review your work and how your development will be supported.

“Which types of matters would take up most of the successful candidate's time?”

The answer lets you compare the day-to-day work with your experience and interests.

“What distinguishes people who perform well in this team?”

This may reveal the working habits the interviewers value beyond the wording of the job description.

“What are the next steps in the selection process?”

This clarifies what remains without assuming that every employer follows the same process.

06

On the day

In person

  • Check the route, arrival instructions and named contact before leaving.
  • Bring any permitted notes and a copy of your application, then use them as prompts rather than reading from them.
  • For an HJA Trainee Solicitor interview, be ready to meet two partners and/or Senior Associates.
  • Listen to the full question, pause briefly and answer with a specific example where one is requested.

Remote

  • If your interview is remote, test your camera, microphone and connection beforehand, and choose a quiet setting.
  • If your interview is remote, close unrelated applications and notifications before joining.
  • If your interview is remote, practise concise answers aloud beforehand.
  • If your interview is remote, join early enough to settle before it begins.
07

Preparation pitfalls

Aspiring solicitors give generic answers or fail to demonstrate commercial awareness.

Research the firm's practice areas, recent deals and the commercial context affecting its deals, then connect that research to your reasons for applying.

Newly qualified solicitor candidates need to be ready to discuss their training experience in detail.

Prepare precise notes on seat choices, practice-area exposure, clients, challenges, reporting lines and work with other functions.

Newly qualified solicitor candidates need to be ready to explain their motivations and career aims.

Prepare a candid account of your practice-area choice, interest in the firm and five-year career aims, and arrive with questions about the role and firm.

Poor setup is a mistake aspiring solicitors should avoid in video interviews.

Test your connection, sound and camera before the interview.

A solicitor document-bundle exercise requires a deliberate approach to its instructions, contents and available time.

Read the questions and instructions, establish what the bundle contains, identify the important material and reserve time to review your response.

A solicitor document-bundle recommendation needs a balanced assessment of risk and options.

Consider risks to the client and firm, weigh the pros and cons, and finish with a short on-balance recommendation.

08

After the interview

Send a brief message thanking the interviewers for their time. Refer accurately to one useful point from the discussion and correct any factual detail you genuinely misstated, but do not rewrite your answers.

Keep a private note of the questions, examples you used and any follow-up date given. If the stated date passes, contact the named person with a short, polite request for an update.

If an offer arrives

  • Compare the work you would handle with the practice area, supervision and progression discussed at interview.
  • Check that the written offer matches the role, location and working arrangements described during the process.
  • If the work is as a solicitor in England and Wales, confirm what you need to do about the practicing certificate required by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.
  • If you already hold a practising certificate, check whether any conditions are attached.
09

Frequently asked questions

From guide to application

Make your CV and your answers tell the same story.

Use cvlift to tailor your CV to the role and bring the most relevant experience forward. Then use this guide to practise the examples behind it.

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