Legal Aid Society General Intern Interview Questions
& Process

LAS has a pool of standard questions for interviewers to pick from. They're pretty typical and not overly challenging. I did encounter one question that was a bit out of the blue, asking about a law that had been updated in the past year and prompting me to guess what arguments each side might present. I had to ask for clarification because I wasn't familiar with that specific law.

My interview at The Legal Aid Society was really good and interesting. The interviewers were nice, thoughtful, and seemed really into their work, which made the chat feel both welcoming and serious. They asked smart questions that showed they cared about my background and my drive for public interest law. I liked that I could talk about my past experiences and my future goals, and I actually wanted to work there even more after the interview. Everyone was friendly and respectful, and it just made me like the organization even more for helping people who need it.

The interviewer asked me multiple questions about my personal philosophy of the criminal justice system and kept interrupting me before I could finish my answers. The interviewer also said my previous work experience was unfortunate and that I wouldn't be able to speak about any of my experiences without them correcting me. I was told I was too idealistic for criminal work and that sometimes criminal defendants do belong in jail when I expressed skepticism about the value of prison. I think the interviewer thought they were being helpful, but their tone was condescending the entire time. I withdrew my application for the program after the interview. While I do think some units in this office are doing great work, I think the values of the supervisor I interviewed with didn't align with my own values, and I hope this wasn't representative of the whole company.