Recently, our Director Sam Lindsay had the opportunity to deliver an interviewing workshop for law students at the University of Canterbury.
The session was organised by UC Women in Law, alongside Te Pūtairiki UC Māori Law Students' Association, ALSS, CRIMSOC, Law For Change UC, UC Pacific Law Students Society and UC Queer in Law. The focus was simple: helping students better understand what makes a difference in legal interviews. It’s a topic we spend a lot of time working on through Chisholm Clarke, helping lawyers prepare for interviews across private practice and in-house opportunities.
What made this session particularly valuable was the chance to take those same practical insights and apply them in a university setting, where many students are approaching one of the more competitive and high-pressure parts of their legal journey.
For many law students, the interview process can feel like the least predictable part of recruitment. Academic results are tangible, CVs can be refined, applications can be edited and improved - but interviews are different.
They require students to think quickly (and slowly), communicate clearly, and present themselves with confidence -often in unfamiliar, high-pressure situations. That can be challenging, particularly when graduate and summer clerkship recruitment is so competitive. The reality is that many strong candidates miss opportunities not because they lack capability, but because they haven’t yet learned how to communicate their strengths and interests effectively.
That’s what this workshop aimed to address.
The workshop centred on interviewing strategies that students could immediately apply, then we practised them in the same room. Rather than focusing on generic interview advice, the goal was to break down what firms and other workplaces are actually looking for when they meet candidates, based off Sam's understanding having built good connections with many legal hiring managers around the country from his role as a legal search specialist.
We spent time working through:
A large part of effective interviewing comes down to preparation, not memorising answers. It is important to try and not sound overly polished, but careful enough to have some material ready. Just having some structure and clarity in p[lace that you can respond naturally and confidently generally goes a long way.
One of the recurring themes in sessions like this is the assumptions students make about what interviewers want. There’s often a belief that success comes from having the “perfect” answer and that you can deliver this answer super-fast as soon as the interviewer finishes answering the question. In reality, interviewers are usually looking for something much simpler:
Clear thinking, good communication, self-awareness, commercial awareness where appropriate and the ability to engage professionally.
Students often perform better when they stop trying to deliver the answer they think a firm wants, and instead focus on communicating their own experiences and interests clearly and thoughtfully. That shift alone can make a significant difference.
One of the strongest takeaways from the session was the importance of deliberate practice. Interviewing is a skill. Like legal writing, client communication, or advocacy -it improves through repetition.
The students engaged thoughtfully with practical examples in the workshop and were encouraged to participate in mini-activities at various parts of the workshop. They asked strong questions around:
These are exactly the right questions to be asking.
It was also encouraging to see collaboration across so many student law groups. Bringing together different organisations for events like this creates stronger opportunities for students to access practical support as they approach recruitment season. That kind of initiative matters.
The legal profession places significant emphasis on readiness from day one, but practical preparation often sits outside formal academic study. Workshops like this help bridge that gap.
A huge thank you to Olivia Pearce and the UC Women in Law team, along with the other participating student groups and the University of Canterbury, for organising the event and creating such an engaged and welcoming environment. The thoughtful feedback and level of participation made it a genuinely enjoyable session to deliver.
If you're interested in what a career in law could look like as a graduate, visit this link to another one of our helpful articles.
For interview preparation advice, please visit this link to an article about interview preparation.
Recruitment season can be an intense period for penultimate and final-year law students. There’s pressure, uncertainty and often a lot of comparison. Strong interview performance rarely comes down to having all the answers. It comes from preparation, clarity, and confidence in communicating who you are and what you can offer. Hopefully the workshop helped make that process feel a little more approachable for those attending.
Wishing all students heading into interviews the very best.
Chisholm Clarke is a dedicated legal search firm, synonymous with expert and confidential legal career guidance in New Zealand. More than just finding and securing qualified lawyers new jobs, we provide detailed market information, sound advice and smooth private job searching services tailored to each individual.
We also produce the What a Lawyer podcast, founded the New Lawyer Fund (launching in 2027) and in collaboration with the New Zealand Law Society, provide interviewing workshops for graduates and new lawyers entering the profession. We also sponsor an annual charity golf tournament for lawyers and recently formed international partnerships to support lawyers heading overseas. These partners have been vetted to our standard of service-providing and we have regular meetings with them to ensure compliance and shared market information.
Chisholm Clarke was founded in 2022 and is led by Sam Lindsay who offers ten years worth of New Zealand legal recruitment market experience, a relaxed yet professional approach, with 50+ public reviews to back it up. If you would like to start a confidential conversation about your options or how to structure your job search, reach out to Sam today on 0275665707 or sam@chisholmclarke.co.nz.
