Six question sets for the employer side of an attorney hire: general, in-house counsel, small firm associate, litigation, transactional, plus bar and conflicts checks with a scoring rubric. Download as DOCX.
Hiring an attorney is the one interview where the person across the table almost certainly knows more about the subject than you do. That asymmetry is uncomfortable, and it pushes owners toward the things they can see: the law school, the firm names, the confidence. Those are weak predictors. What actually predicts a useful attorney is judgment you can test, communication you can grade, and a license you can verify in public records.
At FirstHR, we build for the owners and managers who run these interviews without a legal department behind them. These six question sets cover the hire across settings: a general core set, in-house counsel, small firm associate, litigation, transactional, and a bar-and-conflicts set with a scoring rubric and red flags. Every core question carries a note on what a good answer sounds like.
Use them alongside your attorney job description so the posting and the interview test the same things. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR.
TL;DR
Judge four things you can grade without a law degree: plain-English explanation, fact-gathering before conclusions, a real deadline system, and professional integrity. Verify bar status yourself, run a conflicts check before the start date, and read one writing sample. Lawyers earn a national median of $159,670 a year. Download six question sets and a scorecard as DOCX.
What You Are Actually Hiring an Attorney To Do
An attorney is a licensed professional who advises and represents your organization on legal matters, and in a small organization the job is much broader than the title suggests. The day-to-day work is research, drafting, negotiation, risk assessment, and advice, with court appearances only in litigation roles. Attorney and lawyer mean the same thing in ordinary US usage.
The practical split runs along two lines. The first is setting: an in-house attorney serves one client, your company, and spends most of their time on contracts, employment questions, vendor terms, and risk calls. A firm attorney serves many clients and bills time. The second is specialty: litigation handles disputes, and transactional work handles deals.
That matters for the interview because a strong litigator can be a poor in-house hire and a skilled deal lawyer may have never taken a deposition. Decide which quadrant you are hiring into before you write a single question, because the wrong set of questions will make the wrong candidate look excellent.
Setting or specialty
What the day looks like
What to test hardest
In-house counsel
One client, contracts, risk calls, business speed
Business judgment and breadth
Small firm associate
Many clients, drafting, early client contact, billable time
Writing, triage, self-direction
Litigation
Pleadings, discovery, motions, hearings, trials
Real case counts and discovery discipline
Transactional
Drafting, negotiation, diligence, closings
Clause judgment and speed to close
Pick the Question Set That Matches the Role
Start with the general set for every attorney candidate, then add the one set that matches the setting or specialty. The general questions give you a common baseline for comparison, and the specialty set gives you the depth that separates candidates who look identical on paper.
General Attorney
Core set, any setting
The base set for every attorney hire: matters handled, judgment, plain-English explanation, deadline discipline, and bar status, with good-answer notes. Start here.
In-House Counsel
Inside your company
For a company legal hire: business risk tradeoffs, contracts end to end, managing outside counsel, breadth over depth, and in-house licensing rules.
Small Firm Associate
Junior to mid-level
For an associate at a small firm: writing samples, fact-gathering instinct, triage under pressure, billable time discipline, and appetite for real responsibility.
Litigation Attorney
Disputes and court
For a disputes hire: depositions and trials with real numbers, discovery and preservation discipline, case evaluation, budgets, and court admissions.
Transactional Attorney
Deals and drafting
For a deals hire: drafting from the business terms, positions on high-exposure clauses, negotiation behavior, diligence, and getting to a close on schedule.
Bar, Conflicts + Rubric
Verify and score
Bar admission and conflicts questions with employer verification steps, a six-area scoring rubric, and an attorney-specific red-flag checklist.
Match the Set to the Hire
Company legal hire, one client, contracts and risk: General plus In-House Counsel. Junior or mid-level associate at a small firm: General plus Small Firm Associate. Disputes, depositions, and court: General plus Litigation. Contracts, financing, and closings: General plus Transactional. For every candidate without exception: the Bar, Conflicts and Rubric set, which carries the verification steps and the scorecard.
6 Free Attorney Question Sets to Download
Download all six as a single Word document or copy individual sets. Each follows the same structure: when to use it, the questions with good-answer notes, a what-to-listen-for block, and a quick score. The final set adds bar and conflicts questions, employer verification steps, the full rubric, and a red-flag checklist.
Download All 6 Attorney Question Sets
General, in-house counsel, small firm associate, litigation, transactional, plus bar, conflicts and a scoring rubric. All in one DOCX.
Set 1: General Attorney Questions
The core set for every attorney candidate: matters handled, legal judgment, plain-English explanation, deadline discipline, and bar status, each with a note on what a good answer sounds like. Start here.
General Attorney Interview Questions
GENERAL ATTORNEY INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
Candidate: __
Organization: __
Interviewer: __
Date: _
HOW TO USE THIS SET
This is the core set for any attorney hire, whether the person will sit inside
your company or inside your firm. Ask 6 to 8 of these, then add one of the
specialty or setting sets below. The notes in parentheses describe what a good
answer sounds like, so you can judge the answer without a law degree of your own.
Score every candidate on the same rubric so you compare evidence, not impressions.
CORE QUESTIONS
1. Walk me through the kinds of matters you have handled in the last few years.
(Good answer: names matter types, their own role, and the outcome, without
disclosing confidential client information.)
2. Where are you admitted to practice, and is every license active and in good
standing?
(Good answer: states the jurisdictions and bar numbers plainly and offers a
certificate of good standing without being pushed.)
3. Describe the most complicated legal problem you solved. What made it hard?
4. Explain a legal issue our business faces to me as if I am not a lawyer.
(Good answer: plain English, no jargon, ends with a recommendation and the
risk of each option. This answer tells you the most about daily usefulness.)
5. How do you decide when to advise settling versus fighting?
(Good answer: weighs cost, exposure, time, and business impact, not just who
is legally right.)
6. Tell me about a time you gave advice a client or executive did not want to
hear. What happened?
7. How do you research an area of law you have not practiced before?
(Good answer: describes a real method: primary sources first, then secondary,
then a check with a specialist, on a realistic timeline.)
8. How do you track deadlines, statutes of limitation, and filing dates?
(Good answer: a real docketing or calendaring system, plus a backup. Missed
deadlines and calendar failures are a leading source of malpractice claims.)
9. What would you want to know about our business in your first month?
WHAT TO LISTEN FOR
•Plain-English explanation of complex issues, without condescension
•Judgment about business cost and risk, not only legal correctness
•Specific matters and specific roles, never vague "we handled litigation"
•Discipline around deadlines, calendaring, and documentation
•Complete openness about bar status, discipline history, and references
QUICK SCORE
Legal judgment [1][2][3][4][5] Communication [1][2][3][4][5]
Relevant experience [1][2][3][4][5] Process and deadlines [1][2][3][4][5]
Licensing and integrity [1][2][3][4][5]
NOTES
__
__
Set 2: In-House Counsel Questions
For an attorney inside your company: risk tradeoffs against business speed, contracts negotiated end to end, managing outside counsel and their budgets, breadth over depth, and in-house licensing rules.
In-House Counsel Interview Questions
IN-HOUSE COUNSEL INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
Candidate: __
Company: __
Interviewer: __
WHEN TO USE THIS SET
Use this set when the attorney will work inside your company rather than for
outside clients. The job is different from firm practice: one client, no billable
hour, constant tradeoffs between legal risk and business speed, and a lot of work
that is closer to operations than to litigation. Many strong firm lawyers are a
poor fit here, and this set is designed to surface that early.
QUESTIONS
1. What made you want to move in-house, or stay in-house?
(Good answer: wants ownership of one business and earlier involvement in
decisions, not just an escape from billable hours.)
2. The business wants to ship something next week and you see real legal risk.
What do you actually do?
(Good answer: quantifies the risk, offers a lower-risk path, and gives the
decision back to the business rather than issuing a flat no.)
3. What contracts have you drafted and negotiated end to end?
For a junior or mid-level associate at a small firm: writing samples and their real role in them, fact-gathering instinct, triage across competing matters, billable time discipline, and appetite for responsibility.
Small Firm Associate Interview Questions
SMALL FIRM ASSOCIATE INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
Candidate: __
Firm: __
Interviewer: __
WHEN TO USE THIS SET
Use this set for a junior or mid-level associate joining a small firm. A small
firm associate carries client contact, drafting, and court appearances far
earlier than a large firm associate would, often with light supervision. Test for
appetite for responsibility, self-direction, and the willingness to do the
unglamorous work, not just for class rank and journal credits.
QUESTIONS
1. What drew you to a small firm rather than a large one?
(Good answer: wants early client contact and real responsibility, and knows
what that costs in support and structure.)
2. Describe the most substantive piece of writing you have done: a brief, a
motion, or a memo. What was your actual role in it?
3. Walk me through how you would prepare for a first client meeting on a matter
type you have handled.
4. Here is a short fact pattern from our practice area. What questions would you
ask, and what would you research first?
(Good answer: identifies the missing facts before jumping to a conclusion.)
5. How do you handle a week where three matters all need you at once?
(Good answer: a real triage method tied to deadlines and client exposure.)
6. What is your experience with billable time, and how do you record it?
(Good answer: records contemporaneously and describes work in client-readable
detail, and does not treat time entry as an afterthought.)
7. Tell me about feedback on your writing that changed how you work.
8. Where do you want your practice to be several years from now?
9. What administrative or unglamorous work are you prepared to do here?
WHAT TO LISTEN FOR
•Genuine appetite for early responsibility and client contact
•Writing they can describe in detail and take real ownership of
•Fact-gathering instinct before legal conclusions
•Honest, specific self-assessment rather than polished generalities
•Realistic expectations about support, resources, and pace at a small firm
QUICK SCORE
Writing and analysis [1][2][3][4][5] Self-direction [1][2][3][4][5]
Client readiness [1][2][3][4][5] Time discipline [1][2][3][4][5]
Small firm fit [1][2][3][4][5]
NOTES
__
Set 4: Litigation Attorney Questions
For a disputes hire: depositions and trials with honest numbers, discovery and preservation discipline, early case evaluation, litigation budgets, and admission to the courts where your matters sit.
Litigation Attorney Interview Questions
LITIGATION ATTORNEY INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
Candidate: __
Firm / Company: __
Interviewer: __
WHEN TO USE THIS SET
Use this set when the attorney will handle disputes: pleadings, discovery,
motions, hearings, trials, and appeals. Litigation is procedural and adversarial,
so the questions test courtroom exposure, discovery discipline, and the judgment
to tell a client when a case is not worth the fight. Add it to the general set.
QUESTIONS
1. Walk me through a case you took from complaint to resolution. What was your
role at each stage?
2. How many depositions have you taken and defended, and how many trials or
hearings have you first-chaired?
(Good answer: gives real numbers and does not inflate second-chair work into
first-chair experience.)
3. Which courts are you admitted to, including federal district courts?
(Good answer: knows that admission to a federal district court is separate
from state bar admission, and states where they are and are not admitted.)
4. Describe your approach to written discovery and document production.
(Good answer: has a preservation and collection process, understands
electronic discovery cost, and plans proportionality arguments.)
5. Tell me about a motion you lost. What would you do differently?
6. How do you evaluate a case early to advise a client on settlement value?
(Good answer: builds a cost-of-defense and exposure estimate, and revisits it
as facts develop, rather than promising an outcome.)
7. How do you manage a litigation budget and keep the client informed?
8. Describe a time opposing counsel behaved badly. How did you handle it?
9. How do you prepare a nervous witness for a deposition?
WHAT TO LISTEN FOR
•Honest, specific numbers on depositions, hearings, and trials
•Discovery discipline, including preservation and cost control
•Early, realistic case evaluation instead of outcome promises
•Composure under pressure and professionalism with opposing counsel
•Clear admission status in the courts where your matters will sit
For a deals hire: drafting that starts from the business terms, positions on high-exposure clauses, negotiation behavior when a deal stalls, diligence discipline, and getting to a close on schedule.
Transactional Attorney Interview Questions
TRANSACTIONAL ATTORNEY INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
Candidate: __
Firm / Company: __
Interviewer: __
WHEN TO USE THIS SET
Use this set when the attorney will draft and negotiate deals rather than fight
disputes: commercial contracts, financing, entity formation, real estate, or
acquisitions. Transactional work rewards precision, speed, and the ability to
close, so these questions test drafting quality and negotiation behavior rather
than courtroom presence. Add it to the general set.
QUESTIONS
1. What kinds of deals have you closed, at what size, and what was your role?
2. Walk me through how you draft a contract from a blank page.
(Good answer: starts from the business deal and the risk allocation, not from
a template, and confirms the commercial terms before drafting.)
3. Which clauses do you fight hardest for, and why?
(Good answer: names specific provisions such as indemnity, limitation of
liability, termination, and assignment, and ties each to real exposure.)
4. Tell me about a negotiation that stalled. How did you get it moving?
5. How do you run diligence on the other side of a transaction?
6. How do you handle a deal where the business wants terms you consider risky?
(Good answer: documents the risk, proposes alternatives, and lets the
business own the decision after it is informed.)
7. What is your experience with entity formation, governance, or cap tables?
8. How do you keep a closing on schedule when several parties are involved?
9. Give me an example of language you have seen go wrong in a signed contract.
WHAT TO LISTEN FOR
•Drafting that starts from the business deal, not from a form file
•Specific, well-reasoned positions on high-exposure clauses
•Practical negotiation behavior that closes rather than posturing
•Diligence discipline and attention to detail
•Comfort informing the business and then respecting its decision
Deal experience [1][2][3][4][5] Diligence and detail [1][2][3][4][5]
Speed to close [1][2][3][4][5]
NOTES
__
Set 6: Bar, Conflicts, Scoring Rubric and Red Flags
Bar admission and conflicts questions with the employer verification steps, a six-area scoring rubric, and an attorney-specific red-flag checklist. Use this set with every candidate, in every setting.
Bar, Conflicts, Scoring Rubric and Red Flags
BAR ADMISSION, CONFLICTS, SCORING RUBRIC AND RED FLAGS
Candidate: __
Organization: __
Interviewer: __
Date: _
BAR ADMISSION AND LICENSING QUESTIONS
1. In which states are you admitted, and what is your bar number in each?
2. Is every license currently active and in good standing?
3. Have you ever been the subject of a disciplinary complaint, investigation, or
sanction? Is anything pending?
4. Which federal district courts or other courts are you admitted to?
5. Are you current on continuing legal education requirements?
6. If you are not admitted in our state, what is your path to practice here?
Verification steps for the employer:
[ ] Look up the candidate in each state's attorney lookup and discipline records
[ ] Request a certificate of good standing before the offer is final
[ ] Confirm court admissions separately from state bar admission
[ ] Confirm the in-house counsel registration path if you are a company
[ ] Re-verify status annually and after any move between states
CONFLICTS OF INTEREST QUESTIONS
1. What clients and matters have you worked on that could conflict with ours?
2. Do you have any personal, family, or financial interests that could conflict?
3. Have you ever had to withdraw from a matter because of a conflict?
4. How have you handled screening from a matter at a prior employer?
5. What information can you give us so we can run a conflicts check?
Employer notes:
•Conflicts rules come from your state's rules of professional conduct, which
are based on the ABA Model Rules but adopted with state-specific changes.
•A lateral lawyer's former-client conflicts can be imputed to their new firm,
so run the conflicts check before the start date, not after.
•Many states permit screening a personally disqualified lawyer so the rest of
the firm can keep the matter, but the rules and notice requirements vary.
•A candidate should give you enough information to check conflicts without
disclosing confidential client details. Confirm the specifics with your own
ethics counsel or your state bar. This is general information, not legal advice.
HOW TO SCORE
Score each area from 1 to 5 right after the interview, while it is fresh. Anchor
every score to something the candidate actually said. If more than one person
interviews, each scores independently first, then compare. Use the same rubric
for every candidate for the same role.
Rating scale:
5 = Strong, specific evidence 4 = Solid evidence 3 = Some evidence
2 = Weak or mixed evidence 1 = No evidence or red flags
SCORING AREAS
Legal judgment: weighs cost, exposure, and business impact, not just the law
Score [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] [ 4 ] [ 5 ]
Evidence: ______
Relevant experience: real matters of the type you actually have
Score [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] [ 4 ] [ 5 ]
Evidence: ______
Communication: explains legal issues plainly to a non-lawyer
Score [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] [ 4 ] [ 5 ]
Evidence: ______
Writing and analysis: writing sample holds up; reasoning is structured
Score [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] [ 4 ] [ 5 ]
Evidence: ______
Process and deadlines: docketing, calendaring, and documentation discipline
Score [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] [ 4 ] [ 5 ]
Evidence: ______
Licensing and integrity: bar status clean, references solid, answers consistent
Score [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] [ 4 ] [ 5 ]
Evidence: ______
RED FLAGS (WEIGH CAREFULLY)
[ ] Discloses confidential client details to impress you
[ ] Vague or shifting answers about bar status or discipline history
[ ] Cannot name a single matter or describe their own role in it
[ ] Guarantees an outcome on a case or a deal
[ ] Blames every past loss on judges, clients, or opposing counsel
[ ] Inflates second-chair work into first-chair experience
[ ] Unwilling to provide a writing sample or references
[ ] Dismissive about conflicts checks or screening
Two things in an attorney hire are verifiable facts rather than interview impressions: whether the candidate is licensed and in good standing, and whether their prior clients create a conflict for you. Both belong in the interview as direct questions and in your process as independent checks.
Bar admission is granted state by state, so ask for the jurisdictions and the bar number in each, then look the candidate up yourself. Every state publishes an attorney lookup showing whether a license is active, and some keep public discipline in a separate database run by the disciplinary body. Check both, then request a certificate of good standing.
Court admissions are separate. Admission to a federal district court, a court of appeals, or a specialty court is granted by that court and does not follow automatically from a state license. If your matters sit in federal court, confirm that admission specifically. An out-of-state attorney can sometimes appear in a single case with local counsel under the court's rules.
In-House Counsel and Out-of-State Licenses
If you are a company hiring in-house counsel who is licensed in another state, do not assume the license travels. Many states have registered or authorized in-house counsel rules that let an attorney admitted elsewhere serve a single employer after registering with the state, often with conditions and deadlines. The rules and the timelines differ, so confirm the requirements with the admission authority in your state before the start date. This is general information, not legal advice.
Conflicts are the second check, and they carry real consequences. Your state's rules of professional conduct, based on the ABA Model Rules but adopted with state-specific changes, treat a conflict that personally disqualifies one lawyer as capable of being imputed to their whole firm, which can force your organization off a live matter after the hire.
Ask the candidate for enough information about prior clients and matter types to run a conflicts check, without asking them to disclose confidential details. Run the check before the start date. Many states permit screening a personally disqualified lawyer so colleagues can keep the matter, but the screening and notice requirements vary, so confirm the version your state adopted.
How to Judge Legal Skill If You Are Not a Lawyer
You do not need to grade the legal substance; you need to judge four signals you can observe directly. Plain-English translation, fact-gathering instinct, process discipline, and professional integrity are all visible to a non-lawyer in a single conversation, and all four tell you more about the daily job than a resume does.
Explain a legal issue our business faces as if I am not a lawyer.
Strong answer: Uses ordinary words, frames the issue as a business decision, lays out two or three options with the cost and risk of each, and ends with a recommendation. A strong answer leaves you able to repeat the explanation to someone else an hour later.
Weak answer: A weak answer hides behind terminology, recites doctrine without a recommendation, or talks down to you. If you cannot follow the answer in the interview, you will not follow the advice later.
How do you decide when to advise settling versus fighting?
Strong answer: Weighs the cost of defense, the realistic exposure, the time the matter will take from the business, and the value of the relationship or the precedent. A strong answer treats the legal merits as one input among several and revisits the estimate as facts develop.
Weak answer: A weak answer is purely about who is right, promises a win, or defaults to fighting because that is what the job pays for.
How do you track deadlines, statutes of limitation, and filing dates?
Strong answer: Describes an actual system: a docketing or calendaring tool, dates entered when the matter opens, reminders well before the deadline, and a second person or a backup check on critical dates. Missed deadlines and calendar failures are a leading source of malpractice claims.
Weak answer: A weak answer relies on memory, a personal calendar with no backup, or a vague claim of being organized with no system behind it.
Weight the plain-English test heaviest. An attorney who cannot make you understand an issue in the interview will not make you understand it when it costs money, and you will end up approving advice you cannot evaluate. The other signals below fill in the rest of the picture.
Plain-English translation
Explains an issue without jargon
Ends with a recommendation, not a lecture
States the risk of each option
Fact-gathering instinct
Asks what happened before citing law
Names the missing facts
Refuses to guarantee an outcome
Process and deadlines
Real docketing or calendaring system
A backup for critical dates
Documents advice in writing
Professional integrity
Protects former client confidences
Open about bar status and discipline
Volunteers conflicts information
Two additions raise your confidence cheaply. Bring a short hypothetical from your own business and ask what the candidate would want to know and research first. If the stakes are high, ask your existing outside counsel or a trusted attorney to join a second-round call for thirty minutes and grade the substance while you grade the fit.
Writing Samples and Work Product
Ask every attorney candidate for a writing sample, because legal writing is the core output of most attorney roles and it is the only piece of hard evidence you can review outside the pressure of an interview. Request a redacted brief, motion, memo, or contract the candidate drafted, and ask exactly what their role in it was.
Read it the way a client reads: does it state the question, give the answer early, support the answer, and address the weak points honestly? Structure and clarity are things a non-lawyer can judge. A document that buries the conclusion on page four is telling you how the candidate will communicate with you.
A short paid exercise on a realistic problem from your own business often beats a sample from a prior job, because it shows current thinking on your facts rather than a supervisor's edits. Keep it under two hours, pay for the time, and give the identical exercise to every candidate for the same role so the comparison stays fair.
Red Flags in an Attorney Interview
Some warning signs in an attorney interview are specific to the profession, and they are easy to miss if you read them as confidence. The most serious is a candidate who volunteers confidential client information to make a story better, because that is a preview of how your own confidences will be handled.
Shares confidential client details
A candidate who names client secrets to impress you will do the same with yours later. Specifics about their own role are fine; client confidences are not.
Guarantees an outcome
No competent attorney promises a win on a case or a signature on a deal. A guarantee signals either inexperience or a willingness to tell you what you want to hear.
Blames everyone else
Losses happen to good lawyers. Listen for what they learned. If every bad result was the fault of a judge, a client, or opposing counsel, that pattern will repeat here.
Vague about bar status
Bar status is a matter of public record. Shifting answers about jurisdictions, active status, or discipline history are worth a hard stop and an independent check.
Two more patterns deserve attention. Watch for inflated experience, where second-chair work becomes a first-chair trial and a supervised memo becomes a solo brief; specific follow-up questions about their exact role usually resolve it. Watch also for dismissiveness about conflicts checks and screening, which signals a casual relationship with professional obligations.
None of these should end an interview on their own, but each one is a reason to dig. Follow up with a reference check aimed at the specific concern, and confirm the candidate's public record before you extend an offer.
Scoring the Interview
Score each candidate on a rubric immediately after the interview, while the answers are still fresh, and anchor every score to something the candidate actually said. With attorney hires in particular, memory rewards polish, so evidence-based scoring is the correction.
Scoring area
What a 5 looks like
Legal judgment
Weighs cost, exposure, and business impact, not just the law
Relevant experience
Real matters of the type you actually have
Communication
Explains legal issues plainly to a non-lawyer
Writing and analysis
Sample holds up; reasoning is structured and honest
Process and deadlines
Real docketing system with a backup check
Licensing and integrity
Bar status clean, references solid, answers consistent
If more than one person interviews, each should score independently before comparing, so the first opinion voiced does not become the group's. The same questions and the same scorecard for every candidate is the core of a structured interview, and the scores feed a clean interview feedback step.
Pay Benchmarks Before You Make an Offer
Attorney pay spreads more widely than almost any other occupation, so a single national number is a starting point rather than an answer. Anchor to federal wage data first, then adjust hard for practice area, setting, and local market before you publish a range.
Median $159,670 a Year for Lawyers
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey (May 2025), lawyers had a median annual wage of $159,670, about $76.76 an hour, with an annual mean wage of $185,840 across roughly 754,500 lawyers employed (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics). These figures exclude self-employed attorneys and law firm equity partners, whose income can run much higher.
Corporate and large-firm roles sit well above that median, while small firm, public interest, and government roles often sit below it. Seniority moves the number as much as specialty does: a first-year associate and a lawyer with a decade of relevant matters are different hires at different prices, and mixing them in one posting wastes everyone's time.
One cost note that surprises employers: a licensed attorney actually practicing law is exempt from overtime under 29 CFR 541.304, and the salary level and salary basis tests that apply to other exempt professionals do not apply at all. The professional exemption works differently for other legal staff, so classify paralegal and support roles under the ordinary exempt versus non-exempt tests.
Before you post, decide whether the work justifies a full-time hire at all. Many small organizations get further with outside counsel on a retainer plus a part-time or fractional arrangement, and the choice between an employee and an independent professional carries its own classification questions.
Running the Interview Without a Legal Department
A large company screens attorneys through a general counsel and a recruiting team. A small business or a small firm runs the process through the owner or the managing attorney, between everything else, and that reality creates three specific problems worth naming.
You are hiring an attorney, and you are not one
Most owners making this hire have no way to grade the legal substance of an answer, which is why credentials and confidence carry more weight than they should. The fix is to test the things you can judge. Can the candidate explain a legal issue in words you understand? Do they ask what actually happened before they cite a rule? Do they describe a real system for tracking deadlines? Do they give you options with costs instead of a verdict? Those four signals tell you more about daily usefulness than the school on the resume, and you can score all four yourself. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR.
The license is the one thing you must verify yourself
Bar admission is state by state, and every state publishes an attorney lookup, run by the bar or by the courts, showing whether a license is active. Public discipline is posted either in that lookup or in a separate database kept by the state's disciplinary body, so check both. Look the candidate up yourself before the offer, in every state they claim, and request a certificate of good standing. Admission to a federal district court is separate from state bar admission, so confirm that too if your matters sit in federal court. If you are a company hiring in-house and your candidate is licensed elsewhere, many states have registered or authorized in-house counsel rules with their own registration path. Confirm the requirements with the state authority. This is general information, not legal advice.
Conflicts can follow the candidate into your organization
A lateral attorney brings their former clients with them in a way that matters legally. Under the rules of professional conduct in most states, based on the ABA Model Rules, a conflict that personally disqualifies one lawyer can be imputed to the whole firm, which can force you off a live matter. Run the conflicts check before the start date, not after. Ask the candidate for enough information about prior clients and matters to run that check, without asking them to disclose confidential details. Many states also permit screening a disqualified lawyer so the rest of the firm can continue, but notice requirements differ, so confirm your state's version with ethics counsel.
What you are testing
In-House Counsel
Small Firm Associate
Breadth across many legal areas
Depth in one practice area
Business risk tradeoffs with executives
Billable time discipline
Managing outside counsel and budgets
Direct client development and contact
Keep the questions job-related and consistent across candidates, exactly as you would for any other role. Questions about matters, writing, bar status, and conflicts are squarely job-related; questions touching protected characteristics are not, and EEOC guidance on prohibited practices applies here the same as anywhere. Our guide to questions you cannot ask covers the details.
From Offer to First Matter
Onboarding an attorney has a few steps that other hires do not. The conflicts check has to clear and any screen has to be in place before the first day, licensing documentation belongs in the file rather than in someone's inbox, and a confidentiality agreement has to cover both company and client information.
Offer and confidentiality
Confirm the role, pay, and reporting line in writing, and have the attorney sign a confidentiality agreement covering both company and client information.
Clear conflicts and set access
Complete the conflicts check, put any screen in place, then grant matter, document, and email access with the screen respected from day one.
Confirm licensing on file
Store the bar number, the certificate of good standing, court admissions, and the continuing legal education status where you can find them again.
Store the records
Keep the signed offer, confidentiality agreement, I-9, W-4, and policy acknowledgments organized so nothing has to be reconstructed later.
The standard paperwork still applies underneath all of that: the signed offer, the I-9, the W-4, and the rest of the new-hire paperwork, plus an onboarding plan for the first weeks. FirstHR connects the offer, the confidentiality agreement, e-signature, document storage, and the task checklist in one place, so a small organization can onboard an attorney without a legal department or an HR department behind it. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR.
Key Takeaways
Judge four things you can observe without a law degree: plain-English explanation, fact-gathering, deadline process, and integrity.
Start every candidate on the general set, then add in-house counsel, small firm associate, litigation, or transactional.
Verify bar admission yourself in each state's attorney lookup and request a certificate of good standing before the offer.
Run the conflicts check before the start date, because a lateral attorney's conflicts can be imputed to your organization.
Ask for a writing sample or run a short paid exercise on a realistic problem from your own business.
Anchor pay to BLS OEWS data (May 2025 median of $159,670) and then adjust for practice area, setting, and market.
Frequently Asked Questions
What questions should I ask when hiring an attorney?
Ask questions that test legal judgment, relevant experience, communication, and licensing. Strong core questions include: walk me through the matters you have handled and your role in each; explain a legal issue our business faces as if I am not a lawyer; how do you decide when to advise settling versus fighting; how do you track deadlines and filing dates; and where are you admitted and is every license in good standing. Then add a set for the setting: in-house counsel, small firm associate, litigation, or transactional. Always run bar verification and a conflicts check separately from the interview itself. This page includes six ready-to-use question sets plus a scoring rubric, each with notes on what a good answer sounds like so a non-lawyer can evaluate the responses.
How do I verify that an attorney is licensed and in good standing?
Check the public attorney lookup published by the bar or the courts in every state where the candidate claims admission. Those lookups are searchable by name or bar number and show whether the license is active; in some states public discipline sits in a separate database kept by the disciplinary body, so check both. Ask for the bar number in the interview, look it up yourself, and request a certificate of good standing before the offer becomes final. Admission to a federal district court or another specific court is separate from state bar admission, so confirm those individually if your matters sit there. If you are a company hiring in-house counsel who is licensed in a different state, many states have registered or authorized in-house counsel rules with their own registration path, which you should confirm with the state authority. This is general information, not legal advice.
What conflicts of interest questions should I ask an attorney candidate?
Ask what clients and matters they have worked on that could conflict with yours, whether they have any personal or financial interests that could conflict, whether they have ever withdrawn from a matter because of a conflict, and what information they can share so you can run a conflicts check. Conflicts rules come from your state's rules of professional conduct, which are based on the ABA Model Rules but adopted with state-specific variations. A conflict that personally disqualifies one lawyer can be imputed to the whole firm, so run the check before the start date rather than after. Many states allow screening a disqualified lawyer so the rest of the firm can keep the matter, but notice requirements differ by state. Confirm your state's version with ethics counsel. This is general information, not legal advice.
How do I evaluate an attorney if I am not a lawyer myself?
You do not need to grade the legal substance; you need to judge four things you can observe directly. First, plain-English translation: can they explain an issue in words you understand and end with a recommendation? Second, fact-gathering instinct: do they ask what happened before citing a rule, and refuse to guarantee an outcome? Third, process: do they describe a real system for docketing deadlines with a backup? Fourth, integrity: are they open about bar status and careful with former client confidences? Add a writing sample and a short hypothetical drawn from your own business, and have your outside counsel or a trusted attorney sit in on a second-round call if the stakes are high. Score every candidate on the same rubric so you compare evidence rather than polish.
Should I ask an attorney for a writing sample?
Yes. Legal writing is the core output of most attorney roles, and a writing sample is one of the few pieces of hard evidence you can review outside the interview. Ask for a redacted brief, motion, memo, or contract the candidate drafted themselves, and ask specifically what their role was, since much legal writing is collaborative or heavily edited by a supervisor. Read it for structure and clarity rather than doctrine: does it state the question, give the answer early, support it, and address the weaknesses? A better test for a small business is a short paid exercise on a realistic hypothetical from your own work, which shows how the candidate thinks about your problems. Ask the same exercise of every candidate for the same role so the comparison is fair.
Are attorneys exempt from overtime under the FLSA?
Yes, in a specific and unusual way. Under federal regulations at 29 CFR 541.304, an employee who holds a valid license permitting the practice of law and is actually engaged in the practice of law qualifies for the professional exemption, and the salary level and salary basis requirements that apply to other exempt professionals do not apply to that employee. In practical terms, a licensed attorney practicing law is exempt from overtime without regard to how they are paid. This does not automatically cover every person in a law office: paralegals, legal assistants, and law clerks who are not licensed and practicing are evaluated under the ordinary exemption tests, and state law may be stricter than federal law. Confirm classification for your specific roles and state. This is general information, not legal advice.
How much does hiring an attorney cost?
Attorney pay varies widely by practice area, experience, setting, and location. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey (May 2025), lawyers had a median annual wage of $159,670, about $76.76 per hour, with an annual mean wage of $185,840 across roughly 754,500 lawyers employed. Corporate and large-firm roles sit well above the median, while small firm, public interest, and government roles often sit below it. Those figures exclude self-employed attorneys and law firm equity partners, whose income can be much higher. Before you post the role, benchmark to your local market and the specific practice area, decide whether the work justifies a full-time hire versus outside counsel on a retainer, and publish a salary range where your state or city requires it.
What interview questions are off limits when hiring an attorney?
The same limits that apply to every other role apply here. Keep questions job-related and consistent across candidates, and avoid anything that touches a protected characteristic such as race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, or genetic information. Questions about bar admission, discipline history, matter experience, writing, availability for travel required by the job, and conflicts of interest are job-related and appropriate. Asking about family plans, health conditions, or religious observance is not. Structured interviews help here: when every candidate for a role gets the same questions and the same scorecard, you have documentation that you evaluated people on the same job-related criteria. For specifics, review EEOC guidance or consult qualified employment counsel. This is general information, not legal advice.
