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Law interview Prep Help!

Hi, so I wasn’t expecting to get an interview offer but here I am… does anyone have any tips or resources? I have absolutely no clue how to prepare. People online say it’s just like a normal academic conversation but I can’t help but stress about it! It’s surely not just as simple as that…

Reply 1

I go to Oxford not Cambridge but I assume the interviews are pretty similar. I was sent a case to read for one interview about a week before, you're allowed to have the document before you in the interview, which I only realised when the interviewer interrupted me as I was trying to recite the facts/judgement from memory lol, they didn't expect me to have understood the legal points of the case to a high degree and asked me questions such as what factors I think would be relevant to the decision (looking for answers like public policy, fair attribution of loss). Then I had another interview which was much less academic and was asked questions such as what I like to read for fun/how it has changed my view of the world, and what my most controversial view is. I spent about 5 out of the 20 minutes of that interview talking about Stephen King books. I was told by my school that it generally tends to be that if you come out of the interview thinking you've done badly, you've got in, and if you come out thinking it was easy and they loved you, something has gone wrong lol

Reply 2

Original post
by Username123ab
I go to Oxford not Cambridge but I assume the interviews are pretty similar. I was sent a case to read for one interview about a week before, you're allowed to have the document before you in the interview, which I only realised when the interviewer interrupted me as I was trying to recite the facts/judgement from memory lol, they didn't expect me to have understood the legal points of the case to a high degree and asked me questions such as what factors I think would be relevant to the decision (looking for answers like public policy, fair attribution of loss). Then I had another interview which was much less academic and was asked questions such as what I like to read for fun/how it has changed my view of the world, and what my most controversial view is. I spent about 5 out of the 20 minutes of that interview talking about Stephen King books. I was told by my school that it generally tends to be that if you come out of the interview thinking you've done badly, you've got in, and if you come out thinking it was easy and they loved you, something has gone wrong lol

Wow that is super helpful thank you! Also congratulations on getting an offer from Oxford! That's no easy feat. I hope you're finding law at Oxford good!
Thank you so much, from your description it sounds pretty enjoyable and not as hard as I was imagining it to be... is that really the case? I hope I won't blank on the day haha.
Can I ask perhaps what did you do to prepare for the interviews? I only have one interview scheduled for around 45 minutes and it states that it's a subject interview. I'm particularly nervous because I'm being interviewed by the Director of Studies too.
I know the obvious, know your personal statement and your motivations for choosing law etc. But I was wondering if there are any other areas you would recommend I look into?

Reply 3

Original post
by Anonymous #1
Wow that is super helpful thank you! Also congratulations on getting an offer from Oxford! That's no easy feat. I hope you're finding law at Oxford good!
Thank you so much, from your description it sounds pretty enjoyable and not as hard as I was imagining it to be... is that really the case? I hope I won't blank on the day haha.
Can I ask perhaps what did you do to prepare for the interviews? I only have one interview scheduled for around 45 minutes and it states that it's a subject interview. I'm particularly nervous because I'm being interviewed by the Director of Studies too.
I know the obvious, know your personal statement and your motivations for choosing law etc. But I was wondering if there are any other areas you would recommend I look into?

To prepare I just found a few recent developments in law that I was interested in (such as the new online safety bill and developments to immigration law) and read some articles about those areas. Also reread any essays you've mentioned in your personal statement (like if you did an EPQ or entered any essay competitions). But apart from that there's not much more you can do to prepare. They're not expecting you to know anything in depth about law and they know that most students will have never studied law before. It's not as scary as you think it will and I'm sure you'll do well :smile:

Reply 4

Original post
by Username123ab
To prepare I just found a few recent developments in law that I was interested in (such as the new online safety bill and developments to immigration law) and read some articles about those areas. Also reread any essays you've mentioned in your personal statement (like if you did an EPQ or entered any essay competitions). But apart from that there's not much more you can do to prepare. They're not expecting you to know anything in depth about law and they know that most students will have never studied law before. It's not as scary as you think it will and I'm sure you'll do well :smile:

Thank you very much! I appreciate your advice and time. All the best with your time at Oxford. I definitely hope it’s not as scary as I think aha. I’m quite worried that my english will not be on par with theirs. Also I’m worried about going blank and not knowing the answers at all. I am grateful for your words of reassurance and best of luck!

Reply 5

Original post
by Username123ab
To prepare I just found a few recent developments in law that I was interested in (such as the new online safety bill and developments to immigration law) and read some articles about those areas. Also reread any essays you've mentioned in your personal statement (like if you did an EPQ or entered any essay competitions). But apart from that there's not much more you can do to prepare. They're not expecting you to know anything in depth about law and they know that most students will have never studied law before. It's not as scary as you think it will and I'm sure you'll do well :smile:

hii,
what a levels did u do? It would be my dream to study law at oxford :smile:)
atm im thinking of doing english history and french or politics as my third. if u have done any of these, could u tell me your experience. I've heard that politics rlly help for lnat/law degree in general, is this true??

Reply 6

Original post
by Anonymous
hii,
what a levels did u do? It would be my dream to study law at oxford :smile:)
atm im thinking of doing english history and french or politics as my third. if u have done any of these, could u tell me your experience. I've heard that politics rlly help for lnat/law degree in general, is this true??

I did maths, French and history so can’t speak for politics unfortunately but it’s an essay based subject so should be at least equally as helpful as the others. If you’re not planning to apply for law with french law you’d potentially be better choosing politics just to have the extra essay practice. Also most colleges/sixth forms let you switch your a levels within the first few weeks so if you took politics and decided you didn’t like it, you could always switch to french :smile:

Reply 7

Original post
by Username123ab
I did maths, French and history so can’t speak for politics unfortunately but it’s an essay based subject so should be at least equally as helpful as the others. If you’re not planning to apply for law with french law you’d potentially be better choosing politics just to have the extra essay practice. Also most colleges/sixth forms let you switch your a levels within the first few weeks so if you took politics and decided you didn’t like it, you could always switch to french :smile:

i was thinking of that but idk if the workload would be too much, as history and english both have coursework elements due around the same time. which college do u go to/are going to x

Reply 8

what's your experience on french a level? as in what did u get in gcse vs a level? i rlly want to pick it and atm im getting 9s but ive heard many say that french at a level is too difficult if u aren't fluent. Is this true?

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