My colleagues and I compiled some of these notes last year as we were interviewing for 1L Summer internships with various in-house companies. None of these notes are specific to any one company. Best of luck, be yourself, you’ll be great!

1-24-2019
Prep Notes from Mentors

• Write down the top 5 things you want to make sure you say during the interview
• Talk about collaboration w/the “partners” at the company
  • Employees of non-legal departments are referred to as “partners” -> use that lingo
• They are looking for someone who they can throw into a meeting and know that they will ask the right questions and not need their hand held. Show that you can do that confidently (they can trust you to handle it). 
• Problem solving skills are crucial -> make that apparent
• Actions speak louder than words (talk about what you’ve done)
• If you stay current on the issues tech companies face regularly (PRIVACY), make that clear. Usually in-house go to their outside counsel to get advice regarding these issues so it’s a bonus if you already understand/are thinking about these problems. 
  • Jess note: READ READ READ. I was able to answer the hypo questions below confidently because I stay up on these issues regularly. Prof. Goldman’s blog is a fantastic resource for tech law. 

Ice Breaker Questions: 

1. Take some time to tell us about yourself (elevator pitch) 
   1. Pick out interesting points from your resume that you want to deep dive or tell us about
2. Why <insert company>? 
   1. Which of our products have you used/are familiar with?
3. Design your perfect internship at <insert tech company>
   1. What does your day look like?
   2. What kind of work do you see yourself doing/enjoying?
4. What did you think of the CIPP/US exam? (Heads up if you have this on your resume!)
   1. Would you objectively classify yourself as a privacy professional?

Hypo Questions: 

1. If you could enact three Internet regulations that would apply to all social media companies, what would those be and why? 
2. How should social media companies handle government officials online?
3. What do you think about anonymous speech? Should social media companies disallow it?
4. We’ve decided that the easiest way to moderate content and deal with angry users is to not moderate at all allowing the platform to be a free for all for any and all content. Do you agree or disagree with this approach and why?

10 mins left for Questions (these are questions I asked): 

1. What kind of projects do your interns typically see during a summer internship program?
2. How often will I get the opportunity to work cross-disciplinary (between engineers/Trust and Safety department, etc). -> They said that was a really good question. 
3. What is mentorship at <company> like? (most large tech companies have mentorship programs for interns and entry levels)
4. What are you working on currently and what would say is the most interesting part of your job? (if talking to someone from the legal team)
5. Where do you think <company> is headed in the next 5-10 years?
6. What are the next steps for the interview process? 

02/07/2019 Notes

1. Recruiter Phone Interview Questions 
   1. Q: Walk me through your resume 
   2. Q: Why <company>? 
   3. Q: Any questions for me? 
2. Phone Interview with Legal Counsel 
   1. Q: Tell about one legal issue in the news that interests you?
   2. Q: Explain your role for X position (on my resume). 
   3. Q: Why <company>? 
   4. Q: What is one objective issue about <company> that you have? What is one specific issue about <company> that you have? 
   5. Q: How is law school going? What was one thing you did to help you manage Fall Semester challenges? 
   6. Q: Tell me about a time you used did something creative to solve a complex problem? 
3. Questions I had for Interviewer 
   1. Pretty much the same questions Jess mentioned before. I also asked about the legal teams, and mentorship/ intern dynamic. When I asked about recent legal challenges <company> is facing, I also followed up with “as an intern, what would my role be, how involved would I be in these issues”? 
4. Tips: 
   1. Every company has a public blog and social media sites . Read these blogs and do an in-depth research on issues that the company is facing, might be facing. My interest is in privacy law – so I like ask what challenges <company> might experience trying to be GDPR compliant.