Consulting firms don’t just hire business grads. 

They hire sharp thinkers. 

And that includes lawyers.

Still, many legal candidates miss out because they don’t present their experience in a way firms are trained to see.

In this blog, you’ll learn:

• Why firms hire lawyers in the first place.
• What makes legal candidates stand out (and what holds them back).
• The mindset shifts that turn you from “good on paper” into a clear hire.

Let’s get started.

4 Skills Top Firms Look For (That Most Legal
Candidates Don’t Show)

Your law degree isn’t the problem.

The real filter is how you think, decide, and lead when the path isn’t clear.

Here’s the first skill that shows them you can do exactly that:

1. Break Problems Into a Clear Plan

When you’re in a consulting interview, every problem they give you will feel wide open.

They’re not looking for a lecture. They want to see how you think.

So here’s what you do: spell out the core problem, point out the key moving parts, and walk.
them through how you’d tackle it step by step.

If you’re like most lawyers, you might be tempted to dive straight into the background or walk through every detail of the case. 

Don’t. 

When your structure isn’t clear, your best points get lost.

2. Make Strong Decisions With Limited Data

One of the biggest things they’re testing is your judgment.

They want to see if you can make a call, back it up, and explain the trade‑offs, even if you don’t have perfect information. 

You don’t need the “right” answer. You need a clear one.

Here’s where many lawyers trip up: you’re trained to cover every angle, to show all the risks, to avoid committing too soon. 

But in consulting, if you never land on a decision, it looks like you can’t commit. In an interview, that hesitation creates doubt.

3. Take Ownership Without Being Told

Consultants are expected to lead, even without the title. 

That means spotting gaps, pushing work forward, and speaking up when something’s slipping.

When you’re in an interview, pay attention to how you describe your role.

Did you act like an owner, or did you just follow along?

If you only talk about what the team did or the tasks you were given, you’ll sound passive.

What firms want to hear are the moments where you stepped in and changed the outcome.

Even small moves count, as long as you make them clear.

4. Influence Without Authority

Most of the time, you won’t have direct control in consulting.

But you still need to move people and shape decisions. That’s why firms look so closely for signs of influence.

Think about your own experience. 

Have you ever guided a decision? Shifted someone’s thinking? Helped a team get unstuck when you weren’t the one in charge?

Chances are, you have. 

Many lawyers have done this, but they tell the story too quietly.

If you’ve led without the title, don’t hide it. Bring it forward. 

Show them that you can influence outcomes, even without authority.

3 Patterns That Hold Legal Candidates Back in Interviews

Even strong legal candidates fall into these traps. 

They don’t look like red flags, but they blur the signals firms are trained to screen for. 

And in a fast, pressure-based interview, that’s often enough to cost you the offer.

1. Using Passive Language That Hides Your Role

Firms want to know what you did. Not what happened around you.

Many law grads default to phrasing like:

• “The matter was handled by…”
• “We were tasked with…”
• “The goal was to review…”

That kind of language makes your role sound secondary, even if you did the heavy lifting. 

In a consulting interview, that reads as a lack of ownership.

Stronger framing is like:
“I flagged a mismatch in the contract terms and pushed the team to clarify it with the client. That one decision cut three days of back-and-forth.”

Even if you were a junior, you need to show initiative. 

That’s what interviewers remember.

2. Describing Analysis Instead of Showing Judgment

Law school builds precision.

You’re trained to explore both sides, think in frameworks, and cover every angle. 

That makes you sharp, but it also trains you to stay neutral.

Consulting firms don’t want neutral. They want judgment. 

They want to know: when the stakes were real, what did you decide?

In interviews, many legal candidates talk through their process:

 “I researched the case law.”
“I explored the risks.”
“I outlined multiple options.”

That sounds thorough, but it doesn’t show what firms are listening for. 

Weak signal means:
“I wrote a memo exploring the risks of X.”

Strong signal is:
“I recommended we drop the clause because the risk outweighed the gain, and the client agreed.”

That shift from analysis to action is one of the clearest separators in an interview.

It tells the firm you won’t just think clearly, you’ll own the next step.

And it doesn’t have to be high‑stakes. Even something small like:

“I told the team we were overcomplicating it. We removed two sections and submitted.
the draft the same day.”
…sends a stronger signal than five minutes of technical detail.

3. Staying in the Legal Framing (Instead of Thinking Like a Consultant)

Consulting is about business impact,  and that’s where many legal candidates fall short.

If your story ends with:

• “We finalized the clause.”
• “I reviewed the terms.”
• “The memo was submitted.”

…you’re stopping at the task. You’re not showing the outcome.

To stand out, finish the thought. 

What changed for the client? What moved forward because of your work?

Here’s the shift:

Legal Framing	Consultant Framing
“I updated the clause to meet compliance.”	“That update gave the client the green light to launch on time.”
“I reviewed the contract to manage risk.”	“The changes I recommended helped the team avoid a delay that could’ve cost $200K.”
“I advised the client on two possible interpretations.”	“I aligned the team around one approach that saved time and kept the deal moving.”

It’s the same work. But the framing changes the signal.

Still, knowing what trips candidates up is only half the picture. 

Let’s look at what makes your background valuable, when framed well.

What Makes Lawyers an Asset to Consulting Firms (If You Frame It Right)

Top firms recruit lawyers for a reason.

Your legal training builds sharp thinking, sound judgment, and the ability to work under real pressure.

But in interviews, none of that lands unless you translate it.

Here’s how your skills map directly to what firms look for:

Legal Skill	Consulting Equivalent	Framing That Works
Arguing on both sides	Structured thinking	“I laid out both scenarios, tested them against risk and value, and recommended a clear path forward.”
Client negotiation	Stakeholder alignment	“The partner was pushing back, so I reframed the ask based on their priorities. That shifted the tone and got buy‑in.”
Legal research	Problem‑solving under pressure	“We had only a few hours to decide. I pulled key precedent, broke down the risk, and helped the team act fast.”
Drafting/review	Clarifying ambiguity	“The language was vague, so I simplified the clause. That cleared confusion and sped up sign‑off.”
Writing legal memos	Top‑down communication	“I led with the key decision, backed it with three points, and flagged what still needed input.”

These are the very skills top firms value.

In fact, McKinsey has long recruited beyond traditional MBAs. 

By the early 2000s, over half of McKinsey’s hires came from advanced degrees like law, medicine, and academia.

If your stories stay in the legal frame, firms have to decode the signal themselves. 

Most won’t.

But once you shift the framing, you move from a strong resume to a clear hire.

5 Practical Shifts That Help Legal Candidates Land the Offer

Legal training gives you the raw skills. 

These shifts help you signal them in a way that firms reward.

Shift #1. Turn Law Work Into Business Stories

Consulting firms don’t evaluate your legal expertise. 

They evaluate your impact. And if your stories stop at what you reviewed or drafted, the real value gets lost.

In law, it’s normal to explain the process, what you analyzed, how you ensured compliance, and which clauses were adjusted. 

But in consulting, the filter is different. Firms want to hear:

• Where was the problem?
• What was at stake?
• What did you decide, push for, or change?
• What business result came out of it?

That’s what separates “I did work” from “I moved the work forward.”

Here’s what that shift looks like in practice:

Legal framing:

“I was part of the team reviewing the IP clause for a time-sensitive deal.”

Consulting framing:

“We were under pressure to close a deal by week’s end, but the IP clause was weak. I proposed a faster workaround and got the partner to sign off; it saved the deal.”

Don’t wait for the interviewer to connect the dots. 

Make the outcome clear. Show how your input affected the timeline, the revenue, the relationship, anything that ties your work to what changed.

Tip: Use verbs that signal action.

“I recommended…”
“I flagged…”
“I aligned…”
“I pushed for…”

Those are the moments firms are trained to catch, and the ones that stick after the interview ends.

Shift #2: Learn the Case Interview Format 

Case interviews aren’t legal exams.

They’re not testing how much you know.
They’re testing how you think, react, and perform under pressure.

Analyze deeply, yes, but don’t get stuck in overthinking.

In a case, slowing down too much can hurt you.

Firms are looking for fast structure, clear logic, and forward motion. That shows up in things like:

• Quick mental math
• Hypothesis-driven problem solving
• Business-first thinking, even with missing information

This is a different skill set, and you’re not expected to have it mastered yet.

Think of case solving like learning a new language: you need to speak it out loud, over and over, with feedback, until it feels natural.

It’s always about learning to:

• Prioritize what really matters.
• Talk through ambiguity with confidence.
• Stay structured even when you’re unsure.

In the Business Excellence Bootcamp, we help legal candidates build clear thinking under pressure.

You practice out loud until it feels natural to stay sharp in any case.

 

Shift #3. Speak Like an Owner

You don’t need to be the team lead or the final decision‑maker.

But you do need to sound like the outcome matters to you.

That’s what firms associate with ownership, and they screen for it constantly.

Too many legal candidates play it safe.

They describe what the team did, lean on “we,” and stay passive even when they made key moves behind the scenes.

That’s a missed opportunity.

Ownership is showing where you stepped in to move things forward.

Here’s the difference:

Contributor language	Owner language
“We reviewed the clause and made sure it aligned with the client’s position.”	“I flagged that the clause didn’t reflect the latest terms and recommended a revision to avoid pushback from the client.”
“The team decided to…”	“I pushed for a simpler explanation after realizing the client wasn’t aligned.”

If you use passive phrasing: “was tasked,” “it was decided,” “it got approved”, you blur the signal.

Lead with action, and the interviewer hears it instantly.

Tip: Audit your stories. For every example, ask yourself: “What did I see, decide, or push for?”

Firms hire people who act like consultants before they have the title.

Speaking like an owner shows you’re already there.

4. Join a Program or Peer Group to Accelerate Feedback

Most legal candidates don’t realize they’re off‑track until they’re already in the interview.

In consulting interviews, every answer is judged on clarity, structure, and signal. 

Without trained feedback, it’s hard to spot what’s missing

The shift happens when someone can stop you mid‑answer and say:

• “That sentence buried the insight.”
• “Say that again, but with the answer first.”
• “You just listed tasks. Where’s the judgment?”

With clear feedback, you move faster, stop guessing, and start sounding like someone firms want to hire.

5. Let Go of the Need to Be “Right”

Law teaches precision. Consulting rewards momentum.

If you freeze in interviews, waiting for the perfect answer, you lose the room.

What interviewers remember is how you think out loud. 

NALP says over 70% of JD Advantage roles in 2020 were full-time, long-term business positions, and nearly 16% were in consulting.

That means firms already hire legal candidates into strategic roles. 

They screen for sharp, active thinking, not textbook accuracy.

But when you say,

“Here’s how I’d approach this…”
“Given the limited time, I’d prioritize…” 

That’s the real test. And it’s one you can train for.

Firms Hire Lawyers Who Show the Right Signal

You already have the foundation. Sharp thinking, sound judgment, and experience working under pressure. What gets you hired isn’t adding more credentials, but to show those skills in a way consulting teams immediately understand. When you can tell stories that highlight decisions, outcomes, and ownership, you stop sounding like a candidate with potential and start sounding like a consultant they want on the team. 

If you’re ready to make that shift, we can help you build the clarity and confidence to show it. Schedule a discovery call today, and let’s get you there.