keoghs interview case study

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Keoghs Mock Interview

To help you prepare for a Keoghs job interview, here are 22 interview questions and answer examples.

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Question 1 of 22

Who is your hero/heroine?

How to Answer

1st answer example, 2nd answer example.

This question is a simple way for your interviewer to gain insight into the values that you respect and aspire to achieve in others that you work with. Prior to your interview, put some thought into who you consider your hero/heroine to be and make sure to put emphasis on the why you see them in that light. If possible, be sure to point out qualities that would help make you successful in the role that you are interviewing for.

"From a very young age, my grandmother has always been my inspiration as a person who is driven to succeed both personally and professionally. Knowing that she raised a family of six children while working around the farm to help out my grandfather always put a smile on my face and motivated me to work hard during my life. When my uncle and aunt passed away in a tragic car accident, she took in their two children at the age of 65 and raised them all the way through high school and into college. Her open heart, will and determination were definitely passed on to me and I bring those attributes to work each and every day!"

"For the last ten years, I've considered Dr. Anderson from the University I attended to be my hero. He was truly the inspiration for my pursuit of a career in law. He taught me about the knowledge and dedication necessary to be successful in this field and also how to be a caring and compassionate person when working with people from all age, race and social classes in this field."

Next Question

22 Keoghs Interview Questions & Answers

1. who is your hero/heroine, 2. throughout your career in the field of law, what industries do you have familiarity working with and advising.

While working with insurers on legal matters spans a wide variety of areas of expertise, it also entails working working with the insurers across a huge sector of industries. For this question, your interviewer is looking to hear where you are most comfortable in practice when it comes to different industries, so be open and honest with your answer here. Be sure to try and highlight your experiences that match the position you are interviewing for.

Answer Example

"With my experience falling in the retail industry, I was very excited to find out about this positions working in fraud with Keoghs My time working in the retail industry has positioned me well to be able to work with your intelligence team in diagnosing and trying fraud claims."

3. Talk about any specific experience that you have working in the insurance aspect of the field of law? If you don't have direct experience, why do you feel you'll be able to transition to Keoghs with ease?

Keoghs' focus on the insurance industry in the UK put them working with insurance clients in many different businesses and industries. For this question, your interviewer is looking to hear firsthand about the specific experience you have working on the legal side of the insurance industry. Pull from any experience that you have that you feel relates to the position that you are interviewing for. If you don't have direct experience, talk about your experience that you feel is relevant and explain why it is relevant to the job.

"As a young attorney, I do have some experience working in the auto insurance claims world with my current practice. Whether it was the personal injury settlements that I've worked through or the property damage claims, you'll see my experience falls on the side of the insured. I believe that my experience working on that side suits well to come over and start advising insurers. Have you seen others make this transition here at Keoghs? What were the hurdles that they had to overcome to join this side of the business?"

"As you can see from my experience, I have worked with many large healthcare clients on medical malpractice claims and I think this skill set matches well with what you are looking for here at Keoghs. I am well versed in the health insurance industry as well as a great litigator at trial."

4. Working with clients here at Keoghs entails the need for strong finance and accounting principles. Why is this important and what will you bring to the team here in this realm if hired?

In the legal field surrounding tax law, attorneys work side by side with accounting and finance departments to ensure that laws and regulations are adhered to from the company's perspective. Because of this, representatives from Keoghs must have working knowledge of finance and accounting departments and their principles to be as successful as possible. Talk about the importance of speaking knowledgeably about these principles and pull from your experience and education to explain why you'll be able to do this.

"As you can see from my resume, my pursuit of this profession involved a dual law degree and CPA education and this path has been vital to my success thus far in my career. The CPA side of my practice has been vital in helping clients develop new processes and techniques for changes in legal processes, making me a two headed ally for them as their legal representation in tax law."

"My inspiration for pursuing a career in tax law really stemmed from my early days post-bachelor degree in the business world. There, I was exposed to the finance side of a large retail business where I learned many things. When the time came to apply and get accepted into law school, the solid job prospects and exciting work made this career a no-brainer for me. If fortunate enough to come work for Keoghs, you will quickly find that my business experience and acumen will make me a key player on the team here."

5. Talk about the most difficult work situation you have found yourself in and explain how you used sound judgement to find a great outcome?

During your training and through your career up to this point, you have certainly faced some difficult situations that you could easily discuss with your interviewer. But your interviewer isn't so much interested in the situation here as they are in your ability to think on your feet and use your best personal judgement to make the situation better. In the example you give, be sure to prepare for a time where you can exemplify this ability with success.

"Early in my career as a litigator for a large firm that handled criminal defense cases, I was slammed with a very large caseload almost always. In the months leading up to the Christmas period, I had three high profile trials that were all progressing to dates that would fall very near each other. After motioning to have some of the cases moved around with no leniency from the court, I had to think fast and work ahead as much as possible to ensure that all three cases were handled to the best of my ability. When crunch time came, I approached a colleague and their paralegal for all of the help I could get and they willingly obliged. With all three cases heading to trial without a hitch, I was very thankful for my resourcefulness and made sure to pay the favor back to my colleague the next time he needed it!"

"During my time arbitrating employment disputes for the state of California and mostly handling unemployment cases, I encountered one particularly difficult situation where things got physical in the conference room of the county workforce resource center. My cases mostly involved disputes when companies would fight the payment of unemployment benefits based on malfeasance of the employee. During one particular case, a tow truck company was disputing a claim by a terminated employee and during arbitration, the supervisor from the company accused the terminated employee of harassing other employees and creating a fearful work environment. With that said, the terminated employee reached over the table and grabbed the supervisor by the collar of his shirt and started swinging. Being a female that is small in stature, my first instinct was to run and grab a member of the building's security team and they reacted quickly. When matters had settled, I immediately postponed the hearing and warned both parties that security would be present in a week when we met again. A final warning to the terminated employee was to let him know that charges would be pressed if any outbursts should occur the next time."

6. Here at Keoghs, carefully analyzing the cases of our clients is of utmost importance. What analytical skills would you bring to the team here?

To be successful in the field of law and helping to achieve the best outcomes for clients, an analytical and evaluative mind are extremely important. To cut right to the chase, your interviewer will be looking to hear about the skills and experiences you have in analyzing data to come to reasonable and logical conclusions for both Keoghs and their clients. If possible, give a real world example or two where you put your analytical skills to good use.

"My analytical skills as a successful attorney start with my ability to see everything from a 10,000-foot perspective and then putting together all of the pieces of the puzzle to build the best case possible for my clients. A recent success story happened a couple of months ago with a client that was going through a very complicated workers compensation claim that was ultimately denied by the employer. By gathering all of the information I could from my client, medical records and from the employer, I was able to use my working knowledge of workers compensation laws in my home state to win the case for my client."

"Having been a paralegal in a personal injury settlement firm for the last three years, my analytical skills have been vital in working with the Attorneys in the firm. I'm relied upon to identify and evaluate the key factors in each case that I work on. From there, my analytical skills come through with my working knowledge of the law in this state to pull the necessary information for our Attorneys and leave out the irrelevant information. In looking to make the move to Keoghs, I understand there will be some learning curve to expand my knowledge outside of personal injury settlements and I would work hard to build that knowledge and let my analytical and logic skills take over."

7. What are your interests and hobbies outside of work?

While this question can be a pretty standard interview question, the motivation of the interviewer here is two-fold. First, law firms can often operate like a family and life at Keoghs is no different. Your interviewer will be looking to see if you will be a cultural and personal fit with the team so be sure to be open and honest with what personally interests you. Second, having personal interests that tie into the organization is important so be sure to do your research on Keoghs and the job and try to think of hobbies of your that directly relate to them.

"My biggest passion when I'm not advocating for clients is being outdoors. My family and I are avid hikers, kayakers and bikers and we spend all of the time we can in the great outdoors. For me personally, being outside really helps me re-energize and prepare for a new day ahead on the job. Other than being outside, another hobby of mine is reading and I've been very entranced lately in historical books about the drafting of the United States Constitution."

"Outside of work, my loves in my life are my family and personal fitness. I avidly participate in running and biking events and have recently been training to run my first marathon this upcoming summer. Family interests include athletics for my two sons, who actively participate in baseball, cross country and basketball. We spend many evenings and weekends traveling around the state to watch them and cheer them on and I wouldn't trade those experiences for anything in the world."

8. What would make you a great trial advocate if you were to join the team here at Keoghs?

The decision to work for Keoghs will put you in the middle of a team of very experienced and dedicated individuals who strive to succeed when cases go to trial. For this question, your interviewer will be looking to hear what your key qualities, traits and/or experiences are that will make you key player on their team for their clients. This question gives you the opportunity to talk yourself and your abilities up a bit, so be sure to prepare to speak about what sets you apart from your competition for this position.

"Looking back on my career up to this point, I can honestly say that a a great deal of my success in working with clients and winning cases has stemmed from my interpersonal skills. I have a charming and likable demeanor when I am speaking in front of people and this plays very well with jurors. I also have the ability to analyze the body language and tone of people when I am cross examining to be able to ask the right questions that pull as much information as possible. When in front of the judge and jury, I feel right at home and I won't hesitate to send you footage from some high profile cases that I have worked if you would like."

"If hired to join the team here at Keoghs, my experience preparing subpoenas and evaluating jurors would prove to be vital to your attorneys. I would bring superior organization skills and analytical skills to your cases going to trial and you can rest assured knowing that I can be tasked with any duties surrounding cases with little oversight."

9. We value accountability at Keoghs. If a customer sent a formal complaint about an interaction with you, how would you handle it?

Keoghs' number one value in their mission statement is building long-term relationships with insurers. Assure the interviewer that you are a person of integrity who will take responsibility for any shortcomings in the workplace to maintain a solid relationship with an upset client. Briefly explain to the interviewer that you will handle Keoghs customers with great care by being accountable and professional in your actions following a complaint.

"I understand that Keoghs has put a lot of work into building these long-term client relationships. If one of your clients complained about my communication with them, I would take full responsibility for my actions and issue an apology. I would also be open to feedback to avoid future incidences. Rest assured, in my 15 years of employment, I have not had any clients complain to my employer about my work ethic or delivery of service."

"Constructive feedback is difficult to swallow at times, but it's helpful for me to remember that everyone receives constructive feedback from time to time. I will always do what is required of me to renew a client relationship, even when faced with a time where I may not have met their expectations. Accountability is key in our business and I would make it a top priority with any client that I work with."

10. Here at Keoghs, we often have to work with very difficult clients. What would be your steps toward effectively working with a difficult client?

Clients going through the legal process can often be at their worst and for this question, your interviewer is looking to see how you specifically deal with clients that are difficult. Rather than focusing your answer on the details of the client in your example, highlight your techniques and qualities that make you effective in working with and handling difficult clients. Stress the importance of putting clients in this situation at ease to be able to move forward in a seamless working relationship.

"Throughout my career to this point, I've worked with many clients that were experiencing a very difficult time and this has often translated into them being angry or sad. In these times, my ability to keep a level head and to be able to empathize with them is key to helping them get more centered in the moment. I hear them out and reflect back their feelings to show them that I care about their situation and understand what they are going through. When this sinks in with them, they are able to move forward from their feelings and start talking about the fine details of their situation."

"With clients that are feeling stressed and angry about their situation, it is important for me to be as respectful and educational as possible and my tactic for doing this is to keep them focused on the future and moving forward rather than reflecting on their unfortunate situation the brings them to me. I always focus on their options moving forward and how I will work with them to achieve the best results possible and this always helps shift their focus to moving forward. This is vital to resetting their focus and changing their attitude towards hope rather than anger."

11. What in particular about our firm here at Keoghs interests you both personally and professionally?

Keoghs and your interviewer are looking to find the perfect match for the position that you are interviewing for and to do this, they are looking to hear firsthand what truly interests you in the firm. Be sure to do your research on Keoghs and be able to speak about an aspect or two that appeals to you both personally and professionally. Putting a personal touch on your answer will help your interviewer understand that you will be invested into your job and be more likely to stay for the long haul versus your competition for the position.

"As I've been searching for the right firm to join, the one aspect about Keoghs that really appeals to me is your international exposure and client base. My background and strong Spanish speaking skills could be a great asset to your firm and my desire to practice in international tax and corporate law would fit very well with what you are looking for."

"In all honesty, this position is the only one that would pull me away from my current practice and that drawing factor that you have here at Keoghs is your reputation. The class, dignity and knowledge that are present among the staff here is world class and definitely a practice that I would take great pride in being a part of."

12. If hired here at Keoghs, how would you best build trusting relationships with our clients?

The law firm/client relationship is built upon trust and your interviewer at Keoghs knows how important building trusting relationships is to the success of both the firm and the client. For you, it is important to understand and demonstrate that a trusting relationship helps open lines of communication and increases cooperation of the client in helping build cases. Talk about your own personal attributes and how they help foster and build trust with the clients you would be working with and reiterate to your interviewer why you believe trust is such an important factor in the relationships you will have with clients.

"For clients that I personally work with, a trustful relationship is the number one priority for me to show my clients that I care about them and that I am invested in the best possible outcome for them. To help build trust from the start, communication is key. I actively listen to them and show respect for their thoughts and opinions. If I disagree with them on anything, I do so professionally and tactfully while educating them on my thoughts. From there, I am quick with my decision making and setting of goals with clients and this greatly helps them trust me and us moving forward as a team."

"Having worked as a Paralegal in a large firm, I've always tried to put a personal touch on my work with clients by showing them they are a top priority for me. I keep very detailed files on clients and have the ability to talk to them about their personal cases. As well, I stay in continuous communication with my clients and help set expectations for them regarding what they can anticipate from me and their attorney. All of these things are vital to my clients placing their trust in me and my firm and I'd look to bring these qualities to the team here at Keoghs."

13. To better help serve our diverse client base here at Keoghs, do you have an area of sub-specialization that you would prefer to focus on if hired?

Administrative and regulatory law spans a wide spectrum of industries and focuses in the legal aspect and for this question, your interviewer will be looking to find out where your strengths are and what clients you would best be suited to represent. Prior to your interview, make sure you do your homework on Keoghs to be able to highlight your skills and interests that best suit their needs. Don't be afraid to talk about your personal motivations for sub-specializing to really highlight your interests to your interviewer.

"After practicing in a pretty general matter as an Administrative Attorney for several years following law school, my passion has always steered towards working with businesses on environmental protection laws. As you can see from my experience, I have worked with many large manufacturing organizations along the west coast in the states of Oregon and Washington. My passion for this section of the trade really stems from my inner desire to do what is right for the earth. Being an advocate for the law and potential healthy changes to the law not only benefits my clients, but also future generations that will follow in our footsteps."

14. At Keoghs, employee satisfaction is very important. To ensure that you would be happy here, what brings you satisfaction in your day to day work?

With the varying landscape of the legal field and the variety of firms that are out there, your interviewer at Keoghs will be looking to make sure that you are a good fit the position by having you talk about what brings you joy in your work. By doing your research on Keoghs and the job you are interviewing for ahead of your interview, you should be able to be open and honest about what makes you happy in your work while ensuring that your satisfaction factors match what Keoghs can offer with this job.

"I've read the studies and surveys about job satisfaction being the lowest among attorneys in the United States when compared to all other jobs and I'm a firm believer that many people in this field have chased the dream for wrong reasons like money and prestige. I pursued a career in law to help fight and advocate for clients where no one else can and that is what drives me to succeed and brings me here to this interview with Keoghs. Employment law has developed into a passion and I greatly looking forward to focusing on that aspect here in the future."

"In my five years working as a Paralegal, the litigation side of the business has definitely been the most intriguing and fun for me and that is the reason I applied for this position. I am very good at the investigative part of the pre-claim process and I have a lot of experience and success in interviewing witnesses and taking statements. This work is both gratifying and exciting for me and you'll find that I excel in these areas if you select me for this position."

15. Talk about a recent time on the job you were working under pressure or stress. How did you cope with that situation and ensure everything was handled smoothly?

In the legal field, working under pressure should come naturally to you. Working with multiple clients on multiple cases under tight deadlines is something you've likely faced many time throughout your career to this point, so be sure to talk about a recent time that you handled with ease. Highlight the little things that you do that ensure each client and case is handled to the best of your ability and don't hesitate to point out to your interviewer that you will be able to handle situations like this when faced with them while working for Keoghs.

"A couple of months ago, a colleague went out on maternity leave and we all had to work together at my firm to pick up the slack for our clients. While handling a full work load myself, the ability to handle everything with ease started with my ability to maintain self control and handle tasks one by one. Keeping a running to do list is important for me and I have the ability to prioritize and even delegate when needed and those abilities were key during this time. In the end when my colleague came back, I received some letters from clients that were very pleased with my service and a colleague that was extremely happy for the help provided."

"Recently, my job had a huge influx of new clients when we added a new attorney to our practice. Without adding another body as a Paralegal, I took the extra work on with my head up and a smile on my face. The key for me was to keep a level head and remain as organized as possible to ensure that key tasks weren't missed. My organization starts with a running tasks list and updated calendar in Microsoft Outlook. This is a vital tool to help me during times of stress and certainly helped me during this time. Once the heavy work load fizzled, two of the partners at my firm surprised me with a lunch to thank me for my help."

16. What was your motivation for pursuing a career in the field of law/legal services?

As your experience and education were reviewed and desired by the hiring manager for the position you are interviewing for, this question is giving them the chance to really hear about your own personal motivators for your career in law. This is an opportunity for you to show what has driven you up to this point in your career and what will continue to drive you to help bring success to Keoghs. Be open and honest with your interviewer as you give them insight into your own personal motivating factors.

"My venture into a career as a lawyer stemmed from my passion for helping people meeting with my desire to be intellectually challenged throughout my career. I love the fact that I've had to stay on my toes throughout my career to this point to learn and be up to date on changes in laws as they relate to my clients. I am a lifelong learner in this field and I always look forward to new educational opportunities for myself in this field. Along with this, I absolutely love working with clients and their legal rights. I am a client first advocate in the legal profession and my work is ultimately for them."

"My passion for the field of law stemmed my pursuit of a degree as a Paralegal. My aunt is a very successful trial attorney and she was definitely a role model for me during my teenage years. I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to shadow her for a two day period for a report my sophomore year of high school and the drive to be in this field was ingrained at that point. Having worked as a Paralegal for five years now, I have a desire to pursue a Juris Doctorate degree and am slowly preparing for the LSAT's now."

17. What do you feel is the most important skill that you possess that makes you effective in the litigation/arbitration process?

This is a twofold question where your interviewer is allowing you to talk about what you feel your best skills is as a litigator and/or arbitrator as well as letting you talk about what you feel is the most important quality of someone who is successful at trial or arbitration. Speak to your top strength and prove that it is vital to your success by using a specific example of a time that you've put it to use on the job.

"Really my number one reason for pursuing a career in law has turned out to be what has made me the most successful I could be in my career and that is my verbal communication skills. In the courtroom setting, my persuasive skills come from a concise and logical place and this sits well with judges and juries alike. My communications skills extend to an innate ability to listen attentively and be witty enough to ask great follow up questions during cross examination."

"If I am lucky enough to be hired here at Keoghs, you'll quickly find that my attention to detail makes me stand out from any other paralegal you have had on staff here. During the pre-trial process, I spend the extra time to dig for information that can help my firm win their case and any of the attorneys that I've worked alongside during my career would be willing to tell you that as well. Last year, I was researching a case and my close inspection of police reports noticed a blatant error made by officers during the arrest of a client. This was enough to have all charges dropped and put a big win on the books for our firm."

18. Talk about a creative way that you helped ease the tax burden for a business during your career. How did you help put this process into place?

Modern corporate tax law allows organizations a lot of personal freedom to change the ways they do business to help lessen their taxes on a year to year basis. Your role with Keoghs could potentially entail you working with clients to find creative solutions to their tax issues and to get a better sense of how you would do this, your interviewer is looking to judge off of a prior example from your career. If you are new to the field or young in your career, it is okay to speak from the hypothetical 'what you would do' scenario.

"As you can see from my time working in private practice, a majority of my clients were running and operating small businesses and this client base was very vulnerable to heavy tax burdens. But fortunately, they were also open to the most lenient ways to be creative with their finances and process to help ease their tax burden. With a client a couple of years ago, I helped evaluate their situation of hiring seasonal employees and employees full-time that were laid off at certain times of the year. In the evaluation, it proved to be extremely more cost-effective to hire most employees as contractors to help lessen costs like Social Security and Medicare taxes while also making sense from their business perspective as well. I helped this client set up all necessary paperwork and processes for hiring contracted help moving forward in the future."

"With a large corporate client last year, I helped lead the educational side of training their finance staff to find deductions for depreciation of their equipment. Being a large manufacturer with a great deal of investment in capital equipment, they were missing out on this key loophole to corporate tax law and my education and insight helped them see a huge tax savings for that year."

19. Talk about a time that you had to think on your feet on the job. What was the situation and what was your thought process for acting quickly?

Working in the legal field and potentially in the future with Keoghs will require a natural ability to think and act quickly when face with adversity. For this question, your interviewer will be looking to hear about that you had to do just so. In your answer, paint a clear picture of the situation that you were faced with and describe what it took for you to think and act quickly. In the end, make sure that great results were achieved due to your ability to think on your feet and react in a positive manner.

"Last year, I was defending what I thought was a routine DUI case that we had prepared to help my client proceed to trial on. During the arrest, local law enforcement had failed to both read her Miranda Rights to her and also promptly test blood alcohol content. I felt we had a pretty slam dunk case to get the charges dropped. When in questioning though, my client began admitting her guilt and also confessing to being under the influence of other narcotics as well at the time. In a last ditch effort to protect my client, I immediately asked the judge for a delay in proceedings. It was allowed, but only after questioning had finished. At that point, my client read the writing on the wall that she was obviously saying too much and she quieted down from there during questioning. Coming back from break, I proceeded to break down the facts that the county had failed to show proof of intoxication at the time of arrest and the charges were later dropped."

"Early in my career as a Paralegal, I had a very upset client come into our office demanding that he speak to his attorney immediately. Being the only person manning the front of the office that day and knowing that his attorney was out of office that day, I calmly asked the client to explain the need for meeting with his attorney and assured him that I would get any messages to the attorney. While the client continued with his questions and concerns in a very heated tone, I reflectively listened and empathized with what they were going through to the point where he eventually calmed down and asked great questions for advice. In the end, I was able to connect the two later that day and likely could've helped diffuse a potentially bad situation with my ability to stay calm and empathetic with the individual."

20. What do you feel are the key qualities that a great attorney should have?

For this question, your interviewer is really giving you the chance to highlight your own qualities that you feel you could bring to the success of the team at Keoghs. They know that many qualities make a great attorney and are looking to hear what you feel your best attributes are. Speak passionately about the qualities that you will bring to the team at Keoghs and explain why they are important to success.

"To me, the key qualities of a great attorney are research skills, analytical skills and people skills and I bring these attributes every day to my work. The passion for this career really stemmed from my ability to be analytical and a passion for law and further research into our changing world has helped build my success to this point. In now looking to focus my practice more in the corporate world with Keoghs, my research and analytical skills would help to build your practice to new heights and I'd greatly look forward to the opportunity to showcase the qualities here."

"Throughout my career, I've been fortunate to have worked with an array of very talented and inspirational attorneys. As I've analyzed their work, I've found that a common thread between the best attorneys has been their creativity and their sound judgement skills under pressure. Creativity to find new solutions for clients and think outside the box when necessary comes naturally to me in my work and I'd look forward to bringing this quality to the clients here at Keoghs."

21. Talk about a time your ethics were challenged on the job. How do you react to those situations in the legal profession?

The legal field in general unfortunately will always provide ethical challenges for those that work in the field and life is no different at Keoghs. Your interviewer will be looking to hear that you are able to separate your own personal ethical standards from business matters by having you cite an example where you had to do this. In your answer, talk about the situation and even feel free to talk about why you were challenged ethically in that situation. In the end, make sure that your interviewer sees that you have the ability to separate personal feelings from your job.

"During my career, there have been a few times where the attorney-client privilege has certainly tested my personal beliefs and opinions but I always keep level headed and focused on the rights of my client. In this business, the client is priority number one and this was most tested when I had a client that was being held on a string of charges, the worst in my mind being child neglect. During our initial conversation in the jail, she admitted to going on long drug binges and failing to feed her children and bathing them properly. Being a parent and a caring person, these accounts were extremely hard to hear first hand from someone. Hearing her rationalize her actions towards her children was making me extremely mad on the inside, but I had to and did remain focused on gathering the facts from her and proceeding forward."

"Last year, our firm was handling the defendant's case of a very high profile case in our city. While I have known that this would one day happen with the sudden prominence of social media, I noticed many family, friends and community members were posting incorrect facts about the case and the rumor mill was certainly starting to spread around town. Being a part of the discovery of the case, I knew that most of the rumors just weren't true. As much as I wanted to correct people, I had to maintain strict confidentiality and wait for the facts to play out at trial."

22. Where do you feel you could use some improvement in the litigation/arbitration process at this point in your career?

While this may seem like the age old question of pointing out your biggest weakness, it is important for you to see this question as more of an opportunity to point out where you may have some inexperience or deficiencies. This gives you the ability to talk about personal growth in your career and what you have done or would like to do to grow professionally in this area.

"Having come out of law school and began in a high stress, high case load environment for the past six years, I haven't been able to really hone in on and craft my time management skills to the point I would like to. I most often relied on our paralegals and office secretary to keep me organized when things were busy. Coming to this role with Keoghs, I would look to learn from others about their best methods for time management without relying on the assistance of others."

"As you can see from my experience on my resume, a majority of my litigation experience has come in the area of labor laws, work comp and FMLA. Now, I am at a point in my career where I'd love to branch out and hone my skills in other areas that interest me and I believe that opportunity exists for me here at Keoghs. In talking with some of your colleagues here, I'd love to take on and be a part of cases that involve the environment and energy."

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‘The Letby inquiry needs as many teeth as possible to ensure genuine change’

STEVE FORD, EDITOR

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Q&A: What is the Keogh Review and what did they find?

16 July, 2013 By Hilary Weaver

Feeling confused? Here’s the Keogh Review at a glance

Q: What is the Keogh Review?

A: Sir Bruce Keogh, Medical Director of the NHS in England, has led investigations at 14 trusts with higher than expected mortality rates. An inspection team visited each of the trusts, which have had high mortality rates for the last two years

Q. What trusts were involved?

A. The 14 hospital trusts are: Basildon and Thurrock in Essex; United Lincolnshire; Blackpool; The Dudley Group, West Midlands; George Eliot, Warwickshire; Northern Lincolnshire and Goole; Tameside, Greater Manchester; Sherwood Forest, Nottinghamshire; Colchester, Essex; Medway, Kent; Burton, Staffordshire; North Cumbria; East Lancashire; and Buckinghamshire Healthcare

Q. Who ordered the review?

A. Prime minister David Cameron commissioned the report in February after Robert Francis QC’s public inquiry report into the Stafford scandal exposed appalling lapses in both care of patients and the regulation of hospitals

Q: What did the review find?

A. The Keogh review found frequent examples of inadequate numbers of nursing staff . All 14 trusts are now carrying out “urgent reviews of safe staffing levels”.

Eleven of the 14 hospital providers investigated because of high mortality ratios have been placed in “special measures ”, health secretary Jeremy Hunt has announced.

After reviewing each of the trusts, the teams found that having less nursing staff was linked to higher in-patient mortality rates.

Q: Did the report think that the trusts should be held responsible for the  deaths?

A: Not necessarily. Over the weekend, newspapers reported that the NHS was responsible for 13,000 deaths since 2005, but Sir Bruce Keogh disagreed.

Instead he said in his review that it is “clinically meaningless and academically reckless” to associate statistics with the actual number of deaths.

Q: What were some key suggestions for improvement?

A : The Keogh review suggested that:

• a) Trusts more closely monitor bed management and patient flow, so as to decrease the risks that come with low staff to in-patient ratios.
• b) He also made the point that trusts need to work to better understand patients’ views.
• c) There are also plans to address safety and quality changes in each of the trusts.

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• About RCS England

• RCS responds to Keogh mortality review

17 Jul 2013

‘This important review has highlighted a disturbing breakdown in patient safety and good care within hospitals which cannot be allowed to continue. Patients being left for too long on trolleys, moved around hospitals endlessly and wards seeing very low levels of proper clinical cover are all unacceptable. So too is a health system where there is not a culture of openness or professionalism. It is right that the Sir Bruce Keogh and the review teams have highlighted such abysmal care and drawn from them some common themes which must be tackled.

It is particularly worrying that preventable mistakes are still happening in surgery, no matter how rare. Never should mean never and avoiding these incidents must be the priority of every surgeon.

In order to ensure high quality care is always delivered to patients, we must immediately look at how we can secure the right levels of staff and support services to consistently provide seven days a week care. To end an ‘island mentality’, managers and clinicians in every hospital must adopt clinical and management best practice to raise standards of care for their patients.’

Notes to editors

For more information, please contact the RCS press office on:

• 020 7869 6047/ 6052
• [email protected]
• Out-of hours: 07966 486 832
• The Royal College of Surgeons of England is committed to enabling surgeons to achieve and maintain the highest standards of surgical practice and patient care. Registered charity number: 212808

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