1. What is a UX/UI Designer at Everlaw?

As a UX/UI Designer at Everlaw, you are stepping into a role that sits at the intersection of complex data visualization, legal technology, and user-centric design. Everlaw is a cloud-based ediscovery platform used by law firms, government agencies, and corporations to manage massive amounts of litigation data. Your job is not merely to make screens look good; it is to transform intricate, high-stakes legal workflows into intuitive, accessible, and powerful interfaces.

This role is critical because the users of Everlaw—lawyers, paralegals, and internal investigators—operate under immense pressure and tight deadlines. A confusing interface can lead to critical errors in a legal case. Therefore, you will be tasked with simplifying the complex, designing for speed and accuracy, and ensuring that users can navigate millions of documents with ease. You will work within a collaborative design team that values research-backed decisions and strategic product thinking.

2. Getting Ready for Your Interviews

Preparing for an interview at Everlaw requires a shift in mindset. You are not just showcasing your visual skills; you are demonstrating your ability to deconstruct heavy information architecture and handle rigorous feedback.

Product Thinking & Strategy – You must demonstrate that you understand the "why" behind a feature. Interviewers will evaluate if you can look beyond the immediate UI request to understand the user’s underlying problem and the business value of solving it.

Design Execution & Craft – Given the density of information in legal tech, your ability to create clean, hierarchy-driven layouts is paramount. You will be evaluated on your command of typography, spacing, and interaction design, specifically how you use these tools to reduce cognitive load for the user.

Receptiveness to Feedback – This is a major cultural pillar at Everlaw. You will face specific behavioral questions about times you received critical feedback or disagreed with a stakeholder. The team looks for candidates who view feedback as a tool for iteration rather than a personal critique.

Process under Pressure – Unlike many companies that rely solely on portfolio reviews, Everlaw places significant weight on a timed design assessment. You need to be ready to produce high-quality conceptual work within a strict time limit (typically 3–5 hours).

3. Interview Process Overview

The interview process for the UX/UI Designer role at Everlaw is thorough and can be lengthy, often spanning 3 to 4 weeks. It is designed to test both your raw design skills and your cultural alignment with a collaborative, feedback-driven team. Candidates often describe the process as rigorous but generally organized, though recent reports suggest you should be prepared to meet a large number of team members—sometimes upwards of 10 people throughout the full loop.

You will typically begin with a recruiter screen, followed by a behavioral phone screen with a design manager or senior designer. If you pass these initial checks, you will move to the defining stage of the Everlaw process: the Design Challenge. This is often a timed, take-home assessment (usually around 3 hours) based on a fictional prompt. This stage is a gatekeeper; only candidates who demonstrate strong process and problem-solving skills here advance to the final rounds.

The final stage is a comprehensive onsite (virtual or in-person) loop. This involves a deep-dive portfolio presentation, an app critique, and behavioral interviews. You may also encounter a collaborative whiteboarding session. The team places a heavy emphasis on "how you think" rather than just the final polish, so expect questions that probe your rationale at every step.

This timeline illustrates a process heavily weighted toward practical demonstration. You should interpret the "Take-Home Challenge" as the pivotal moment in your candidacy; manage your energy to ensure you can dedicate uninterrupted focus during that 3-hour block. Note that the final round is intense, involving multiple stakeholders, so prepare to maintain high energy and consistency across back-to-back sessions.

4. Deep Dive into Evaluation Areas

The Everlaw design team evaluates candidates on specific competencies derived from the complex nature of their product. Based on candidate reports, here are the primary areas you must prepare for.

The Timed Design Challenge

This is the most frequently discussed aspect of the Everlaw interview. You will likely be given a specific time block (e.g., 3 hours) to solve a prompt that is often fictional and not directly related to Everlaw's product.

Be ready to go over:

• Time Management: How you scope a problem to ensure you deliver a result within the limit.
• Process Documentation: Showing your sketches, wireframes, and discarded ideas, not just the final UI.
• Rationale: Explaining why you made specific trade-offs given the time constraints.

Example scenarios:

• "Design a feature for a fictional travel app that allows users to coordinate group trips."
• "Create a dashboard for a smart home system focusing on energy efficiency."
• "Here is a prompt. You have 3 hours. Please email your work back strictly at the end of the time block."

Portfolio Presentation

During the onsite, you will present 1–2 case studies. Because Everlaw is a B2B SaaS product, they value complex, data-heavy projects over simple consumer marketing sites.

Be ready to go over:

• Complexity: Projects that involve dashboards, data tables, or multi-step workflows.
• Collaboration: How you worked with PMs and Engineers to navigate technical constraints.
• Outcome: Quantitative or qualitative results of your design.

Example questions:

• "Walk us through a time you had to simplify a complex workflow. What did you cut and why?"
• "How did you handle engineering pushback on this specific interaction?"

Behavioral & Feedback

Everlaw places a massive premium on how you handle critique. This is not a "nice to have"; it is a core evaluation metric.

Be ready to go over:

• Conflict Resolution: Specific examples of professional disagreements.
• Growth Mindset: How you have evolved your process based on past failures.

Example questions:

• "Tell me about a time you received feedback you strongly disagreed with. What did you do?"
• "Describe a situation where you had to advocate for a design decision against stakeholder opposition."

5. Key Responsibilities

As a UX/UI Designer at Everlaw, your daily work revolves around making the difficult task of litigation support manageable. You will be responsible for end-to-end design, from initial conceptualization and wireframing to high-fidelity prototyping and design QA.

You will collaborate closely with Product Managers to define requirements and with Engineers to ensure implementation feasibility. A significant part of your role involves maintaining and contributing to the design system, ensuring consistency across a sprawling platform. You will also participate in design critiques (crits), where you must be prepared to present your work-in-progress and provide constructive feedback to peers.

The role often requires you to immerse yourself in the user's mindset. This means understanding legal workflows—such as document review, coding, and case timeline management—and translating those needs into features that reduce friction. You aren't just designing pages; you are designing workflows that help lawyers build their cases.

6. Role Requirements & Qualifications

To be competitive for this role, you need a blend of strong visual skills and the intellectual capacity to handle abstract problems.

Must-have skills:

• Complex Systems Experience: A background in B2B, SaaS, or enterprise software is highly preferred over purely B2C or agency marketing work.
• Prototyping Mastery: Proficiency in Figma is essential, including the ability to create interactive prototypes that demonstrate flow and micro-interactions.
• Design Thinking: A proven ability to move from ambiguity to clarity using sketches, user flows, and wireframes.
• Communication: The ability to articulate design rationale clearly to non-designers.

Nice-to-have skills:

• Domain Knowledge: Prior experience in legal tech, fintech, or healthcare (regulated industries with complex data).
• Technical Understanding: Basic knowledge of HTML/CSS/React constraints to communicate effectively with developers.
• Research Experience: Ability to conduct usability testing and synthesize findings.

7. Common Interview Questions

The following questions are representative of what candidates have faced at Everlaw. They are drawn from recent interview data and reflect the company's focus on behavioral alignment and design process.

Behavioral & Collaboration

• "Tell me about a time you received feedback you disagreed with. How did you handle it?"
• "Describe a time you had to compromise on a design to meet a deadline."
• "How do you handle a situation where the Product Manager and Engineering Lead disagree with your design?"
• "Tell me about a project that didn't go as planned. What would you do differently?"

Design Process & Craft

• "Walk me through your design process for a recent project. How did you decide when to move from low-fidelity to high-fidelity?"
• "How do you approach accessibility in your designs?"
• "If you had to redesign this feature of our product (or a popular app) right now, where would you start?"
• "How do you decide which metrics to track to validate your design?"

App Critique (Product Thinking)

• "Open an app on your phone that you use frequently. What is one thing they do well, and one thing you would improve?"
• "Critique the interaction design of [Specific App, e.g., Google Maps or Yelp]. Who is the target user, and does this flow serve them?"

These questions are based on real interview experiences from candidates who interviewed at this company. You can practice answering them interactively on Dataford to better prepare for your interview.

8. Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Is the design challenge always fictional? Yes, historically the timed design challenge at Everlaw uses a fictional prompt (e.g., travel, smart home) rather than their actual product. This is to level the playing field so candidates don't need prior legal tech knowledge to succeed.

Q: How long does the entire process take? Expect the process to take anywhere from 3 to 5 weeks. It can be quite involved, often including meetings with 6–10 different team members. Patience is required.

Q: Is the work remote or onsite? Everlaw is headquartered in Oakland, CA. While policies evolve, many roles have hybrid expectations. You should clarify the specific requirements for your location during the recruiter screen.

Q: What is the most common reason for rejection? Aside from portfolio quality, a common reason for rejection is the inability to handle the "feedback" questions effectively or failing to finish the core requirements of the timed take-home challenge.

Q: Do I need a legal background? No. While helpful, it is not required. The team values your ability to learn complex domains quickly over prior legal knowledge.

9. Other General Tips

Respect the Timer: During the take-home challenge, set a strict timer. If you have 3 hours, spend the first 30 minutes planning and the last 30 minutes packaging your work for presentation. Do not spend 2.5 hours on one screen and leave the user flow undefined.

Feedback is a Test: When an interviewer pushes back on your design during the onsite or portfolio review, do not get defensive. They are often testing your collaboration style. Acknowledge the point, discuss the trade-off, and explain your original context.

Show Your "Messy" Work: In your portfolio and challenge, don't just show the polished UI. Everlaw loves to see the "messy" middle—the whiteboard sketches, the sticky notes, and the failed iterations that led to the solution.

10. Summary & Next Steps

The UX/UI Designer role at Everlaw is a challenging but rewarding opportunity to work on product design that matters. You will be moving beyond vanity metrics to design tools that uphold justice and streamline critical legal work. The bar is high, specifically regarding your ability to think through complex systems and collaborate without ego.

To succeed, focus your preparation on three pillars: mastering the timed design challenge, articulating your design decisions clearly, and preparing valid examples of handling feedback. If you can demonstrate that you are a thoughtful problem solver who thrives in a collaborative environment, you will be a strong contender.

The salary data provided above offers a baseline for the role. Note that compensation at Everlaw typically includes a mix of base salary and equity. Be prepared to discuss your expectations early in the process, keeping in mind the seniority level and location (Oakland/SF Bay Area) associated with the position.

Good luck! With structured preparation and a focus on process, you are well-equipped to navigate the Everlaw interviews.