Guides · Updated 1 November 2026

The Oxford and Cambridge Law interview

Both Oxford and Cambridge require the LNAT for Law. Shortlisted Oxford applicants have at least one online interview in December; Cambridge interviews are usually early in December, online or in person depending on the College. Neither expects you to know any law.

Law interviews usually hand you a rule, a case or a hypothetical and watch you reason with it: define a term, test it against examples, defend or adjust your view. Below are both formats, the questions Oxford law tutors have published, a worked example and how to prepare.

Oxford and Cambridge Law compared

What law interviewers look for

Cambridge's Faculty of Law says interviewers are interested in your own ideas and thought processes, "including your ability to form and defend a logical argument, to recognise counter arguments, and to explain any changes in your view in light of new information or new circumstances." Oxford's law tutors describe the same thing in their published questions: how you form a first definition, then apply and refine it when they give you new examples.

Questions Oxford law tutors have published

From Oxford's sample interview questions page (source: University of Oxford, sample interview questions):

• "What does it mean for someone to 'take' another's car?" The tutor's follow-up: you sit in an unlocked car for 15 minutes to shelter from the rain. Have you taken it?
• "If the punishment for parking on double yellow lines were death, and therefore nobody did it, would that be a just and effective law?" The tutor says the candidate who separates "just" from "effective" does best.
• "Should it be illegal to run a red light in the middle of the night on an empty road?" The tutor is looking at how well you justify your stance and handle the difficulty of drafting a rule that works in every situation.
• A longer scenario: a frontier sheriff could frame an innocent stranger to prevent riots. Should he concoct the evidence, and does the answer change as the facts change? It probes the role of law and what justice means.

A worked example: "Should it be illegal to run a red light at night on an empty road?"

• What a strong answer does: takes a clear position, gives the reason behind it (harm, certainty, respect for rules), then tests it on a harder case before the tutor does.
• The key move: notices that "only illegal when dangerous" makes everyone judge danger for themselves, so the law becomes unpredictable. Weigh that against punishing harmless acts.
• Weak answer: "No, because nobody gets hurt" and then defending it unchanged whatever the tutor says.
• What usually comes next, per the tutor: whether something being illegal is itself a reason not to do it, and whether breaking the law can ever be justified.

Teaser of a strong opening: "My instinct is no harm, no offence. But if the rule were 'stop unless it's safe', every driver would decide what's safe, and nobody could rely on anyone else stopping. So a simple rule may be worth occasionally stopping for nothing."

How to prepare for a law interview

1. Practise defining and testing. Pick an everyday word ("vehicle", "take", "harm"), define it, then find a case that breaks your definition.
2. Separate questions inside questions. Just versus effective, legal versus moral, what the law is versus what it should be.
3. Read a short case or statute and summarise it aloud. Some Cambridge Colleges give pre-interview reading such as a case or extract.
4. Get used to changing your view. Both universities say they want to see you adjust when new facts arrive. Practise saying why.
5. Know why law. Expect a question on your motivation or something in your personal statement.

AdmitMock is an AI mock interview app for Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial, UCL and US college alumni interviews: an AI interviewer asks the questions out loud, follows up, and shows you what to fix.

AdmitMock is not affiliated with the University of Oxford, the University of Cambridge or any of their colleges. We use published formats and questions, not insider information.