Open Forum: Let's Talk About the Mistakes We've Made as Young Lawyers Forum

[Anonymous User]

asked for work

I'm getting the sense that if/when I do this the partners assume it's just an open-ended request. Like, I can take on ALL THE WORK YOU CAN POSSIBLY THINK OF or some shit.

The peril of asking for work isn't necessarily that a partner will immediately dump too much work on you. It's that a partner will largely ignore your request for months until your workload already has picked up to the point of being unmanageable and will think: "I think Gaud told me he is slow. Yeah, he's the perfect associate for this 100-hour assignment with a hard, two-week deadline." Then your fucked, and you can't shirk the work because you asked for it.

Why don't you just say "hey actually I'm really busy now, sorry."

And then you never get work from that partner again.

lol - exactly...it's amazing how sensitive some partners are to this

[DildaMan]

Adding three days per FRCP 6(d) to deadlines that trigger off filing of motions, not service.

[El Pollito]

asked for work

I'm getting the sense that if/when I do this the partners assume it's just an open-ended request. Like, I can take on ALL THE WORK YOU CAN POSSIBLY THINK OF or some shit.

The peril of asking for work isn't necessarily that a partner will immediately dump too much work on you. It's that a partner will largely ignore your request for months until your workload already has picked up to the point of being unmanageable and will think: "I think Gaud told me he is slow. Yeah, he's the perfect associate for this 100-hour assignment with a hard, two-week deadline." Then your fucked, and you can't shirk the work because you asked for it.

Why don't you just say "hey actually I'm really busy now, sorry."

And then you never get work from that partner again.

lol - exactly...it's amazing how sensitive some partners are to this

senior associates too. "fine i'll just give it to x then." uh go right ahead.

[kykiske]

It's amazing how in the moment, you think the mistake will have these ripple effects that will end your career. When, in most cases, the mistake can be easily fixed and people forgive & forget.

I think it's the attitude on how you address the mistake. If your attitude is, "I made [x] mistake. I'm sorry for this error. I have done [x] to fix it. I will do my best to avoid this same mistake," then you're likely okay. But if your attitude is, "I did not make any mistake. You're unfairly attacking me," then you're not as likely to be forgiven.

[tyroneslothrop1]

It's amazing how in the moment, you think the mistake will have these ripple effects that will end your career. When, in most cases, the mistake can be easily fixed and people forgive & forget.

I think it's the attitude on how you address the mistake. If your attitude is, "I made [x] mistake. I'm sorry for this error. I have done [x] to fix it. I will do my best to avoid this same mistake," then you're likely okay. But if your attitude is, "I did not make any mistake. You're unfairly attacking me," then you're not as likely to be forgiven.

True enough. If a brief is screwed up, and you wrote it, weaseling your way out ain't going to work. That being said, shunting blame onto others is a tried and true past time at many law firms.

[Anonymous User]

Signed an affidavit on behalf of a client to perfect the claim of a mechanic's lien. Luckily in this state, case-law allows that in this very specific and narrow scope, but I had no idea. (Just passed the bar and was doing this on my own until I landed a firm job).

Otherwise, the rules of evidence would have thrown out my affidavit due to the personal knowledge requirement and my client would have lost his leverage / collateral on a 100k debt dispute that he is owed.

OC called me out on it in his reply to my demand letter, but by that time I had passed the case on to my wife's firm because I landed an associate gig and couldn't keep the case with me.

[Anonymous User]

Most of mine have been the stupid "attention to detail" things that inevitably happen when you're getting used to things.

One thing (or things) I did that hasn't burned me in the long run is adequately sucking up to partners. If someone was wrong or wanted to do something stupid, I would tell them (but not as directly as I phrased it here). Early on, one or two partners said I was "difficult" to work with. That's gone away as I learned to sugarcoat things and not pick fights.

There's a lot of stuff I would fight because it was a waste of time/money or just plain stupid, and it took some time for me to figure out how to pick my battles. It's tough to find a balance between standing up for what you think or defining what you won't put up with and not being seen as a difficult/arrogant associate. All in the phrasing and delivery.

Fortunately, I would consider the firm I work at to be fairly progressive/not as old school in this respect. If it were a more traditional firm, I probably would have been fired lol.