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I'm feeling absolutely demoralized after receiving scathing feedback from a junior associate about a memo.
Might be a no-offer. Not sure what to do. Basically, I didn't address counterarguments. Bad. Also, absolute zero in terms of "pillow cushioning" the feedback. He might as well have said "this memo is a waste of trees, and you are a waste of carbon, gtfo."

OP here. What's weird is when I got the exclusively-negative criticism for my memo, I thought, "boy, what a jerk, why can't he say ONE nice thing about shit I worked on for two whole weeks."

But after processing the feedback and reflecting on it, I feel like I will never make a couple of mistakes ever again. So this associate's feedback benefits me.

I guess its highly immature to harbor resentment against someone criticizing your work. Maybe its not, maybe its just human. Shit. Whoa, I just addressed a counterargument.

worst part - he's a second or third year, yet several years younger than me.

man keep your head up, don't let the age difference affect your self esteem.

Nobody will remember you getting chewed out five years from now, unless you let it define yourself for the next five years. Everyone falls down. What matters is how good you are at getting back up.

thanks guys.

Anonymous User wrote: scathing feedback from a junior associate . . . . Might be a no-offer.

Naw, dog. Partner/senior associate feedback is way more important. Unless you're at a tiny firm, there's no way one junior's input is going to decide your fate.

damn just hope the junior associate doesnt tell the assigning partner about the memo.

I made a similar mistake on my first memo and a partner took time out and helped me adjust my writing for the future.
He didn't yell at me but it made me very nervous about no-offered.

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schooner wrote:The junior associate sounds like an immature & terrible manager. I'm sure his feedback felt like crap but be glad that you're getting these kinds of mistakes out of the way early and you're developing thick skin. You're also getting experience managing up, which is actually really valuable.

This post is very useful. I really do need a thicker skin, that's for sure. So far, my "resentment" for this criticizing junior associate, and my "funky feelings" about the age-difference tell me my skin's kinda thin right about now. But hopefully that'll change.

I'm not sure what you mean by "you're getting experience managing up" - do you mean, managing the assigning associate? Please clarify/elaborate.

You're good enough. You're smart enough. And doggone it, people like you.

Junior associates often give the worst feedback. I think some juniors believe they can look better to the partners by pointing out all the flaws of a summer associate. When I was a summer, I got great reviews from all the senior associates but terrible reviews from the two juniors I worked for (I never worked directly for a partner that summer). One of the juniors called my memo the worst he had ever read. I got an offer and am still there years later.

Also, my experience is that if someone is unreasonably critical (I'm not sure from your post if that is the case), it is better to just avoid that person if possible rather than take another assignment to try and change his/her mind about you.

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Substantive questions!

OP, it sounds like you think there was some merit to the associate's critique. Do we all think "didn't address counterarguments" is always a fatal mistake in a research memo? I personally don't think every memo needs them. What exactly did you miss? I don't think every point you make - or necessarily any of them - need to be counter-balanced by another viewpoint. Law school has taught me there's always a counter-arg available, but I'm still not convinced they always need to be made.

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Anonymous User wrote:I'm feeling absolutely demoralized after receiving scathing feedback from a junior associate about a memo.
Might be a no-offer. Not sure what to do. Basically, I didn't address counterarguments. Bad. Also, absolute zero in terms of "pillow cushioning" the feedback. He might as well have said "this memo is a waste of trees, and you are a waste of carbon, gtfo."

1L here. Got horrible reviews on a memo; did a better memo. Partner raved about changes. Got offer for 2L.

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Generally speaking, if you are seen as not trainable you won't get any feedback. Criticism of your work is usually meant to make you better. You don't spend time picking apart the work of someone you have written off.

Also, junior associates are often more specifically critical about assignments than more senior attorneys. This is both because they generally have more time to be specific in their criticism and because they have been on the receiving end more recently and the firm style and common errors are fresh in their minds.

Take the points and move on. Dwelling on them won't affect the outcome of your summer. From the sounds of it, though, I wouldn't worry about a no-offer on this basis.