I am terrible at my job. Forum

[Anonymous User]

Approaching my first full year at a NYC v5 (Corporate), I still suck at this.

Anyone else feel this way? I feel like I am just trying not to get fired so I can eventually lateral...

[zot1]

Like you feel you don't know anything (totally normal) or more like your work product is terrible (might be a problem)?

[tyroneslothrop1]

Yeah its really impossible for us to say whether you have impostor syndrome or just suck at your job. What is your feedback? Do you sense passive-aggressive snark over email? Do partners come to you when they have a problem?

[Anonymous User]

I tend to make some sloppy mistakes in documents and in managing tasks (because I often feel totally lost concerning the subject matter of what I am doing).

I have been trying to focus on slowing down, triple checking stuff - but there is always tension between that and getting things out quickly.

[Anonymous User]

Not sure if it's too late to respond to you, but this is pretty normal. I would say slow down (hard to do when you're overstaffed but try) and triple check everything when you can. I felt this way too. At my v5, the consequences for having these issues is just lower level work (drudgery) as a midlevel rather than jerb loss.

[zot1]

I disagree with anon. Consistent sloppy work product will get you canned. Are the time constrains self impossed? If so, that might be something you want to adjust.

Also, I always print out my final draft of briefs/motions because I catch minor errors that way. Have you tried that?

Get creative and minimize the errors. If you go through a document three times and still miss stuff, you really want to reconsider your approach.

[Anonymous User]

I disagree with anon. Consistent sloppy work product will get you canned. Are the time constrains self impossed? If so, that might be something you want to adjust.

Also, I always print out my final draft of briefs/motions because I catch minor errors that way. Have you tried that?

Get creative and minimize the errors. If you go through a document three times and still miss stuff, you really want to reconsider your approach.

Thanks, this is helpful.

I am in corporate so I tend to have to turn a lot of documents very quickly. A lot of the times these involve forms and not written language, so it can make it difficult to spot something wrong amidst all of the information on the page.

Do you think people get canned as 1-2nd years, though?

[AVBucks4239]

I posted a similar thread a while back because I was making stupid fucking mistakes all the time (wrong captions, not deleting a part of an argument, etc.). Consensus was to slow down and focus on doing perfect work.

Work has been better since then. I know it sounds simple, but slow down. My process is usually this:

(1) Draft and review it.
(2) Print and review it.
(3) Do another project for a while.
(4) Print and review it again, this time with a special focus on accuracy (spelling of names, correct numbers...you need to pull out the underlying documents and make sure everything matches).
(5) Final review (grammar, punctuation, etc.), preferably the next day.

The caveat to this is that you need to give yourself enough time to do all this. Anecdotal example:

A partner came to me yesterday at about 5:00 and wants me to draft a demand letter for some sign fabrication company. $125,000 in dispute. Tons of invoices, purchase orders, he-said she-said emails, etc. He wants it by Thursday morning. So I took all the bullshit home to review last night and came in and drafted it first thing this morning. The printed copy is on my desk. I'll review it when I'm done TLSing and probably again after lunch. I'll do a final review at the end of the day. If he didn't need it until Friday I'd sleep on it, but I think I might score a few points just by getting it to him tonight, so I'm going to forward it to him tonight.

[jkpolk]

I disagree with anon. Consistent sloppy work product will get you canned. Are the time constrains self impossed? If so, that might be something you want to adjust.

Also, I always print out my final draft of briefs/motions because I catch minor errors that way. Have you tried that?

Get creative and minimize the errors. If you go through a document three times and still miss stuff, you really want to reconsider your approach.

Thanks, this is helpful.

I am in corporate so I tend to have to turn a lot of documents very quickly. A lot of the times these involve forms and not written language, so it can make it difficult to spot something wrong amidst all of the information on the page.

Do you think people get canned as 1-2nd years, though?

Everyone makes mistakes, especially at the beginning. Try to learn the forms and what changes so you don't make the same mistake(s) over and over again. Otherwise, I feel like the job is just confidence. Not bravado or bragging, confidence. You have the answers. You get things done. You are on top of everything. Fake it until you make it - you've gotten this far.

[zot1]

Yeah the keyword on what I said is "consistent". If a superior has to consistently correct you on the same stuff, they will eventually want to get rid of you.

But this isn't something you should be worried about because you can't control it. What you can control is your work product and you've gotten great advice here on how to make it better.

[notgreat]

If you have trouble catching typos and misspellings I can definitely recommend reading the document backwards. I always had issues with catching typos and misspellings and reading backwards really helped me.

[zot1]

By the way, http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 3&t=267930

[Genius]

Fantastic advice here. I have smaill firm lit exp and I never felt lost. However, i am sure this isnt the same when i go biglaw