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This past year I received a bad review during my annual review. My faults: too many typos and procrastinating and waiting last minute on assignments. I think this probably has to do with having too much on my plate, but that's beside the point. My mentoring partner has also let me know that other people have complained to him about me being late on things, and I am worried my reputation is getting shot. He told me everyone at the firm loves me, and the reason we are having this conversation is that everyone likes me (meaning if that wasn't the case, I may have gotten the axe, which isn't that encouraging).

In any case, I just feel like I am on thin ice even though everyone is still nice to me, and if I bill 200+ hours for the next couple of months, no one would care. But I also feel like I should start looking at other employment options. I just like this firm and have only been here for 8 months, so it seems odd for me to look again. Plus, I don't want it to seem that I am constantly jumping between jobs.

I just don't like the idea of having a bad reputation, which I think I can fix since my reputation was good in the beginning, at least so I think.

This seems like an easy fix - just get things done on time (EARLY!!!) and stop the typos. If you're too busy to hit a deadline, you should know in advance, and you can work with the partners to meet all the deadlines (don't say no to work, just make sure they understand what you have going on, ask how to prioritize projects if there's a senior/mid-level associate you trust). And if you think you are missing deadlines because you don't understand what you're doing, ask for guidance before getting in the hole. No deadlines should be missed without the partners knowing you're going to miss the deadline and basically approving the missed deadline in advance. I wouldn't think this is a situation that you can't turn around, especially after only 8 months, but you need to make sure you actually turn it around.

There's lots of advice here on how to handle typos, but if you can get your work done earlier you should have time to check for typos (or have your assistant or the word processing center check). I think the typos will handle themselves if you get on top of your timeliness issue.