Colossal Summer Associate Mistake Forum

[urbancowboy]

First submitted assignment was to summarize about 500 pages of client business records. Got two days to do it. Told to submit by end of business. Got product in by 7:00. Rushed to submit because I was already past end of business, but I had gone as fast as I could. Checked back and found a ton of typos. I mean a ton. Misspelled names, lack of verb-subject agreement. The whole nine yards. Fixed them all and re-submitted as a “fine-tuned” version. Assigning attorney was out of town, so I’m not sure that she saw the original. How fucked am I?

[Anonymous User]

So long as you don’t get too drunk at a work event, you’re going to be ok. The expectation of summer associates is super low. If you went to the trouble of fixing all your mistakes without me having to do so, I’d actually be pleased as your supervisor.

[Anonymous User]

Not a big deal at all imo. Sounds like someone punted a shitty DD assignment down to you, and you evidently tried.

[Anonymous User]

I once drafted a memo as a summer getting the applicable law completely wrong--as in I researched state law for what should have been federal, and vice versa. Basically, an elementary Erie Doctrine fail. A five page memo. I got an offer, and no bad reviews, not even for the shitty memo. I'm a fifth year at the same firm now. Soooo your mistake is hardly "colossal" and you'll be fine.

[Anonymous User]

If your bad work-product actually had some sort of serious consequence for the client or matter, then that would be the fault of whoever assigned the work to you, not yours.

[Joachim2017]

Yeah that is not a "colossal" mistake (though it might color someone's high-level first impression of you). Still, again, you're a summer, rest easy!

[Anonymous User]

If your bad work-product actually had some sort of serious consequence for the client or matter, then that would be the fault of whoever assigned the work to you, not yours.

This. I don't know what attorney assigns a summer a project like this with a real hard deadline. Everything I assign is in the "would be nice to have this research" or "get this done whenever" categories.

[Anonymous User]

First submitted assignment was to summarize about 500 pages of client business records. Got two days to do it. Told to submit by end of business. Got product in by 7:00. Rushed to submit because I was already past end of business, but I had gone as fast as I could. Checked back and found a ton of typos. I mean a ton. Misspelled names, lack of verb-subject agreement. The whole nine yards. Fixed them all and re-submitted as a “fine-tuned” version. Assigning attorney was out of town, so I’m not sure that she saw the original. How fucked am I?

v5 recruiting committee member here -- sounds like a complete trash assignment, sorry you got that. Not a colossal mistake at all, and I think looks great on you that you went back and updated with a revised draft. Nothing to worry about.

[Monochromatic Oeuvre]

Came ITT expecting you confused the managing partner's wife for a secretary, or maybe deleted the firm's last five years of iManage, left blue-balled with yet another summer not grasping that, by definition, anything given to them is not important.

[lavarman84]

Came ITT expecting you confused the managing partner's wife for a secretary, or maybe deleted the firm's last five years of iManage, left blue-balled with yet another summer not grasping that, by definition, anything given to them is not important.

Agreed. I was expecting a funny story. Very disappointed. OP, consider this a colossal TLS mistake.

[1styearlateral]

Sounds like a memo no one had any intention to read. Def busywork.

[LBJ's Hair]

sounds like you got a shitty/fake assignment (lame to assign it) and did a mediocre job. you're fine

[Anonymous User]

Well, after analyzing your post very carefully, it doesn’t appear that you sexually assaulted anyone, called anyone the N-word, or got into a fist fight with a partner. Therefore, whatever you did was not a “colossal mistake” and your offer is still intact.

[legalpotato]

Came ITT expecting you confused the managing partner's wife for a secretary, or maybe deleted the firm's last five years of iManage, left blue-balled with yet another summer not grasping that, by definition, anything given to them is not important.

Same - was hoping for a juicy story of a summer associate getting black out drunk and knocking out a share partner. Leaving highly disappointed. OP is fine.

[glitched]

I wouldn't even consider this a mistake. Just par for the course. It could be a mistake if in the email you were super apologetic identifying specific issues and wrote anything other than something like "here's an updated draft fixing a few non-substantive errors."

[Anonymous User]

So this really isn't a mistake, let alone a colossal one. That said, I can only imagine that whoever assigned this to you would be happy to see the effort taken to revise typos etc. If anything, sending a shitty draft and then updating with a better one shows a level of initiative beyond what most summers do.

[Anonymous User]

.

[GFox345]

First submitted assignment was to summarize about 500 pages of client business records. Got two days to do it. Told to submit by end of business. Got product in by 7:00. Rushed to submit because I was already past end of business, but I had gone as fast as I could. Checked back and found a ton of typos. I mean a ton. Misspelled names, lack of verb-subject agreement. The whole nine yards. Fixed them all and re-submitted as a “fine-tuned” version. Assigning attorney was out of town, so I’m not sure that she saw the original. How fucked am I?

Agree that the errors almost certainly don't matter, but I write separately to say that you probably can also get too drunk at a work event, though I don't recommend it. Blacked out hard at the into dinner and still got an offer. lol

[Lesion of Doom]

Sucks you got stuck with a fake firedrill assignment. I'm not suspicious of you but I'm definitely suspicious of the person who thought it was okay to put a summer on the spot like that.

[Anonymous User]

First submitted assignment was to summarize about 500 pages of client business records. Got two days to do it. Told to submit by end of business. Got product in by 7:00. Rushed to submit because I was already past end of business, but I had gone as fast as I could. Checked back and found a ton of typos. I mean a ton. Misspelled names, lack of verb-subject agreement. The whole nine yards. Fixed them all and re-submitted as a “fine-tuned” version. Assigning attorney was out of town, so I’m not sure that she saw the original. How fucked am I?

Agree that the errors almost certainly don't matter, but I write separately to say that you probably can also get too drunk at a work event, though I don't recommend it. Blacked out hard at the into dinner and still got an offer. lol

Same. Blacked out on the last day with an important partner and his minion associate. I was pretty belligerent and they had to call me a cab. One of the worst hangovers in my life, but got an offer anyway. Do not recommend - just trying to show how catastrophically you can screw up and still get an offer.

[jsnow212]

Sucks you got stuck with a fake firedrill assignment. I'm not suspicious of you but I'm definitely suspicious of the person who thought it was okay to put a summer on the spot like that.

Agreed. Usually these type of fake assignments have a "get it back to me in a reasonable amount of time" rider.

To OP: It's completely unimportant. Won't make a difference. But, obviously, a good thing to keep in mind for future to leave time for proofreading.