MAKING MISTAKES AS A YOUNG LAWYER: HELPFUL GUIDANCE – WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS…
The post yesterday on making mistakes as a young lawyer got a lot of attention and comment. For that reason I have decided to re-post something on the same vein. This post is based on guidance given on Twitter in April 2019. Many members of the profession offered advice on what lawyers should do “when the sky falls in”.
“My good friend once led with “your honour I have looked exhaustively at who is to blame for this and I’m afraid that it is me””
THE CHALLENGE…
“OK the nice lawyers of Twitter (& other nice people too) I’m now coming looking directly for your help. What advice would you give to lawyers when the sky is falling in?”
THE RESPONSES
“What’s your biggest mistake” an interview question I use. Don’t especially care what the problem was. I want to know a) how self aware you are; b) how you fix things that will, inevitably, go wrong at some point; c) no failings might suggest lack of integrity – everyone fails.
‘The sky won’t fall in.’ ‘Thank you for telling us. Let’s see what we can do to sort this out’
Stay calm. Do not take action until you’ve taken advice. Seek out and listen to those whom you trust. If you’ve made a mistake then apologise. Analyse and
Supervision doesn’t cover everything (eg claim done but not sent), but the principle holds true. Supervisor should take responsibility, and we all make mistakes at times.
Ask for help and support, everyone needs to ask questions it is not a bad thing.
Depends on why the sky is falling in on you. Ask yourself why you became a lawyer in the first place. If it was for a corrupt intent, or if your firm has corrupted you, accept you are the problem. Otherwise, the Law always allows for a solution.
Depends on why the sky is falling in on you. Ask yourself why you became a lawyer in the first place. If it was for a corrupt intent, or if your firm has corrupted you, accept you are the problem. Otherwise, the Law always allows for a solution.
If you are NQ, your mistakes are your supervisor’s mistakes too. Either they didn’t supervise closely enough or gave you too much responsibility. A good supervisor will recognise this and share both the client and emotional burden with you.
Unless you messed up pagniating. In which case it’s on you. Page turn next time.
The Ground Swallow Me feeling when the employment judge says “I appear not to have a page 104.” Never trust the machines. Ever.
Before taking your mistake to someone senior for advice or help, which is a must, prepare a full note of the case and your actions/inactions. It will help immensely in finding a solution, and make sure you send it to your insurer. Whatever the result the sun will rise tomorrow.
1. Breathe. If you can calm down and see the wood for the trees you may realise what you need to do to sort it out. 2. Tell your supervisor whether you know how sort it or not. You will often find that it’s not as bad as you thought. 3. Take action immediately.
If you are a barrister and it is all going wrong call the @thebarcouncil ethics helpline – they are hugely helpful and always calm in a crisis
Don’t fret. You can always become an academic lawyer.
I always say there is little you can do wrong that cant be fixed IF YOU ACT SOON ENOUGH. Promptness is key.
You say (as I once had to early on) “I’m sorry my Lord. I simply haven’t approached this issue correctly at all. Please may I file a new skeleton tomorrow, which will set out my case properly?” Then you tell your solicitor you’ve screwed up, you don’t charge, & you hope.
Mind you, the real surprise to those who know me was that it only happened once.
If it is your error, do not try to hide it, or cover up. Talk to colleagues (and boss) asap. More experienced colleagues will likely either have made the same mistake, or seen it made before, and how to recover, or minimise its impact.
(1) most mistakes are salvageable; (2) don’t ever lie to cover up an error; (3) this is why you have insurance; (4) research shows that clients rarely sue lawyers they like. If you have been kind, hardworking and respectful, now is the time you see the benefit.
Skyfall plan 1. Admit it to yourself that you have done what everyone does now and again 2. Speak to trusted friend 3. Tell HOC/Senior Partner and insurer 4. Tell Solicitor or client 5. Tell Court if appropriate 6. Eat Cake
When things go spectacularly wrong: 1. Don’t blame your opponent. 2. Don’t blame the client. 3. Don’t blame the court. Don’t blame the moonlight, sunshine or the boogie. Fess up, accept it’s your fault & that’s the point from which things will begin to improve. #chickenlicken
Front up your own mistakes: don’t hide behind your clerks. Their job is difficult enough as it is, and cowardice is an unattractive quality in an advocate.
DON’T PANIC!! Step away for a minute and take some deep breaths. If you can think about options to fix it, do so if you’re too stressed or don’t know – ask someone else. It’s probably not as bad as you think but it’ll only be worse if you ignore it /1
If you want someone objective and outside your firm, talk to friendly Counsel – worse case scenario, they can help you draft the application! Whomever you go to, saying it out loud helps you think about the way forward. You’ll need to come clean and quickly – no procrastination
1. Remember 99.9% of problems can be fixed & costs penalties are not the end of the world. 2. Ask for help and make sure your manager is in the loop. 3. Never sacrifice your integrity. 4. Do what you can in a timely manner. 5. Remember the sun will still rise tomorrow.
Spot on. Bring it to the light and learn from it.
My good friend once led with “your honour I have looked exhaustively at who is to blame for this and I’m afraid that it is me” and it went down well. Think it is a one shot deal though.
This is a great approach. I find LAs draft me in to sort these out. 1st thing is to work out a solution to the errors, then grovel lots, offer your solution, explain that it fell down and if needed we can file a statement to say where and how, but focus everyone on the solution.
I’m a big believer in apologising and giving a solution, so I agree with you entirely. Things go wrong, but when they do work out how to put it right.
‘Fess up. Don’t bluff it. Seek assistance. All lawyers love showing off how clever they are, which has the positive side effect that they are usually very willing to assist a fellow lawyer who is in difficulties.
Nobody loses their legal career over a mistake. Plenty lose their legal career over lying about a mistake.
Deep breath. Work out the one, simple thing you should do first. If that’s hard a) ring someone or b) go back to first principles. Do the one simple thing. Repeat as necessary. Remember it’s never as bad as you think and the hard conversation is always easier than you expect.
The most important thing in a crisis is to remain calm. Calm is contagious (unfortunately so is panic). Emotional intelligence and control is normally the key. Just work the problem step by step.
Resist any and all temptation to do anything dishonest / shady. This starts the spiral where you can’t confess the original problem, because you’d have to confess your misconduct, so you push yourself into further dishonesty. Which deepens the spiral.
Stop, take a breath. Admit something’s wrong and ask for help (easier if you’ve been kind and civil to people throughout your career, see previous tweet). If you’re a line manager it may not have been you who made the error, but you do have a responsibility to own it, and fix it.
Look at the ‘I Need Help’ section of the WATB website. It’s equally useful when you see a colleague who might need help.
Go to the most senior, kindly person you can identify – hopefully your boss. Pick your moment (but don’t put it off), say you have bad news & you’re worried, apologise, confess all & ask how you can help put it right. Remember – it is not the end of the world.
Drink !
Ask someone for their view, ask two if needed. Always use the code as a steer. Notify your insurer. Fess up. Apologise. If necessary this means explicitly telling the court it’s your error not the client’s. Do what you can to make it right / limit damage. Learn from it. Move on.
I am not generally known to be Pollyanna-ish but . . You are being given a huge and profound opportunity to learn. As well as confronting the issue and making a chronology and all that, make sure you learn as much as you can in the process.
Don’t try and find the answer in alcohol and/or drugs (other than Kalms and caffeine!).
I would always confess it having worked out what I think is the fix or solution. Shows I want to fix it and have a plan. Might be wrong or insufficient but trains me for next time and shows others that I can sort this.
Be honest and up front. Sometimes being honest will make things better than trying to mislead. A bad scenario can be handled with care but a bad scenario made worse by misleading or giving wrong information will spring the situation out of control. Simply,not worth it. PC first!
Instruct squirrel Nutkin.
Take a deep breath and then breathe out slowly and then go and talk to someone about it
Creating a culture where junior staff can admit mistakes without fear of disproportionate retribution is important.
Take a breath and ask for help. Your colleagues will want and need to know if something is wrong or about to go wrong. It helps to get another perspective. Things may actually not be as bad as you think after discussing.
When I worked in a law centre we swapped files when a mistake was recognised, so the maker of the mistake did not have sort it out (hard when you are feeling mortified). In return they would take over a file which was giving someone else sleepless nights.
The best lawyers I know remain calm under pressure. When times are tough, this mindset ensures that everyone is focused on what needs to be done. Everything can be fixed one way or another. There is little point wasting energy on what cannot be controlled.
99% of problems can be solved with an application as long as you don’t leave it too long!
Get the facts straight ASAP to see exactly what went wrong and why. You can’t change what’s happened so acknowledge it and focus on what needs to be done to fix the situation. Don’t forget the SRA or Bar Council ethics helplines. Most importantly, learn from the experience.
I’m the least experienced out of everyone that will respond to this but, honestly, every storm passes. It doesn’t matter who you are, EVERYONE will have bad days. Tomorrow will be easier.
Anyhow you can, find a way to laugh, if only for a moment. It resets the brain momentarily and then you can look at any disaster with fresh(ish) eyes.
OK I’m not a lawyer this is slightly in jest. Like Chicken Licken seek help, be glad of the Henny Penny’s, Cocky Lockys and Goosey Looseys who want to help you put it right and beware those like Foxy Loxy who will do all they can to exacerbate or benefit from your mistake
Communicate. Burying in an email “hey we have a problem” is a cya move. I get 40-60 emails a day. Come tell me. And be clear. Except SOL issues, most things can be fixed
One of the big #AppellateTwitter topics over the past several years, so I’ll repeat my advice for @CivilLitTweet (& others): Figure out a solution. Then tell the truth and present the answer. There are few things that can’t be fixed.
My thoughts on soul crushing mistakes, legal or otherwise: 1. Be kind to yourself. Your self talk should be like a kind friend because that’s the *voice* you hear the most. By nature, humans err. 2. Don’t blame others, find a remedy. 3. Review your work flows to improve process.
1. Remember 99.9% of problems can be fixed & costs penalties are not the end of the world. 2. Ask for help and make sure your manager is in the loop. 3. Never sacrifice your integrity. 4. Do what you can in a timely manner. 5. Remember the sun will still rise tomorrow.
Spot on. Bring it to the light and learn from it.