Biggest mistake you made in practice and what the end result was. I f*cked up pretty bad (1st year associate, and no it wasn’t a typo in a motion) and I need some perspective. Feeling pretty anxious about it because it involves a missed discovery responses deadline for being naive and making an assumption. All feedback is appreciated!

Owning it to your supervisor, apologizing ONCE, learning from it, and never making the mistake again, is the path I would suggest. The ideal time to make mistakes is as a first year.... Indeed we expect them to make tons of mistakes. Even in my pretty intense firm, first years are allowed to make mistakes and the partners help fix it. I hope you have an understanding partner and I wouldn’t dwell once the mistake is fixed to the extent it can be.

I’ve told this story here before, but I once sent a summons to a police dog instead of his handler when I was an ADA.

The key with mistakes like this is to apologize ONCE. You’re working toward fixing it, which is the most important thing in this moment.

I messed up pretty bad as a judicial intern and a judge told me this story to comfort me....

The judge was interning at the District Attorneys Office and had her first preliminary hearing that she handled solo. And because she was an intern and wanted to impress her supervising attorneys she was making a big show of everything. While directing the Officer on the stand, she held up the evidence bag of the drugs. But she felt all the writing of the evidence bag obscured the court from seeing the drugs inside and thought it would be more impressive to just take them out. Well.... turns out the evidence was meth related and as she’s opening the bag- the bailiff realized what she was doing as well as everyone else. Right before she grabs the meth covered instrument- the courtroom just erupts in chaos. The bag is ripped out of her hands by the bailiff, she goes flying, the judge and the supervising attorneys are all yelling “stop!!” “Don’t touch that!!” “Nooooo!!” Not only was there an evidence contamination issue, but meth can be transferred skin to skin. Soooo she was about .02 seconds from unknowingly taking a a little trip into meth land.

Not on point for your exact situation but funny nonetheless. And I don’t practice in the criminal field,But when I screw up (as we all do), I think to myself- at least I didn’t try to do meth in open court. 😂

Discovery deadlines are blown all the time. Not to minimize it (because it is a mistake and deadlines are important), but in the grand scheme of things it’s not a court deadline and I’m guessing your client was not harmed by this mistake.

Try to look at it as a learning experience. You’ll never make this assumption again, and I’m guessing you’ll always have discovery deadlines drilled in your brain going forward. Take responsibility for the mistake, be upset about it, and then move on. It happens to all of us, and as long as it’s something that can be fixed, all is right in the world.

Hang in there 😊

Do. No. Blame. Staff.

Even if the staff should have done something or reminded you about a deadline, which lead to the mistake -- do not start calling out everyone else's faults. Own your own mistakes.

A friend in my office makes a ton a mistakes and somehow it's always the staff that caused them. Do not be that person.

I once sent confidential equity information to people who should not have had access. Client freaked, I freaked, called my senior associate almost crying. Her and the partner worked it out with the client and it ended up being fine. Per my (amazing) senior attorney - it’s not the end of the world. It’s hard to have perspective when you’re junior, but odds are you aren’t the first person to make that mistake, the partners might be irritated but they understand that juniors make mistakes and it’s part of their job to deal with them, and it might be bad, it’s almost always fixable if you own up quick and get the right people involved right away.

I agree with everything said above. You will make mistakes and most of them are fixable. I do legal malpractice cases and even those situations are resolved by insurance typically and the attorney continues forward in their career.

The best advice I got from a senior attorney, and what I use today, is to tell the people working for me that they will make mistakes and they should try to come up with a solution when they do. Then come to me, and we can decide if it's really a mistake and if the solution makes sense (or if another option is better). Our job is all about problem solving, even your own problems sometimes. And my partner today was the senior attorney I went to for advice for my first big fuck-up, who gave me that advice. My panic was a good bonding experience, and we've been partners now for 3 years (friends for much longer).

I was told to always own up to it ASAP. Partners can usually fix most things, so it’s better to go to them and explain what happened. They’ll appreciate your honesty. Then work super hard to fix your mistake.

We’re not doctors. No one is going to die on our watch. Keeps things in perspective.

In the grand scheme of things, it could be soooo much worse than blowing a discovery deadline. Own it, learn from it, make sure it doesn’t happen again and be better! And in an effort to make you feel better, over the years I have:
- missed a hearing;
- blown a dispositive motion; and
- contacted opposing counsel’s expert and gotten documents from him directly not realizing the privilege extends to experts (like 2 months into practice but still cringe over this one).

love this thread! For my first solo mediation, I managed to give OC directions to a city three hours away from where mediation actually was scheduled. Cities did sound the same, but still my first solo mediation ended up pretty awkward.

You’ll be fine! This is how you get better!

You’ll be fine ! Have you assistant ask for an extension! Happens all the time. It’s a professional courtesy to extend extensions even after missed deadline.

Wow, I did not expect my post to get this much attention. I want to respond to all of you but it would take forever so I’ll just say an overall THANK YOU. You all have made me feel an incredible sense of calm and really did put this in perspective for me. I really appreciate everyone who gave examples of their royal f*ckups as well and I’m glad you all lived to tell the tale lol

When you catch it, report it. If you’re able to resolve the mistake, let the partner know in the same communication - “Howdy Partner, I just noticed that the wrong redline was attached to my email to Opposing Counsel. I have re-run the redline and will circulate shortly.” This also goes for mid level and senior associates you work with. Showing you recognize the issue and that you’re taking steps to fix it looks good. HOWEVER - if you don’t know how to fix the issue/what steps to take to resolve the issue, don’t make something up. In that scenario, I would approach the partner/associate, own up to the issue and ask if they have a few minutes to discuss next steps on resolving the issue. First years make mistakes all the time (we ALL make mistakes, even years into practice) and these are all learning opportunities. You got this!

I haven’t run into an issue that can’t be fixed yet. Even the court is filled with people who make mistakes, and they typically understand that things happen. As long as you’re honest and showing steps to rectify the situation, most people in the profession will be understanding. As for opposing, if they do file a motion on the issue, it just makes them look petty. No one would waste their time and reputation with the court over service of objections that are a day late. They’re bluffing.

During my first hearing, my witness refused to answer questions during her testimony and I didn’t know what to do and no words would come out of my mouth. My supervisor/co-counsel had to take over. Can’t be worse than that

Own it. As a first year you should have had someone else above you making sure you know your deadlines. I fucked up as a first year real bad, luckily I had a good relationship with the head of my division. I would have been totally screwed otherwise. I got switched to a different team so I could make a fresh start. All that to say, many partners will totally throw you under the bus if you make a mistake to absolve themselves off responsibility. Which means the client will never want to work with you again. If it is a big client, you might want to look at lateraling, tbh. There is a reason so many people lateral after their first year.

It’s ok. Deadlines as strict without the practice of law are not something that happens in the real world. Own your mistake and own it. I’ve seen this same advice repeated over and over in this thread and it’s so honest and true. Missing a statute of limitations is a huge problem and life changing, discovery is so fluid. You’ll be fine. It’s scary and heart crushing at the moment but give it 5 years, you’ll look back and realize it all ended up ok. Law school does not even remotely you prepare for the actual practice of law. Every practitioner knows this and will/should be forgiving. Whomever is threatening a motion to compel is only pushing for this because they know they are on the wrong end of the deal. Keep practicing and hold your head high.

My first year, I missed five summary judgment deadlines. I wasn’t fired. In fact, I made a partner. Admittedly, not that year... but eventually. It will be OK. Own it, report it and try to fix it.

I think every attorney has blown a discovery deadline one way or another. Whether it’s not properly disclosing an expert or failing to respond to written discovery, if you’re a litigator, you’ve made a least one mistake in that realm.

I would be very cordial to OC. Everyone makes mistakes, but I’ve found if you’re nice, most things are forgivable. I’ve had OC be two weeks late with disclosures, and if he’s apologetic I give him the extra time and ask for the same treatment. But there have also been times where I ask for an update and get a rude response. Those are the people I move to compel on immediately (but after required conferral :).