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You have a doctorate and are a licensed professional. You were not hired for your legal expertise. You were hired to do good work timely, and your credentials speak to your ability to figure things out and think critically.
While I do not know the particular issue you’re juggling, the below is broadly applicable (and can be summed up as be proactive):
First- you need to be responsive and meet deadlines. Failing to do so is interpreted as lacking organization or you simply don’t care- either way it makes you unreliable. If you’re not going to be able to meet a timetable, you must give notice as soon as you’re aware. Missing a deadline (or sending an email saying you didn’t have a chance to complete X that’s due in 5 min) isn’t acceptable. Yes, things will come up and you’ll get busy. It’s also very foreseeable that issues will arise and it’s not an excuse.
Second, there’s no such thing as a stupid question, but it IS stupid to direct it to certain people. Take reasonable efforts to figure something out on your own using the resources provided. Don’t spin your wheels though, the objective is to figure out the answer NOT to figure it out without asking anyone. You can ask colleagues, you can ask support staff, check for templates, etc. If you need to ask someone important, can you demonstrate that you’ve exhausted all other resources and haven’t wasted time doing so? No one will spoon feed you.
Third- be proactive and goal oriented. Your boss assigns you tasks because they need them completed, not excuses for why someone else is to blame. If you need someone to do something, escalate!
Most managers you’ll have in law aren’t very good at the managing bit. It’s annoying, but you’ll need to take the extra work to manage up.
Your examples are helpful. No one is going to spoon feed you. Nor are they going to redline their edits. You need to run a comparison yourself, learn from the changes, and most importantly make sure you don’t make the same error twice.
For motion work, are you reviewing the Rutter Guide (JX depending) to get your checklist for what docs are needed? Are you checking for templates or prior work examples to make it easier? If you were a solo attorney doing this work, how would you avoid malpractice? It’s that level of double checking that makes you stand out.
Bowl Leader
I was screamed at most of my 1st year. Even when I didn’t actually make a mistake at all. I also was basically thrown into the fire as well and received minimal formal training except from an older millennial partner - Gen X pulled the ladder up when they became seniors/partners and stopped training juniors. This got worse post-covid too.
I beat myself up a lot for mistakes but now as a 7th year I am much more independent and don’t dwell on imperfection as much. I’ve found that my intuition and understanding is usually better now than relying on my boss or outside counsel, and that’s a pretty empowering feeling. But it took years of experience and I’m only just getting into this new phase of career development.
You gotta learn from doing, and it takes time.
It was probably fourth year before I felt like I really knew anything substantive. It also looks like you have some issues with grammar and spelling. Slow down, re-read what you wrote, and either print and review hard copy, or use the read aloud function to help catch those mistakes you may overlook if you have trouble catching them on the screen. (Also good for letting you do other little tasks while it’s being read back to you).
I also received very little training as a new attorney, those first couple years are rough. It does get easier. Don’t be afraid to ask questions and you don’t need to tolerate verbal abuse from a higher-up - if that is happening, look for another job.
Most people in biglaw don't get training. The idea that you'll be taught how to do everything is usually a lie people will say in interviews to set themselves apart from other firms who at this point have stopped pretending they'll train you. Chances are most of the people who you get work from didn't get training either, or are so out of touch with their junior experience that they've convinced themsves that they came into the firm as perfectly formed associates who never made mistakes and knew how to do everything from day one.
To be clear, that doesn't mean this is objectively the best way for junior associates to learn. You're not necessarily better for going through trial by fire than you'd be if someone actually had the time to teach you the ropes. It's just the way biglaw works.
A large reason for this is that training juniors usually isn't billable these days/hasn't been for awhile, so when a more senior attorney takes the time to train you they're effectively dedicating their own personal free time to do so. Which is easy for attorneys who only have like 8 hours of billable work to do every day but harder for attorneys with 12+ hours of billables to get done every day and have family or other personal obligations, or simply need time outside of work to decompress from work (a thing most normal people need). Some attorneys are just super arrogant and think training is beneath them, but a large portion go into this thinking they'll be better when they're in the same position, and then find they're just way too busy to do that for everyone they work with.