How do you all stay perfect and free from typos when the workload and pressure adds up? I do my best to keep up but I keep making little mistakes. I’m both positive and motivated to improve my attention to detail but damn those mistakes make me feel so idiotic. Advice?

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Have a good secretary or paralegal proofread it. Also, and this is a neat trick that worked wonderfully for me, is to change typeface then print out and read. So if you’re using Times New Roman (yes, get off my lawn!), switch it for editing purposes to, say, Courier New, and print it and read. You’ll be amazed at what you catch.

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The fact that you care is huge. It will come and you will get it. Nicely asked.

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This may sound silly but print out your work product and read it out loud with an English accent. I promise you’ll catch the majority of your grammatical mistakes.

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I love this so much.

I don’t. Tbh.

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Pound it out with reckless abandon, then let it sit for a couple hours while you do something else. When you come back to it, act like you’re editing a stranger’s work. That separation turns you from drafter to editor, and nobody gets editor’s block.

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Also remember triple check numbers and decimal places, ands/ors, etc…less concerned about writing “forgoing” vs foregoing”

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I have no idea which of these I use, but I use this term often. What’s the difference?

If you have the time, set the document aside to allow your head to clear and then do a final review for typos.

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Set it aside and review later. Then play a mental game called “find that error”. You KNOW there is at least one error in the document, so find it.

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I was making a ton of careless mistakes and getting comments about attention to detail. Turns out I have ADHD. Now that I’m getting treated, things improved soooo much it’s insane. Just wanted to share this in case it helps someone. I did not believe I could have it since I always did well in school and passed the bar, etc. But it doesn’t always look like failing school. It can look like success. But how difficult is it for you? Just something to consider.

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Have significant other proofread. Helps if your SO is also a lawyer.

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You wouldn’t have them proofread the super duper secret stuff. But pleadings that will be public on PACER in the future are perfectly okay. For the stuff that is gray, you’ll figure out where the line is on your comfort level.

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Yeah, separation from the writing and reading out loud. Also, last minute edits from other people always cause issues. But also, know that everyone goofs things, so be forgiving of yourself and just keep trying and find what works for you. And for the people who are judgy about typos, they can go hang out with other scotus clerks and sip tea with their pinkies out.

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Have you looked into Grammarly? It can assist you with spelling and grammar as you type. Of course a read through (sometimes out loud) at the end and spellcheck.

Another option would be to outsource the edit/proofreading work. Perhaps Upwork?

Just a few thoughts. I’m sure I have some mistakes here.

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Microsoft Word has a function that will read your work back to you. You have to manually select what it'll read so that it doesn't include citations (because that takes forever). It's way faster than reading it yourself out loud and you remove the potential for your pesky imperfect human brain interpreting something wrong.

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Here is the tip that finally helped me work out most of my typos: Read it backwards, sentence by sentence. It stops you from falling into the flow of the writing and helps you read each sentence as its own universe.

As a bonus, it may also help you notice some substantive issues you otherwise wouldn't have thought of -- like how does this case in Section V play off that stuff in Section I?

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I have my assistant proof read or another attorney or paralegal. Just to get a new set of eyes. Also print it and proofread then again proof electronically. But still find typos in final versions from time to time. No one is perfect

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Spell check. I have it set in my outlook that nothing is sent without an automatic check!

I always struggle with minor typos or grammatical issues. For work product I second the print and read out loud/mark up on paper. I never understood the read backwards recommendation.

But for emails I have found a decent middle ground. In outlook you can add a “speak selected text” button to the quick access tool bar. (There is also a native OS wide option on Macs). I use that before sending an email. Helps me slow down by hearing the text while simultaneously proof reading. Robo voice gets a little annoying but it really helps me.

As someone else mentioned Grammarly is sometimes helpful in catching things that spell check will miss.

Read aloud on word/outlook. After you draft use the read aloud feature to have it read back to you. I’m notorious for missing small words and articles and it’s easier to pick up issues when you can hear them.

It’s a feature under “review” on word.

I pdf it and then catch typos

My secretary proofs things for me.

You’re right, I never noticed how offensive that language could be. Thanks for pointing it out.

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