How long after law school did you stop feeling like an imposter? I always feel like I’m going to screw things up. How long did it take for you to start feeling somewhat confident?

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I am a gift to the legal profession so I don’t understand the question

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I’m still experiencing it, but generally working with bad associates who are terrible at their jobs a couple of years in has made me feel loads better about myself.

likefunny

This is spot on — 75% of this job is just being resourceful. I can usually put a complicated doc together and get minimal comments if I put in the work and really dig in and find applicable precedent (despite not actually knowing what anything in the agreement means)

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2-3 years coupled with seeing how bad other attorneys my year actually are but don’t have IS. Now I’m at the point where I’m not afraid to say “I don’t know” or push back a little.

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4th year is when I started feeling more confident (which was also the year I started running deals)...but I still triple checked everything & was constantly worried i made a mistake. I don’t think the fear of making a mistake ever completely goes away though. I think a lot of the stress comes from assuming more senior lawyers have it all figured out. My mentor is fantastic about acknowledging when she doesn’t know the answer or when she’s worried about something - which helped me feel better about not having all the answers.

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I’d like to know too because my imposter syndrome is crippling!

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It ebbs and flows. Once I start feeling kind of confident, I know a mistake is probably around the corner. But that’s fine. You’re probably doing better than you think!

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I’m eight years out and I still feel that way sometimes, but it got much better after five years.

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Go clerk and watch big law partners flounder under questioning by the judge. Was always a morale boost for me.

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Still dealing with it 20 years in, in certain contexts 🤷‍♀️.

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9 years later imposter syndrome still going strong!

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Construction litigation. It mostly pops up when I have to examine witnesses on technical engineering aspects of a project. I’m always concerned I’ll miss some obvious question even though I have more engineering knowledge than a lot of constriction attorneys. I can’t shake it!

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You don’t ever want to completely lose this. When you think you completely know what you are doing, a) you don’t and b) you miss things. But definitely gets less and less as time goes on. Try to figure out a way to embrace it and don’t let it take over your thinking. Good luck!

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I’m 9 years out and I think I’ve just started to feel that way the last two or so years...it’s nuts. Oh, and if I got a job outside of being a prosecutor or in a new role I would definitely regress to feeling that way.

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Wordle 524 2/6

🟩⬜⬜🟨⬜
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likesmart

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