It’s ironic that we work in a profession obsessed with critique, yet getting actual feedback feels impossible. I’ll spend days on a draft and get a one-word “looks good,” or worse, vague advice like “be more strategic.” I want to improve, but it’s hard when no one will tell you how. Asking for specifics feels awkward, like I’m demanding attention. How do you pull it out of them?

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I’ve been at multiple law firms, and this is the prevailing approach. Some senior attorneys do take the mentoring aspect of their job more seriously than others and will take the time to thoroughly go through a draft and give clearer feedback. But as a senior attorney myself, I do admit that it is tiring and there is always this feeling that it’s wasted time since you never really know who’s going to stick around, and whether this is going to be an investment or a total waste. I think I am more willing to invest time in associates who I sense are interested in sticking around for the long haul. Hard to really tell that, but that is kind of the way I look at it. I also tend to give more feedback when associates directly ask me for and ask specific questions.

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Some folks cannot accept feedback. If you want people to give you feedback, be coachable and not defensive, and try to learn from your mistakes and incorporate the feedback you were given into your work going forward. If you make the same mistake twice, that's a problem.

looks like you have a supervisor who might be a good attorney but a lousy manager. when i review work for jr staff, i make changes in track changes and put comments on what should be added or changed. it should be a collaborative process back and forth. it’s up to the jr to ask me about any changes i made if they don’t understand. a “looks good” in my book truly means “no notes”, keep up the work product.

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Because feedback takes time, and no one wants to invest in someone they’re not sure they’re backing long-term.

That sounds great. Sign me up for Tatimerugine. Really looking forward to it!

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What are you seeing when looking at the redline?

This is the correct answer. Study the redline.

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