Partners - how bad is it to have the occasional spelling/grammer mistakes in the memos? Are we really expected to have perfectly proofread everything when we are on billable hours? Because I always catch something the more I read them and proofreading takes time... or are other associates just that much better than I am and get everything in one go? I definitely proofread more for court filings but I want to know how much my memos are hurting me.

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Typos undermine the credibility of the work because they suggest sloppiness. Find a system that works for you to catch them and remove them as best you can.

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I’ll also say—if I’m used to getting near-perfect work product from someone on a brief, if I get an internal assignment back on a short time frame that is sloppier than usual, it won’t bother me because they have already earned my trust and I know they know how to properly edit their own work when it matters.

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////contract companion\\\\

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Bet it differs between lit and corp. In my current firm (corp v10), I’d feel the pressure to stop and proofread it again to catch minor errors, even if I have to lose sleep over it… prior firm didn’t seem to care as much, but guess you never know what people really think. I now err on the side of spend more time getting it right unless the partners say otherwise.

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It sucks but yea typos really undermine you. I try to look at it with fresh eyes the next day and check every time a name comes up and spell it out loud. Sounds insane but I tend to not have too many typos. This also helps catch grammar mistakes. I also have a reference list of the correctly spelled names up to look at so my brain doesn't convince me a difference spelling is correct. Also have grammarly bc I can only do so much.

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My firm uses BriefCatch.

“Grammer” Kelsey?

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How do y'all have time to review again in the morning with fresh eyes? ISTG everything I'm asked to do requires a turnaround of a few hours

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Do you use briefcatch or litera proofread?

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