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Chief
How gigantic of a mistake are we talking about? Hopefully you've got enough goodwill built up that this will not be a fatal error.
I’ve been there. Tell them factually and unemotionally and truthfully exactly what happened in detail and tell them what your immediate corrective action plan is. Sincerely Apologize for not catching what happened under your supervision and fall on the sword - don’t blame the junior associates. Unless they are total psychopaths or have it in for you, they will appreciate your candor and the fact that you didn’t crap on the junior associates, who they probably view as babies. If they are old school, they should appreciate your accountability because it demonstrates leadership. The qb doesn’t blame the offensive line even when they hang him out to dry.
I read your other comment stating that the mistake was citing to the wrong version of an exhibit in a MSJ. This is a bit sloppy but in the grand scheme it’s not really a big deal. Not even close to being fireable. This kind of thing is what an errata is for. I would file that.
Agreed. If OP gets fired over that then it is for the best, because that firm is not where you want to be.
Pro
OP this is so not a fire-able a offense. There is so much time, effort and money put into your development that only crazy people would throw it away for this. I’ve fired a number of associates over the years and always always ALWAYS it is for repeated poor legal judgment and poor drafting skills, never over a stupid error that you will never make again. I agree with the advice of approach this unemotionally even if you are a basket case inside. Show that you understand you did wrong but also that you have this under control. I’m a transactional lawyer and don’t fully understand the mistake here but from my perspective if you didn’t jeopardize the client’s case, it’s bad but not that serious. No one wants to look sloppy but it beats negligent any day.
Well, I’ve been told by the administrative partner in my office that is really hard to fire a lawyer. He wanted to fire an associate and it took months. (Because obv we had to make sure the guy can’t turn around and sue.) So without knowing anything about your situation, I think it’s unlikely that you will just be fired all of a sudden in the debrief. Maybe later, because I don’t know how you let the juniors make this gigantic mysterious mistake that is irreparable.
Thank you. I’ve already alerted them. Now I’m mostly concerned about the fallout given how angry they were (understandably)...😞
Curious what the mistake was? Like blowing statute of limitations or something else?
A6 has clearly not made mistakes or is such a narcissist that he/she can’t admit such mistakes. Life is all about making mistakes.
This is not a gigantic, fireable mistake so take a deep breath! This is only the kind of mistake that will haunt your dreams for the rest of your life 😆 I think it sounds fixable and not even malpractice so I'd just fix it and debrief with the partners while taking ownership. Don't be nice to the juniors about it though.
Here’s how the debrief should go: say “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to cause trouble, here’s what happened, and it will never happen again. How can I fix it? I could do (x, y or z) to fix it, just let me know which you prefer and I’ll address it immediately.” Shit happens. We learn from it and we move on, older and wiser. We do not beat ourselves up over it because it’s in the past and we can’t change it now. It happens to all of us, we are human. Show appropriate regret, take ownership of the mistake and the fixing of it, and don’t make the same mistake again.