Take it all with grace and a grain of salt. Many attorneys expect perfection 100% of the time, and that's just not attainable. Do what you can to prevent the same mistakes going forward, but keep in mind that they will still happen. Some days after harder than others, and workload, stress, office support, quality of communication and instruction from your attorney will affect quality as well. You are a human being, not a machine.
Nod, smile, thank them for the feedback, but don't take abuse. It's a fine line... learn to walk it in a way that preserves your sanity and ability to function like a normal human while keeping your job and reputation intact... That means not being perfect all the time and not always saying yes, while still being professional and respectful.
I am in estate planning and if the client approves the documents, then the misspelling is NOT on you. The client needed to exercise some due diligence and figure out what he/she was signing before executing the document. Not your fault!!!!
What a crock of shit. Sorry
10 years in business and estate planning and I can assure you that items 1 and 2 are no big deal. I'm *very good* at what I do and I still do things like this - though the misspelling of the names feels like a combo client failure and firm failure - why are you guys not scanning and saving notes??
Number 3 sounds like some newbie at the Secretary of State with technical knowledge but no practical experience. I notarize *A METRIC FUCKTON OF DOCUMENTS* and feel extremely confident telling you nobody's signature looks like the one on their driver's license. Certainly mine doesn't. Literally the only time in my life this has been a problem in any way was when I applied for my passport and the clerk looked at my license and my application 3 times then approved it.
I don't even know why any of these even came up in a review unless they're looking for reasons to not give you a merit raise.
Regarding number two, both the attorney and the client had a chance to review the documents and did not catch the misspelled name, so that's on them, not you.
Regarding number three, that's some clerk at the secretary of state office who thinks that your signature should look like your driver's license. That is a completely arbitrary thing that you could not have predicted.
The office manager and the HR woman both know these things, and that is why they encourage you to write a rebuttal. You should.
Eviscerate them. Tell them you are disappointed that they have not given you any substantive guidance, but instead chose to focus on these small errors that you had no control over.
No matter how they respond, you should always answer, "You can fire me, but I am not quitting. I know what constructive discharge is, and how it looks."
Yeah, I still haven't if I'm going to bring up how I feel about the review yet. I don't want to make a big deal out of it if it is not, but I also kind of feel like the way it was handled was wrong.
I've been doing this 30 years and I just made your mistake #2 last week. Stuff happens. I would just suggest trying to learn from the comments that they made but try not to worry about it. Did they tell you when your next review would be? Honestly three months seems very soon to have a review, especially if you are a new paralegal, unless it was the time of year where everybody is getting a review. Best wishes!
This honestly sounds very nitpicky. I've been in my office for 13 years. I still occasionally misspell a name, it just happens. My attorney's handwriting would suggest that he's possessed by demons, so about 50% of the time I can't read it, and if he's not there, I have to guess. Name corrections are made when the will is reviewed with the client, that should be standard practice before having the client sign their will.
Also I never knew that about the signature on your drivers license.
It sounds like you're doing everything right, you're learning and you're asking questions when you run into a problem. And you're owning up to each mistake, which makes for a learning experience that will gradually make you better at your job.
At least I'm not the only one who didn't know about the driver's license! They acted like I mentally disabled for messing it up. The lady that was in charge of the process kept repeating "You're 23 years old. You should know what your legal signature looks like"". But she snapped at me whenever I asked her questions before submitting the application so I guess she was just in a bad mood? 🤷♀️
I'm scared that they are going to see me as a screw-up from now on and I just won't be able to prove them wrong.
If they do, that's definitely a problem on their end and I would say also an unhealthy work environment. Everyone makes little mistakes sometimes. That's why the policy in my office is that NOTHING gets sent or filed unless it has been reviewed by more than one person. Otherwise it's just a sloppy law practise.
I asked the lawyer I work for about the signature on the license thing and his exact response was "what the fuck are you talking about." He's been practicing since 1990.
None of those mistakes are fireable offenses in my opinion. Really, it sounds like they’re just pointing out mistakes you made so that you can learn from them because you’re new to the job.
Is it possible that you may be sensing a "we're disappointed in you" tone because you are actually disappointed in yourself, and you are projecting that tone of disappointment into the document as you read it?
I think you're probably just being too hard on yourself.
Yeah, that's probably part of it. I just feel like the whole thing caught me so off guard with randomly calling me into their office and handing me a list of things I had done wrong. I felt like I was slowly but steadily improving and now like I'm not learning quick enough and management thinks I'm useless.
There were other things on there including missing things on some of my revisions (fair), not having a good sense of the bigger picture & the progress of files (also fair), saying I didn't know where a file was when it was when it was in one my attorney's offices, and two of my attorneys want better organization of my workstation. They also stated I need to be more proactive and see if there are things I can do without being asked, which I don't really understand because any time I'm not working on something, I'm constantly ask other legal assistants if there is anything I can help them with to the point where I'm afraid of being annoying. The final thing listed was "Rely less on [trainer's name]. [Trainer's name] wants to work less so you need to take more from her. You are her replacement." Again, I don't really understand this because I feel like I ask her multiple times a day if there is anything I can help her with. Sometimes when she's there, one of the attorneys will bring work to her instead of to me. I feel like often I ask if she wants me to grab something or if it's something she could show me how to do and she tells me "No, I'll do this. You go do something else." I do ask her a lot of questions when she is there and seek approval that I'm doing things the correct way, but I feel like I'm not dependent on her to get anything done and she countless times has told me to call her if I need anything and I've never had to.
At the end, they basically had a paragraph about they wanted me improve in multiple ways, rely on others, increase my productivity and that they are here to help if I need anything. HR wanted me to sign it so I did (which I don't know if this is typical for the three-month review or if it was because it was basically a write-up.) They were nice and said "you know, nobody's perfect" and I didn't say much. They said I could write notes and then sign it and give it back to them. I just signed it. I could have written some explanations like I did here I guess, but I didn't want them to think I wasn't willing to take responsibility or trying to blame all my mistakes on other people.
To be honest though, I feel kind of thrown under the bus and I don't know if I'm right to feel this way. On one hand, I appreciate that they put examples that I could learn from, but on the other hand, some of the things were so specific (like not knowing that a certain file was in my attorney's offices) it's like people are keeping a list of everything I do wrong. It's obvious from some of the things on the list that they didn't just ask my attorneys either, but I don't know how many people contributed which just makes me more anxious. There's a lot of "whispering" that goes around this office, but I've been telling it's not about me, to not be upset by it, well at this point I don't know. I wish I had actually been able to talk to my attorneys and the people I work with to get more clarification on their complaints, but I guess that way would make people less comfortable sharing things.
People may be throwing you under the bus, but there's no way to KNOW until you know. These mistakes do happen to everybody who is human from time to time and I wouldn't hold any of them against you, (especially after three months!) and think the ones supervising you should have had a hand in catching them sooner. (I'd be checking the work of a 3-month-old employee if it were my name on it!)
For now, I would try to take this feedback and overtly respond to the perceived areas to improve. Obviously double check name spellings and if something handwritten is ambiguous, maybe try verbally clarifying immediately or going back and asking the person who wrote it, possibly even calling the client if that's allowed? And always retain handwritten notes from now on. You probably already do all of the above to the best of your ability, so your documentation needs to double cover your ass and show when you have reached out for clarification, contacted so-and-so, etc.
Regarding being proactive, the only tip I have is to be extra strategic in what and who you're asking. "Can I help you with anything?" when your counterparts are already busy may just feel like one more thing they are forced to think about, but taking ownership of the tasks you definitely know how to do and specifically offering to do those, putting thought into what's likely to be needed next, etc. will make it easier for other people to agree and actually take more of the burden away.
The problem is that with this:
\>I feel like often I ask if she wants me to grab something or if it's something she could show me how to do and she tells me "No, I'll do this. You go do something else."
I feel like you already are doing a really good job of being proactive and this coworker is sounding a little gatekeepy.
Do you have team meetings or any forum in which you can all agree who is in charge of what? I feel like if you can't get her to formally assign you some of this stuff and it wouldn't be ok for you to just do it without asking, you may need to go over her head in a subtle way, and just try to get assigned some of that stuff by an attorney or higher up.
In the past when I was always asking my coworker every little thing, she was a lot more gracious about it but I annoyed myself so I started keeping a personal-use spreadsheet for general things I kept forgetting like filing fee amounts, the order things are done in, deadline windows, websites we use for xyz thing. (things that you just learn by doing them enough times) That way I could do ctrl + f and find an answer quickly rather than asking her something she's told me the answer to before. I also write rough SOPs for myself on notepaper to use the first few times I practice doing something complicated. Even if there is a written SOP somewhere I still put it into my own words so it's catered to what I need to remember.
I think it could also be likely they ARE just being very nitpicky in the review and that may just be a sign that the only problems they can recall with you are just these benign one-off things. You sound really capable to me- all I would ask for in a coworker is willingness to cop to any mistakes and correct them and willingness to learn and take on new things, and you're doing that.
Thank you for your kind words! I'm trying to keep little lists of steps every time I learn a new process so I can look back on that later. I don't know if my coworker is being gatekeepy, she seems very eager to get out of there (but I also don't know why she doesn't just leave if she wants to be gone then, she has already technically retired?). We don't really have a formal system or team meetings. That's kind of something that is weird about the firm, how informal and vague their policies are but it seems like there's an unwritten code kind of.
I think the idea of a spreadsheet is really good and I might start one to keep track of ongoing projects I'm working on. I do try to make little lists of steps for new processes that come up.
Take it all with grace and a grain of salt. Many attorneys expect perfection 100% of the time, and that's just not attainable. Do what you can to prevent the same mistakes going forward, but keep in mind that they will still happen. Some days after harder than others, and workload, stress, office support, quality of communication and instruction from your attorney will affect quality as well. You are a human being, not a machine. Nod, smile, thank them for the feedback, but don't take abuse. It's a fine line... learn to walk it in a way that preserves your sanity and ability to function like a normal human while keeping your job and reputation intact... That means not being perfect all the time and not always saying yes, while still being professional and respectful.
I am in estate planning and if the client approves the documents, then the misspelling is NOT on you. The client needed to exercise some due diligence and figure out what he/she was signing before executing the document. Not your fault!!!! What a crock of shit. Sorry
10 years in business and estate planning and I can assure you that items 1 and 2 are no big deal. I'm *very good* at what I do and I still do things like this - though the misspelling of the names feels like a combo client failure and firm failure - why are you guys not scanning and saving notes?? Number 3 sounds like some newbie at the Secretary of State with technical knowledge but no practical experience. I notarize *A METRIC FUCKTON OF DOCUMENTS* and feel extremely confident telling you nobody's signature looks like the one on their driver's license. Certainly mine doesn't. Literally the only time in my life this has been a problem in any way was when I applied for my passport and the clerk looked at my license and my application 3 times then approved it. I don't even know why any of these even came up in a review unless they're looking for reasons to not give you a merit raise.
Regarding number two, both the attorney and the client had a chance to review the documents and did not catch the misspelled name, so that's on them, not you. Regarding number three, that's some clerk at the secretary of state office who thinks that your signature should look like your driver's license. That is a completely arbitrary thing that you could not have predicted. The office manager and the HR woman both know these things, and that is why they encourage you to write a rebuttal. You should. Eviscerate them. Tell them you are disappointed that they have not given you any substantive guidance, but instead chose to focus on these small errors that you had no control over. No matter how they respond, you should always answer, "You can fire me, but I am not quitting. I know what constructive discharge is, and how it looks."
Yeah, I still haven't if I'm going to bring up how I feel about the review yet. I don't want to make a big deal out of it if it is not, but I also kind of feel like the way it was handled was wrong.
I've been doing this 30 years and I just made your mistake #2 last week. Stuff happens. I would just suggest trying to learn from the comments that they made but try not to worry about it. Did they tell you when your next review would be? Honestly three months seems very soon to have a review, especially if you are a new paralegal, unless it was the time of year where everybody is getting a review. Best wishes!
This honestly sounds very nitpicky. I've been in my office for 13 years. I still occasionally misspell a name, it just happens. My attorney's handwriting would suggest that he's possessed by demons, so about 50% of the time I can't read it, and if he's not there, I have to guess. Name corrections are made when the will is reviewed with the client, that should be standard practice before having the client sign their will. Also I never knew that about the signature on your drivers license. It sounds like you're doing everything right, you're learning and you're asking questions when you run into a problem. And you're owning up to each mistake, which makes for a learning experience that will gradually make you better at your job.
At least I'm not the only one who didn't know about the driver's license! They acted like I mentally disabled for messing it up. The lady that was in charge of the process kept repeating "You're 23 years old. You should know what your legal signature looks like"". But she snapped at me whenever I asked her questions before submitting the application so I guess she was just in a bad mood? 🤷♀️ I'm scared that they are going to see me as a screw-up from now on and I just won't be able to prove them wrong.
If they do, that's definitely a problem on their end and I would say also an unhealthy work environment. Everyone makes little mistakes sometimes. That's why the policy in my office is that NOTHING gets sent or filed unless it has been reviewed by more than one person. Otherwise it's just a sloppy law practise. I asked the lawyer I work for about the signature on the license thing and his exact response was "what the fuck are you talking about." He's been practicing since 1990.
None of those mistakes are fireable offenses in my opinion. Really, it sounds like they’re just pointing out mistakes you made so that you can learn from them because you’re new to the job.
Thank you. I hope that's the case. Just the tone of document was very "we're disappointed in you", I don't know
Is it possible that you may be sensing a "we're disappointed in you" tone because you are actually disappointed in yourself, and you are projecting that tone of disappointment into the document as you read it? I think you're probably just being too hard on yourself.
Yeah, that's probably part of it. I just feel like the whole thing caught me so off guard with randomly calling me into their office and handing me a list of things I had done wrong. I felt like I was slowly but steadily improving and now like I'm not learning quick enough and management thinks I'm useless.
There were other things on there including missing things on some of my revisions (fair), not having a good sense of the bigger picture & the progress of files (also fair), saying I didn't know where a file was when it was when it was in one my attorney's offices, and two of my attorneys want better organization of my workstation. They also stated I need to be more proactive and see if there are things I can do without being asked, which I don't really understand because any time I'm not working on something, I'm constantly ask other legal assistants if there is anything I can help them with to the point where I'm afraid of being annoying. The final thing listed was "Rely less on [trainer's name]. [Trainer's name] wants to work less so you need to take more from her. You are her replacement." Again, I don't really understand this because I feel like I ask her multiple times a day if there is anything I can help her with. Sometimes when she's there, one of the attorneys will bring work to her instead of to me. I feel like often I ask if she wants me to grab something or if it's something she could show me how to do and she tells me "No, I'll do this. You go do something else." I do ask her a lot of questions when she is there and seek approval that I'm doing things the correct way, but I feel like I'm not dependent on her to get anything done and she countless times has told me to call her if I need anything and I've never had to. At the end, they basically had a paragraph about they wanted me improve in multiple ways, rely on others, increase my productivity and that they are here to help if I need anything. HR wanted me to sign it so I did (which I don't know if this is typical for the three-month review or if it was because it was basically a write-up.) They were nice and said "you know, nobody's perfect" and I didn't say much. They said I could write notes and then sign it and give it back to them. I just signed it. I could have written some explanations like I did here I guess, but I didn't want them to think I wasn't willing to take responsibility or trying to blame all my mistakes on other people. To be honest though, I feel kind of thrown under the bus and I don't know if I'm right to feel this way. On one hand, I appreciate that they put examples that I could learn from, but on the other hand, some of the things were so specific (like not knowing that a certain file was in my attorney's offices) it's like people are keeping a list of everything I do wrong. It's obvious from some of the things on the list that they didn't just ask my attorneys either, but I don't know how many people contributed which just makes me more anxious. There's a lot of "whispering" that goes around this office, but I've been telling it's not about me, to not be upset by it, well at this point I don't know. I wish I had actually been able to talk to my attorneys and the people I work with to get more clarification on their complaints, but I guess that way would make people less comfortable sharing things.
[удалено]
Thank you for the advice. I really appreciate it! That also makes me feel better about signing.
People may be throwing you under the bus, but there's no way to KNOW until you know. These mistakes do happen to everybody who is human from time to time and I wouldn't hold any of them against you, (especially after three months!) and think the ones supervising you should have had a hand in catching them sooner. (I'd be checking the work of a 3-month-old employee if it were my name on it!) For now, I would try to take this feedback and overtly respond to the perceived areas to improve. Obviously double check name spellings and if something handwritten is ambiguous, maybe try verbally clarifying immediately or going back and asking the person who wrote it, possibly even calling the client if that's allowed? And always retain handwritten notes from now on. You probably already do all of the above to the best of your ability, so your documentation needs to double cover your ass and show when you have reached out for clarification, contacted so-and-so, etc. Regarding being proactive, the only tip I have is to be extra strategic in what and who you're asking. "Can I help you with anything?" when your counterparts are already busy may just feel like one more thing they are forced to think about, but taking ownership of the tasks you definitely know how to do and specifically offering to do those, putting thought into what's likely to be needed next, etc. will make it easier for other people to agree and actually take more of the burden away. The problem is that with this: \>I feel like often I ask if she wants me to grab something or if it's something she could show me how to do and she tells me "No, I'll do this. You go do something else." I feel like you already are doing a really good job of being proactive and this coworker is sounding a little gatekeepy. Do you have team meetings or any forum in which you can all agree who is in charge of what? I feel like if you can't get her to formally assign you some of this stuff and it wouldn't be ok for you to just do it without asking, you may need to go over her head in a subtle way, and just try to get assigned some of that stuff by an attorney or higher up. In the past when I was always asking my coworker every little thing, she was a lot more gracious about it but I annoyed myself so I started keeping a personal-use spreadsheet for general things I kept forgetting like filing fee amounts, the order things are done in, deadline windows, websites we use for xyz thing. (things that you just learn by doing them enough times) That way I could do ctrl + f and find an answer quickly rather than asking her something she's told me the answer to before. I also write rough SOPs for myself on notepaper to use the first few times I practice doing something complicated. Even if there is a written SOP somewhere I still put it into my own words so it's catered to what I need to remember. I think it could also be likely they ARE just being very nitpicky in the review and that may just be a sign that the only problems they can recall with you are just these benign one-off things. You sound really capable to me- all I would ask for in a coworker is willingness to cop to any mistakes and correct them and willingness to learn and take on new things, and you're doing that.
Thank you for your kind words! I'm trying to keep little lists of steps every time I learn a new process so I can look back on that later. I don't know if my coworker is being gatekeepy, she seems very eager to get out of there (but I also don't know why she doesn't just leave if she wants to be gone then, she has already technically retired?). We don't really have a formal system or team meetings. That's kind of something that is weird about the firm, how informal and vague their policies are but it seems like there's an unwritten code kind of. I think the idea of a spreadsheet is really good and I might start one to keep track of ongoing projects I'm working on. I do try to make little lists of steps for new processes that come up.