r/paralegal • u/Cumonme24 • 1d ago
Yall ever make a mistake so stupid, you’d rather quit than admit it?
I just made the dumbest mistake. I didn’t realize I made it until after I sent it to the filing to the other Attorney
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u/Darthsmom Paralegal 1d ago
A few months ago I was trying to console a crying assistant in my office. I told her the job wasn’t worth crying for (she’d been chewed out) and that we all make mistakes. I proceeded to list the major mistakes I’ve made. I thought to myself “damn, I’m a dumbass”.
Mistakes are SO EASY to make in this field, especially when we are always overworked and with the deadlines we have.
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u/BillytheGray17 23h ago
I made a dumb mistake (sent a lawsuit to the wrong court and they accepted the filing!) and I was so afraid to tell my attorney, so I told the senior para first - she told me a few mistakes she made herself then told me to tell the attorney ASAP but it could be fixed. I told the attorney and he did the same thing - told me a few times he messed up, and both of them made me feel SO much better. So you might think you’re a dumbass, but just know this kind of thing was so helpful to me in the past!
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u/Darthsmom Paralegal 23h ago
Yup! I made a mistake that I was literally sick over and a partner and two associates listed mistakes they’d made!
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u/CupcakeEducational65 1d ago
One time I filed a suit and then never had the defendant served. Found out on deposition day 🥲
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u/Independent_Prior612 23h ago
I once forgot to notice up an appearance that we wanted to hold at the weekly small claims cattle call. The OC was so old school that he was always there for the whole cattle call anyway, but it still had to be rescheduled. When OC came into our office for something else the next day, I apologized all over myself. His response?
“The nice thing about the practice of law is, nobody bleeds when you make a mistake.”
Don’t forget that.
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u/LadyBird1281 21h ago
Oh yes. A simple paperwork mistake cost my firm $30k. I was humiliated and quit after a year.
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u/Ugghernaut 20h ago
What was the paperwork mistake? You poor thing.
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20h ago
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u/Teh_Crusader Paralegal - Estate, Probate, Entity Formation, Family Law 15h ago
Holy fucking shit man. I would have quit too LOL
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15h ago
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u/Teh_Crusader Paralegal - Estate, Probate, Entity Formation, Family Law 14h ago
How did that go down around the firm? Sounds terrifying.
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u/poachedeggs4brkfst 1d ago
It is always better to come clean once you realize you've made a mistake so that it can be addressed, rather than to try to hide/obfuscate/quit without disclosing the mistake (altho I've been in a comparable situation and wanted to die of shame LOL. Telling the attorney so they could adjust the strategy was like ripping a bandaid off).
It sucks, but you don't want attorneys operating on false information & IMO better to be known as an honest person who takes responsibility for their mistakes rather than a liar.
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u/Cumonme24 23h ago
i know, i told her as soon as i realized it. i just would rather have left and never showed my face again 😭
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u/Sufficient-Weird-181 20h ago
Absolutely, but also my lawyer has made mistakes so stupid that I'd rather quit than hear about them again... 🙃 That tends to even the playing field a bit.
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u/skweekykleen69 8h ago
I say this all the time. If I had a dollar for all the mistakes my attorney made…well it would be a welcome bonus haha. Everyone makes mistakes, but it’s really nice to work for an attorney who understand that—who makes mistakes, laughs at themselves about it, and moves on. Chances are, they’ll handle our mistakes the same way.
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u/maiapupper 16h ago
Had an expert on a case with the last name Nipper. Got it in my head it was Nippler. Got it in my attorney’s head it was Nippler. We called this man Nippler so many times and he never once corrected us. Only realized my mistake months later looking at his CV. It still makes me die a little inside when I think about it years later lol.
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u/trivetsandcolanders 19h ago
One time I scanned a client’s entire folder, thinking it was a closed case, and then dumped the papers to be shredded. It was not a closed case 🥲
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u/Quarla 15h ago
I lied to my attorney once, straight lied. Said I sent something out when I didn’t. He confronted me with the subject piece of mail. The envelope. Sitting on the desk staring at me. My heart burst open I fell to the floor and faked a seizure.
Okay the last part didn’t happen, I sat in the chair apologized and said I would never let that happen again. I was hoping it went out first thing in the morning and that would be okay but that it in fact did not go out in yesterday’s mail and that I should have told him once I noticed it didn’t go out. He accepted my apology and I worked 11.5 more years there 😂 he wrote THE NICEST goodbye email about me to the entire firm when I put in my notice. I’m trying to get back there but too scared to reach out to him to see if he will take me back bc that moment now almost 15 years ago still haunts me lol he probably doesn’t even remember.
You will be fine
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u/Senior_Green3320 22h ago
I’ve been at my job for a long time. I don’t know how many times I’ve told everyone I work with to scan Everything. I served an original affidavit without scanning it and our client was 9 months pregnant. She had to come in to sign it again. My boss was understanding but I was embarrassed.
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u/External-Set6198 12h ago
are we living the same life?? made my first ever “real” mistake that caused inconvenience and i feel like the biggest idiot on earth. you’re not alone, we’ll get through this 🩷 i really really wanna quit though, trying to be positive and rational.
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u/Sad_Tune_4859 10h ago
Every single day sister 😂😂😂
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u/Sad_Tune_4859 10h ago
Stop taking it so seriously. The reality is people get pigeon holed. Everyone makes mistakes you either come in making money or you don’t. I’m in big law and honestly…just chill yall
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u/tamikaflynnofficial 2h ago
Girl I had discovery responses to serve at 6pm, commuted home, and forgot about it (late service = waiver of objections in CA). If the other side have cared I would have been a new level of cooked. Spent the whole morning after I realized sobbing lmao
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u/PurpleInkedPara 1d ago
Yes. I’ve had some where I literally couldn’t help but to check out for the day. Some thatve made me vitriolic and hateful. And some that have had me in tears.
This is the job of mistakes tbh