Mistakes

Every one—every lawyer, every human—makes mistakes.

If you’re a junior associate and you’ve realized you’ve made a mistake—maybe a typo in a filing, a missed detail, or something bigger—I want you to know: you are not alone, and you are not a failure.

When I first started in big law, I was convinced that everyone else had it together.

My brain lied to me: “No one else is doubting. No one else ever messes up.”

That’s simply not true.

Every attorney, no matter how senior, has a story about a mistake—one (and often more than one) that still makes them cringe, or laugh, or remember how much they blew it out of proportion.

Here’s what I wish I’d known sooner:

Mistakes are inevitable.

They don’t define your value or your future.

Most mistakes are fixable—if you act quickly, own them, and ask for help.

The hardest part is often forgiving yourself and moving on.

If you’re in that moment right now, here’s my framework:

Breathe. Let yourself feel the disappointment, but set a timer if you need to—then move forward.

Act. What happened? What’s the plan to fix it? Who can help? How do we avoid it in the future?

Own it. Tell the senior associate or partner, apologize, share your plan to correct it, and your plan to prevent it next time.

Move on. Don’t let one mistake become your whole story. You’re human, and so is everyone else.

And to the managers and partners reading this: how you respond matters.

I’ve experienced the reactions that made me want to hide mistakes rather than fix them.

We can break that cycle.

We can choose to be kind, to listen before reacting, to help fix the problem and turn it into a teaching moment.

Most people want to do good work.

Most associates won’t be repeat offenders.

React from that place, and you’ll build trust, retain talent, and create stronger teams.

Mistakes happen.

What matters is how we handle them—both when we make them, and when someone brings one to us.

That’s where real growth and real leadership live.

♥️✌🏻🔥