Read 14 comments as:
Filter By
Seniors of LI please share your frustrating experiences with correcting the mistakes of an A0 - in terms of how they make your lives difficult. Please also if you could share how you think A0s can get better at their work.

I'm often scolded for mistakes most of which are usually made when I'm confused about something and do not want to disturb my seniors by calling them up every 30 minutes. Sometimes, I'm certain that I'm completing my assignments in the correct way but then later I'm confronted with my mistakes completely off guard.

In my view, wfh makes it even more difficult as the seniors are not around physically. It may be easier to understand their instructions in person.

I want to be seen as an associate whom the seniors can rely upon. I lose my momentum after each setback then it takes at least a couple of weeks to get the confidence back.

Other A0s here, do you also experience this?
Work from home has made things quite difficult. When in office, you could just ask someone sitting besides you if you have any basic doubt. You cant really call your seniors for silly doubts.
Please do call seniors for your doubts (or message)- you'll train a hell lot faster - benefiting both yourself and especially your senior! Can't stress this enough, especially during WFH
Drop a text about your doubt ffs. It's a lot easier giving you some clarity right away than deal with a terrible work product few hours before deadline.
My partner has already decided to fire me for not proof-reading the drafts carefully.
My juniors use the teams for sending messages through the chat feature through the day. I would much prefer to be asked rather than the associates going off in the wrong direction.

When you are taking instructions, please think of and ask as many questions as you can. It will save a lot of time and trouble. Plus its always good to think through how you will do anything before you set out to do it.
This depends on the senior. Some are helpful and guide you well while some get irritated if you ask questions.
The biggest and the most common mistake: joining a law firm and building your self-worth and identity around it.
Can imagine how WFH has made this difficult but as a thumb rule your senior will always appreciate you clarifying doubts (even silly ones) upfront rather than having to rework a draft that has conceptual / fundamental flaws. The latter will waste a couple of hours of your time and theirs. Not ideal for either. You can of course make this easier for your senior by collecting your questions etc, so that you are not disturbing them every 10 mts.

A0 is the best time to ask all sorts of doubts - unless your senior is an asshole, A0s are only expected to be diligent and apply themselves to a task. Your knowledge of law or even the task itself is secondary - in fact it is assumed that most tasks you are given are being given to you for the very first time. No one looks down on a junior who asks a lot of questions - in fact it shows how you are thinking about the matter and what the senior can expect.

So please go ahead and ask away!
Communicating my doubts with the team was something I struggled with a lot during my first few months. My workaround for this this has been to clearly check with team members personally if they would be amenable to me texting them my doubts over WhatsApp/ teams message since calling them all the time is quite intimidating for me. If your team members are active texters you can try this out too.
As A0 we do mistakes. It does not matter until we are committing a new one and not repeating the same.