Young Attorney Tyler White posted about Being Taken to the Woodshed recently in a post on Lawyerist.com.
I really enjoyed the post because it is totally honest and to the point. He discusses a recent instance of being taken-to-the-woodshed in open court and being humiliated. The post resonated with me because I’ve been there and done that.
I know what it is like to get the dress-down by a fellow member of the bar or a judge. I especially liked the post because Mr. White was honest about what happened and basically said that when you screw up (and you will) don’t blame others and learn from your mistakes. Easier said than done.
I hate feeling like a guru or a know-it-all on this blog. I’m young (31) and I have only been practicing for about four years. I’m not even licensed in Minnesota yet. I too am going solo. However, I also understand that inexperience doesn’t mean you can’t dream and do what you want with your life and career. Just be prepared to face the consequences of the choices you make – like Mr. White has.
My wood-shed moment
In the vein of opening up a vein, let me share one of my more humiliating experiences. When I was about two years out of law school (not that long ago) I had a steady stream of clients of my own. I thought I knew what I was doing. In many cases, I did know what I was doing but I let success get to my head.
The story goes something like this: a client called, I listened to her cry, she paid me a tiny retainer and promised more later (first red flag). This person proceeded to yell and cry at me during the entire period of my representation. (second red flag) She also showed up late to court hearing and made many excuses about why she could not get things for me which she had promised to get. (how many red flags are we on?) The obvious mistake here is client selection and not saying no to client who you know in your gut will be bad ones.
I didn’t say no. For some reason, I continued on with this client to trial even though I wasn’t really getting paid. Why did we go to trial? Again, probably because she was completely unreasonable and I didn’t have the guts to tell her no.
In the middle of trial with a particularly obnoxious opposing counsel, I got into an argument with the other attorney from across the lawyer benches. Mind you: this is all being transcribed. At the time, I thought opposing counsel had done something under-handed (I still think that) but, instead of being a professional, I started yelling at the other attorney in open court. What did the judge do? What he should have done: he banged his gavel and berated both me and the other attorney in front of our clients. I was (and still am) very embarrassed about my behavior. Even worse, I could also tell that the judge had a different attitude about my motions and arguments I made before the bench after that. I think I repaired my reputation over time, but it was a big mistake.
I took my dress-down in stride and learned from it. One of the tough parts about being a young attorney is having to make mistakes. You want to be a good attorney and learn, but you just haven’t been there before. And yet that is also an excuse.
If you are prepared and know it, things go right the vast majority of the time. If you let obnoxious clients cloud your judgment and act unprofessionally in court, you won’t win any respect from your peers or your clients. You also won’t respect yourself.