Small Law Firms

Lawyers Should Get Work Product Right The First Time

Fast and wrong is rarely preferred to slower and better.

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MistakeI used to work for a partner who always wanted work product to be drafted and delivered to him by associates as soon as possible. Even if there were no set deadlines that required such a quick delivery of the work product, the partner reasoned that if he had work product delivered from an associate sooner, he could better organize his reviewing and refining work. However, partners should not emphasize delivering work product fast if no external deadline requires it. Getting the work product right the first time is far better than getting it drafted as soon as possible.

Perhaps the main reason why it is important to get work product right the first time — even if this takes more time — is because lawyers often have the best chance to make the biggest impact on work product on the first draft they write. For instance, if a lawyer works on a lease, purchase contract, or any other commercial deal, they will have a much better chance at getting changes accepted by the other side if they raise those changes earlier in the negotiating process. Once parties start exchanging drafts of edits and revisions, it becomes much harder for changes to be accepted by all of the stakeholders.

When deals come to a conclusion, people are usually only willing to change minor details about the transaction as opposed to major deal terms. If lawyers rush when getting out an initial draft of documents, it is possible for attorneys to miss something major that they should have included in the documents in the first place. As a result, even if deals require quick turnarounds or other time pressures are present, it is important to get things right the first time so that matters are not forgotten that cannot be fixed later on.

Another reason why lawyers should get work product right the first time is because the lawyer may be judged on that work product without an understanding that it was produced on short notice. Most work product does not include a disclaimer noting that it was created in a short time and does not reflect an attorney’s full capabilities. Most people will simply look at work product and believe that it is either the best that a lawyer can do or is the type of work product that an attorney produces in the course of their business.

When a client sees errors in work product, they likely will not care whether the work product was produced in a short time. They will just see that their lawyer made mistakes, and this will alter the perception a client has of their counsel. Moreover, courts will usually not understand that a lawyer had little time to complete filings and will usually just think that a brief or other filing contains the best argument a lawyer could make on behalf of a client. Accordingly, lawyers should try to get extensions of litigation deadlines or other flexibility whenever possible so that they can do the work correctly rather than merely filing as soon as possible.

Another reason why you should get work product right the first time is because it might actually take more time and resources to edit work product that is bad when it is first circulated than if it was done properly the first time. This not only applies to when attorneys try to push materials out as quickly as possible but when the wrong personnel at a law firm takes a first stab at a project.

At many law firms, there is some pressure to keep associates busy with work, and partners may want to assign to associates projects that partners might be more qualified to handle so an associate has billable work. However, by the time a partner goes through the associate’s work, they might spend more time on a matter than if the partner had simply done the work the first time around. Of course, I am not saying that partners should never assign work to associates, and there are definitely projects that associates are very qualified to handle without the involvement of partners. However, partners should evaluate the total cost to a client in terms of delay and number of hours billed when determining if they should just complete the assignment right the first time.

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In the end, lawyers may not have the luxury of time, and may need to rush out work product as soon as possible. However, whenever possible, lawyers should strive to generate the best work product possible the first time around.

Rothman Larger HeadshotJordan Rothman is a partner of The Rothman Law Firm, a full-service New York and New Jersey law firm. He is also the founder of Student Debt Diaries, a website discussing how he paid off his student loans. You can reach Jordan through email at jordan@rothman.law.

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