Your Work Product Matters

Recently I was asked by a senior legal secretary in our office if I could lend a hand with generating a table of authorities for a memorandum of points and authorities because the software platform our office uses for generating tables wasn’t working properly. I am used to creating tables using MS Word’s marking capability, so I said, “Sure, I’m happy to help.”  This was to assist a new secretary in the firm that the senior secretary was training.

As I started going through the document to mark the citations, I noticed inconsistencies in case citation styles, page numbering (using Roman numerals instead of Arabic numerals), and other errors. I was about three-fourths of the way through the document when I was told that the tables software was back to working properly, so I didn’t need to continue working on the document. I let both the senior secretary and the new secretary know of the issues I found in the document and that those items would need to be addressed. She could not immediately find one of the issues I pointed out and said, “Well, we’re just going to go ahead and run it – – nobody reads the TOAs anyway.”

Yep, you read that correctly. “Nobody reads the TOAs anyway.”

Are you as stunned as I am by this remark? Moreover, are you as concerned as I am that this is how a senior legal secretary is training another secretary?

Apparently, there was pressure to get the document filed that day, and it was to be served via US Mail, meaning it needed to be in our office services department by 4:30 PM.

I understand rushes, trust me – – been there, camped there, and got assigned a Zip Code. But that is not an excuse for compromising or flat-out ignoring professional, quality work product.

A document may have been crafted and even proofed by someone else, but when it gets to your desk and you are asked to produce a final file/service-ready copy, that is your name on the proof of service. Those are your initials at the end of the correspondence. More importantly, your name or initials won’t even be the first to get noticed. It will be the firm’s name or the attorney’s name. One of the reasons you were hired and entrusted to carry out the work of your office is your ability to represent the firm positively and professionally.

Believe me when I tell you that the table of authorities do get read. The case citations and the styles used do matter. Not only is opposing counsel taking note of inattention to detail, inconsistency, and errors, so is the court. The staff attorneys, clerks, and judges are using these documents to assess your attorneys’ arguments and use of case law to support the stated positions. When the court has to take extra steps to hunt down a case that was cited incorrectly or determine what the intended information was supposed to be, it gets noticed.

I can’t tell you how many times I have heard, “We can always file an errata.”  Really? Because that approach to legal work can be dangerous – – for you, the attorney, the firm, and ultimately the client.

I felt really awful for the young secretary who was being trained by the senior secretary at the beginning of this article. I hope I get the opportunity to let her know that her work product matters and is worthy of being done properly and in accordance with the highest standards of professional conduct.