It's not my fault

So, the other day as I was surfing the net, I came across a really great blog/article: Seven Things Law Students need to Stop Doing Immediately by Ariel Salzer.  Great article, it is.  The main points she brings up are:

1. Stop blaming your professor
2. Stop assuming things will get easier on their own
3. Stop failing to do the basics and then wonder why you're confused
4. Stop relying too much on your study group
5. Stop complaining
6. Stop expecting people to be nice to you
7. Enough already with the law school classmate drama

As great as this list is, I would like to add one more:

Stop saying, "It's not my fault"

Once upon a time, I worked with a solo practicing attorney (that's "solo" as in he's the only attorney in the office) in Sunny Southern California.  Attorney was a nice enough guy except for the fact that every time something went wrong, it was always someone elses fault.  Missed a deadline?  Someone elses fault.  Typo in a letter (that he wrote)?  Someone elses fault.  Forgot someone's name?  Someone elses fault.  Something didn't get filed?  Everyone elses fault.

On this last one:  Something didn't get filed, he was the worst; and if you know anything about law or legal things, if something doesn't get filed and you show up to court and the judge has to ask why you are there because he has nothing on his docket and you turn all red, run back to the office and start blaming everyone, well, you've got issues.

Now, to be fair, sometimes it was the clerk's fault.  They would mis-file something, not conform a copy, or things would just get lost in the shuffle.

After the 10th time of getting blamed for things I had no control over (i.e. filing), I suggested attorney ask the clerk (when he filed something) to get a receipt showing that he had filed his documents.  That way, when the judge said why are you in my courtroom, attorney could whip out the receipt and, at least, have something to argue with.

This, of course, brings us to law students who blame everyone for their lack.  In fact, the other day, I had a student send me this long winded email about how I was negligent for marking their paper as a FAIL because they had "completed the paper just like you said we should do as per your lecture!  So why did I fail the assignment?!"

I replied that said student failed because they never submitted an assignment.  Oops.

Student, wisely backtracked sending a follow-up email showing that the system sent them a confirmation that they had indeed submitted something.  I suggested that, in the future, they confirm with the person who received the assignment to ascertain whether they had, in fact, actually received it.  I'm just sayin.

So, moral to the story, if there is a possibility that something can get screwed up, and there is a possibility that either it could be you (or someone) that could have screwed it up, buck up and take responsibility for it (because, ultimately, it's your work product).  Don't go off half-cocked blaming your professor (or wife, husband, kids, judge, attorney, mother, dad, uncle, aunt, whomever) for your lack of attention.  

It's your work, it's your (as in YOU and not everyone elses) job to get it filed.  Deal with it.