Small Law Firms

Lawyers Should Admit More Often When They Are Wrong

An attorney admitting that a mistake has been made can go a long way toward building trust.

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Many lawyers, like most other professionals, have a fair amount of ego. Indeed, lawyers need to spend years in school and pass a rigorous examination in order to enter the legal profession, and this can make it difficult for many attorneys to admit when they are wrong. Moreover, fears about malpractice claims, and defensive lawyering, might also keep lawyers from admitting that they made a mistake during the course of a representation. However, lawyers should more often admit when they are wrong in order to better serve clients and build trust with those a lawyer represents.

There are many reasons why lawyers won’t admit that they were wrong. Attorneys may be afraid that admitting to mistakes can make lawyers liable for malpractice suits, and this is not without any basis. Indeed, lawyers counsel clients all the time about not making statements that can cause problems later on, and lawyers may wish to take their own advice in not admitting that a mistake was made.

Lawyers may also feel that admitting to a mistake may make them look bad in front of clients or others. Clients want to know that their lawyer is solid and does not make mistakes, and admitting to some kind of wrong can shatter this image. This can impact whether the lawyer remains on a representations or will receive more work from the clients in the future.

However, an attorney admitting that a mistake has been made can go a long way toward building trust between clients and lawyers. Admitting that a lawyer was wrong can show clients that lawyers are human just like everyone else, and sometimes, lawyers make mistakes. Everyone can make mistakes because of too much work, inattention, or other issues, and clients may be able to relate with this. Fessing up to some kind of mistake can show a client that a lawyer is honest about the representation, which is a trait that most people can appreciate.

Moreover, admission of a mistake can help clients and lawyers ameliorate any issue caused by the attorney. One time, earlier in my career, a lawyer at a law firm at which I worked did not include the statute of frauds as an affirmative defense in the answer he drafted even though the statute of frauds was possibly implicated in the case. He realized after the answer had been filed that the statute of frauds may have been an issue in the case.

However, this lawyer did not want to file an amended answer, even though amendments are permitted as a matter of right within a certain time after the original answer was filed. He was unsure if the defense had already been waived by not including it in the original answer, and he thought that his boss and the client might notice his initial foul up when they saw the amended answer that included the statute of frauds as an affirmative defense. However, if the attorney wanted to put the client first, he would have filed the amended answer including the statute of frauds affirmative defense and dealt with any blowback. It is possible that this lawyer’s bosses and client would have appreciated that the lawyer owned up to the mistake and implemented a relatively simple fix to potentially minimize the damage the mistake had caused.

Lawyers may sometimes not wish to believe that a client is right or may know more law surrounding a matter than the attorney. However, clients are far closer to the facts of the case than lawyers, so they can often evaluate caused of action better than attorneys. In addition, clients often conduct a fair amount of research through search engines of other platforms and can discover substantial information about the law of a given issue.

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One time earlier in my career, I filed a pretty comprehensive pleading with a number of causes of action. After the pleading had been filed, my client asked if I should add a cause of action that I initially dismissed. However, at the clients urging, I did more research about that cause of action, and I discovered that the cause of action had more legs in our case than I previously thought. It would have been easier for me (and better for my ego) to say that the pleading we had was strong and we didn’t need to amend it, but I ended up telling the client that his idea was solid. Fortunately, we were within the timeframe to amend the pleading without court permission, and we were on better footing in that case after the amendment than ever before.

All told, it can be difficult for lawyers to admit that they made a mistake or are wrong about a given legal issue since this can bruise an attorney’s ego and potentially open them up to malpractice claims. However, admitting that an attorney made a mistake can go a long way toward building rapport with a client and promoting the goals of a representation.

Jordan 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@rothmanlawyer.com.

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