The old timers among us will remember the 1970 movie Love Story, which featured what may be the stupidest line of dialogue ever. I refer to the statement that “love means never having to say you’re sorry.”
It would take a lawyer to build upon that bit of nonsense and make it into something even worse. And we are up to the challenge!
I have two stories for you today. One is very old, and the other is very new.
The old story took place about 25 years ago. A fairly senior Big Law lawyer who I will call Big Law Derek left Bay Street and joined our Mississauga law firm. A mistake was made on a file and my Associate wanted to tell the client, apologize, and explain how we would fix it. Big Law Derek refused and told the Associate, “we do not make mistakes. We are always right. We never admit that we did anything wrong.” It was terrible advice and might have explained why Big Law Derek did not have much of a client base. Big Law Derek left our firm soon afterwards. I had pretty much forgotten about the incident until this week, which leads me to my new story.
I spoke to Paul this week, who is an Associate who made a mistake. He sent out the wrong version of a settlement agreement for signature. The client called and asked why the latest changes were missing. Paul sent out the correct version. No harm. No foul.
Then the client asked Paul how the mistake had occurred. Paul wanted to say something like, “so, sorry, my bad, I was rushing to get it out to you quickly and sent the prior version to you.” But he could not, because at his firm he was told that lawyers are not allowed to say they are sorry or to admit to having made a mistake, because it could create liability for the firm. Paul was stressed out. The client wanted an answer and Paul was afraid to give it to him.
I am retired, unlicensed, and uninsured, so I do not give legal advice, but I will mention that perhaps the Apology Act would have applied and the firm’s concerns were overblown. But that is hardly the point. The point is that this was a zero-liability situation and yet the firm’s policy prevented Paul from being honest and authentic with his client.
I made plenty of small mistakes when I practiced law. I sent out emails without attachments, occasionally screwed up the version control and sent out the wrong draft, and committed other minor sins. Things like that happen when you are under pressure to turn around documents quickly. And yet, I had a substantial client base and a successful practice. My clients liked me because I was human and honest. I was sued only once in 40 years (unsuccessfully).
In my not so humble opinion, Paul is being taught by his firm how not to succeed in law. Big Law Derek would have been proud.
This article was originally published by Law360 Canada, part of LexisNexis Canada Inc.