Correction.

I spent my first year out of Law School having my words red penned by the senior partner.

I had thought I was a good writer until that year.

So had most of my school teachers, lecturers, tutors, and examiners.

But the partner had skin in the game.

My words went out to clients under his firm’s name.

‘A good Lawyer,’ the partner had told me, ‘Can write a good letter and get on with people.’

The slashes and scribbles of red pen became less as the year progressed.

But right until I was admitted as a legal practitioner, he was correcting my work.

Spending time making me a better lawyer and communicator.

‘Don’t lose your confidence when the partners critique your work,’ a senior lawyer at one of our professional development sessions counselled us during that year. ‘If your principal had someone checking their drafts, they’d make as many corrections if not more.’

‘All of the current practitioners reckon we would never have been accepted into Law School if we had to apply when your cohort did,’ the partner had said to me in my first week.

I hung on to this wisdom each time my letters came back, slashed.

Years after that remarkable eduction, I was asked to check another person’s work.

I took the time to make corrections and suggest improvements.

A week later I was called in by the boss.

‘She has complained that you’re bullying her,’ the boss said.