TIL my own deposition prep advice came back to bite me

Back in March I told a junior associate to never promise a judge a timeline you can't back up with numbers. I said it like I was some wise old hand, been doing this 12 years now. Then last week I'm in a motion hearing in Cleveland and I tell the judge we'll have the document production done in three weeks. Turns out opposing counsel had already flagged 4,000 emails that needed privilege review, and my paralegal was out with the flu. I spent two weekends sorting through everything myself, and we still came in a day late. The judge wasn't thrilled, but what really stung was the associate quoting my own words back to me in the lunch room. Has anyone else had their own advice blow up in their face like that, or am I the only one who should just stop talking?

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troy_owens22d ago

Told my paralegal the same thing about backup plans, then lost our only scanner guy to jury duty that exact week.