"It's well into the evening and you're alone in the office, catching up on a few things," malpractice prevention maven Karen Erger writes in the October Illinois Bar Journal. "You're feeling tired, but virtuous: Is that the top of your desk you're seeing? Awesome! Staying late to take care of lingering tasks was a great idea, even if the greasy dinner you ordered in was not.

"Then it appears. The Mistake. The one you made. It does not matter what it is - blown deadline, failure to file a document, violation of a rule - each area of practice has its own special traps and snares.

"At first, you can't believe your eyes. Your face flushes, and you break out in a cold sweat. You would not, could not make such an error. Shock and disbelief give way to fear and shame as you become more and more certain you goofed up.

"This dark night of the soul comes to many lawyers. What you do in these fraught hours matters so much more than whatever it was you did to bring about this situation. In the words of Nikki Giovanni, 'Mistakes are a fact of life. It is the response to the error that counts.'"

So how should you respond? Read Erger's column and find out.