I got a legal opinion wrong because of my boss. What should I do next?

I would mention it to him, but in a light-hearted manner, like “Not a big deal, but this thing that was added, do you remember?” If he says no, just say “You told me to add it,” chuckling in a “nice ribbing sort of way”. If your boss likes you, he will take the light-hearted comment in a good way but also acknowledge his mistake. In that way, it saves both your butt and his face.

Could you perhaps do it like .. “Oh do you remember you told me to add xxx into that legal opinion the other day?” Of course the risk is he says ‘No, I don’t remember that”.

Whether you mention it depends on how serious the error is. If it is a minor thing, you might not want to bother but then if it is a minor thing, he shouldn’t care if you do remind him either. If it is something more serious, I think it is fair to remind him it was his recommendation to include the information.

If he’s a decent human he’s going to know what went wrong and if he isn’t a decent human he’s going to blame you for it, so I don’t think bringing it up would help either way. Just chalk it up to experience and remember to trust yourself in the future. If he tells you to add something next time, and you think it’s wrong, do a little research and then go back to him and ask him again in a polite manner about the matter.

He needs to learn, too. Do you want him to make the mistake again? If he’s so sensitive he can’t ever be wrong, you have greater problems than bringing this to his attention.

It really depends on what the reprocussions were of the faulty opinion. No one was waterboarded were they?

I wouldn’t mention it, but I wouldn’t trust his judgment again.