diff --git a/app/models/procedure.rb b/app/models/procedure.rb
index 0179b6219..fb3e7b9c0 100644
--- a/app/models/procedure.rb
+++ b/app/models/procedure.rb
@@ -712,7 +712,7 @@ class Procedure < ApplicationRecord
   private
 
   def before_publish
-    update!(closed_at: nil, unpublished_at: nil)
+    assign_attributes(closed_at: nil, unpublished_at: nil)
   end
 
   def after_publish(canonical_procedure = nil)