How to Find & Be a Legal Mentor (2022 Guide)
How to Find & Be a Legal Mentor (2022 Guide)
Law school and the first few years of legal practice are rough. Whether we like to admit it or not, they are designed to tear down existing mental constructs and habits to lead young professionals to think and act like lawyers.
Given the unique, complex, and stressful nature of the legal profession, continued guidance and professional development is key. Mentors are a great resource for law students and young attorneys to learn how to feel confident in navigating their careers.
Mentorship is not a hidden professional development strategy. Successful attorneys and business people often extol the virtues of mentorship and how important it is. But often it’s head-scratching to figure out how to: find a mentor, decide to be a mentor, and how to successfully navigate the mentor-mentee relationship.
Here’s our guide on how to find (and be) a legal mentor:
How do I find a legal mentor?
A question as old as time — how do I find a mentor?
The short answer is: there are lots of opportunities but they all require proactivity, putting yourself out there, and hustle.
Here are a few great places to start your search:
Your Immediate Network
Ask experienced lawyers you already know out for coffee or lunch. It’s intimidating, but it’s a great way to gather practicable tips. Just power through the awkwardness and you’ll be surprised at what connections can be made.
Not sure how to reach out to people, here’s a short but sweet article from the ABA on how to start.
Law School Career Services Office
Many law schools offer programs to match alumni mentors and mentees. Reach out to your law school’s career services office and see what resources are available. This is likely a common question for them. If no program exists, then ask if they can point you in the right direction to other helpful resources/programs.
Alumni Associations
Get involved in alumni organizations for your high school, university, and law school. Alumni events can yield relationships that may morph into a mentor-mentee relationship.
Mentoring Programs
Many organizations exist to foster legal mentorship opportunities. Most organizations offer mentors for young lawyers as well as students.
Here are some examples:
National Legal Mentoring Consortium
Practicing Attorneys for Law Students Program (PALS)
Leadership Council on Leadership Diversity (LCLD)
National Association of Women Lawyers
Bar Associations & Committees
Bar associations often have young lawyer divisions or committees that have mentorship programs. Reach out to your state and local bar associations to see what programs are available to you.
Networking Events
Networking events are awkward. Especially after covid, it’s hard to mobilize and attend IRL. However, good old fashioned networking is a great way to make new connections and meet attorneys with different backgrounds that you may learn from. Keep your eyes open and scroll through LinkedIn for upcoming networking events in your area, push yourself out the door, and see what happens.
Still nervous about jumping back into networking? Here are some easy, practical tips.
How do you make the most of mentoring as a mentee?
- Be Respectful
Attorneys are busy. Make sure that you are respectful of your mentor’s effort and time at each touchpoint. Express thanks at each juncture, arrive on time, keep each meeting to a previously agreed upon duration, and prepare for each meeting so that you can make the most of both parties’ time.
2. Take the Lead
Mentors are willing to give you resources and knowledge for free. In exchange, make the process as seamless as possible for them. Be proactive and efficient with scheduling and coordination and take the lead on logistics and communication.
3. Do your Research
Do some background research on your mentor to have a general idea of their education, experience, and career path. This can help guide the conversation in a productive way so that you both can make the most of the limited time you have together.
4. Set a Goal With Your Mentor
You can establish a more productive mentor-mentee relationship if you have a clear understanding of what you hope to achieve.
Ask yourself the following questions, have prepared answers, and discuss these with your mentor in your first discussion to make sure you are working towards your goals:
- What do you want to get out of this mentorship?
- What professional goals do you want to achieve?
- What personal goals do you want to achieve?
- What are current roadblocks to accomplishing these goals?
5. Ask Questions
Avoid asking questions that Google can answer for you. Come up with your list of questions before each meeting and research to see if there are clear cut resources/ answers already available. Only ask questions that you cannot find the answers to.
Stumped on the types of questions you should ask? Focus on experiences and advice regarding substantive development, project management, decision-making, strategy, and professional development.
6. Stay in Touch / Share Value
Even if the mentorship relationship has run its course, stay in touch with your mentor and try to share value with them. Whether it’s sending articles on topics of common interest, cheering on their endeavors on social media, or sending them referrals or potential opportunities, try to return the favor of providing value as you progress in your legal career.
Why should you be a legal mentor?
Mentoring doesn’t just provide the opportunity to give back to the profession. It also provides the opportunity to move it forward and to help mentors to develop skills as well.
Serving as a mentor is a great exercise in reflecting on your career journey and identifying what you have learned along the way. Often attorneys are so busy that they do not take the time to reflect, identify roadblocks, and set new professional development goals for themselves. Mentoring is a great way to push yourself to reflect and set new goals for yourself.
It also can serve as an enjoyable way to network further in your community, market yourself, and can aid in recruiting for your organization.
How do I get the most out of being a legal mentor?
- Set Reasonable Expectations
Mentor-mentee relationships can be awkward if the parties are not on the same page. Identify early on what goals the mentee has in the relationship, how you can help as a mentor, and how you both can learn from each other.
2. Active Listening
Mentees are often trying to figure a lot of things out. It may be clearer to you what they are trying to ask or how you can help them than it is to them. Actively listen so that you can figure out how to make the relationship as productive as it can be.
3. Give Helpful Feedback
Memes across the internet tell the tale of attorneys telling young or prospective lawyers -“don’t go to law school”, “don’t be a lawyer”, etc. While this may be honest or funny, it isn’t super helpful to someone who has set their sights on the profession.
Be honest, but make sure to avoid cliches and give actionable, granular feedback. Speaking in cliches and not being solution-oriented doesn’t move the needle forward for anyone.
4. Good Instincts & Openness
Often prospective or young attorneys are anxious or struggling emotionally. If you see that someone is struggling, use your instincts to understand how you can cheer them on, help build their confidence, or refer them to resources that can do so.
While as a mentor you have experience and knowledge that you can share, your mentee may have skills or connections that can be valuable to you. Is your mentee a social media wiz? Do they have a background in marketing or business development? Keep your mind open to what you can learn from your mentee and lean into expanding your skill set in unexpected ways.
Have any additional tips? Send them our way to ashley@hyperdraft.ai
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