Q: I feel as if I need a mentor if I am going to move forward with my career. How do I find one? A: First let’s talk about what a mentor is and then we can delve into how to find one. A mentor is a trusted counselor, someone [...] Read more »
Senior Male Mentors Help Women Lawyers Get Promoted To Shareholder
What determines whether a woman attorney in a law firm at the senior associate, of counsel or non-equity partner level will be promoted to shareholder? Is it technical competence? No—she would not have made it this far if she hadn’t already been judged capable of excellent legal work. Even a [...] Read more »
How To Integrate Legal Mentoring With Law Practice Management
Law firms often wonder whether they should implement a mentoring program. I recommend against it. Mentoring programs usually start off with a bang and then fizzle, leaving younger lawyers dazed and confused, and at least a bit cynical. What does work, however, is to integrate good mentoring and coaching skills [...] Read more »
Mentor By Example With Excellent Delegation
Delegation is an assumed competency for lawyers: if you were to ask any lawyer whether he is a good delegator, without much thought he would probably answer, “Yes,” or at least, “I’m good enough.” Given a little more thought, most attorneys can remember too many times when a delegated project [...] Read more »
Mentors Benefit From Mentoring Others
Mentoring is a process by which a wise and helpful guide or advisor uses past experiences to show another person how to avoid mistakes and help advance that individual’s career. A good mentor is part role model, storyteller, empathic listener and cheerleader. Like all good relationships, a mentor relationship requires [...] Read more »
Today’s Economic Pressures Work Against Natural Mentoring
This article is from the March 2009 issue of Focus On: The Critical Importance Of Coaching And Mentoring For Today’s Lawyer. Young lawyers are often surprised to arrive at their first law firm job and learn they have no “boss.” In a typical business environment, a new employee is assigned [...] Read more »