The University of St. Thomas

June, 2010

Student Perspective on Choosing a Mentor Part 2

By: Dave Bateson

Published on: Monday, June 28th, 2010

What I looked for in a mentor changed from my first year to my second year and has changed once again as I head into my third year.

First year: Going into my first year, I was nervous— of class, the Socratic Method, meeting people, learning how to read a case, and the list goes on and on. What I looked for in a mentor was guidance—a person who would lead me in the right direction. It did not matter whether the mentor was a litigator or a transactional attorney, or whether they practiced family law or bankruptcy law; what mattered is that they had conquered their first year and they could help me conquer mine too. I needed a mentor that would show me the way into the legal profession.

Second Year: Yes, I made it through my first year! It was tough but I did it. Going into second year, I was not scared anymore which helped me focus more on the question “what do I want to do?” At this point, I wanted a mentor who would teach me about their practice and give me advice on different areas of law. I needed someone to educate me. I was looking for a mentor to help me better understand the path I wanted to take.

Third Year: After spending second year pondering what I should do with my life, I finally have a general idea of what I want to do: transactional work. Now that I know what I want to do, I need a mentor who can be an advisor. I need a mentor who is in the same line of work to help me better understand how to narrow my focus. I need a mentor who can advise me on how succeed  in this area of law—what steps to take to take this year to ensure that I am heading in the right direction. Lastly, I need a mentor who truly wants to help me accomplish my goals. Hopefully after my third year I will have a solid footing in the transactional area of law!

Although I only focused on the types of mentors I need during law school, the point of this blog is to illustrate the importance of the different mentoring needs throughout life. Once I start working, I am going to need a mentor in the firm to help show me the ropes both in my firm and in the profession. When I start a family, I’m going to need a mentor to show me how to balance those life demands with professional success! Various stages of life require different needs and so what I look for in a mentor will keep changing.

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Student Perspective on Choosing a Mentor Part 1

By: Dave Bateson

Published on: Friday, June 25th, 2010

By: Adam Heuett

As students, we may not realize how much input we have over our mentor selection.  We get the survey and maybe we fill it out.  It is worth it to think about what kind of mentor you want and to put that information into the survey at the end of the year, or before coming to law school if you will be a 1L in the fall.  Here are some things to consider to find the right mentor to fit your needs and desires.

Practice Area

This category is probably the most obvious one for most students.  Do you want a prosecutor? A civil litigator? An IP attorney?  A lot of us are not sure what area of practice we want to look at, however, and that is also fine.  I definitely fell into this group as an incoming 1L.  Take advantage of the program to explore some of the areas you think you might want.

Location

This category may require some forethought.  Do you know where you are going to be living next year?  Will you have access to a car?  Do you plan to use mass transit?  Do you want a mentor whose office is closer to the law school, or closer to your residence?  If you want a trial attorney and you live closer to the Ramsey County Courthouse than the Hennepin County Courthouse, this may be a factor to consider.   An often overlooked question is, where do you hope to practice after law school?  The mentor experience is a great chance to network and can help you build connections where you want to practice.

Diverse Experiences

Aside from the practice area that you want to see, you should also consider whether or not he/she wants a mentor who can offer a wide variety of experiences, or if you want to see the same type of experiences with different clients and fact patterns.  For example, my mentor for my 1L had mostly mediations to offer me as experiences.  My mentor 2L year had a wider variety of experiences available for me, such as client intake interviews, legislative committee meetings, and MSBA section meetings.  I found both mentor experiences extremely valuable, but they were different types of relationships. 

Other Factors

Are there any other factors that seem very important to you?  Perhaps it is the type of practice setting (in house, private practice, public interest) or the size of the practice setting (comparing a big firm to a smaller firm).  Maybe what matters to you is your mentor’s gender or background.  All of these types of considerations are things to think about.  If you  have strong preferences be sure to share them.  It can help the program administrators to pair you with a mentor who best fits your needs!

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Building Your “Professional Savings Account”

By: Dave Bateson

Published on: Friday, June 11th, 2010

With the economic downturn many of us are spending more time evaluating how much we put in our savings account.  It seems to me that our professional lives operate on a similar purpose as our financial lives.

As professionals, each of us has times where we need advice, help, or information.  When we find ourselves in those situations we need to make a withdrawal from the “professional savings account” we accumulate over our years in the legal profession.  So how do we build that account?

Formal mentor programs are one way to build that professional savings account.  If your organization runs a formal mentor program then your organization is already giving you a head start.  In that respect, the very existence of a formal mentor program and your organization’s investment to creating and maintaining that program are like the fifty dollar gift the bank provides you for opening a brand new account.  Your participation in the formal mentor program gives you an initial starting balance.  However, what you invest into the program as a protégée determines the balance in your professional savings account down the road.   The more you invest into your mentor relationships, the more hard work you put in, the more time put in, and the excellence you demonstrate on activities with your mentor all are new deposits added to that professional savings account.  They stay in that savings account earning interest and growing as your mentor relationship grows.

Financial planners also talk about the need to diversify.  Similarly, you need to diversify your mentor relationships.  The more mentor relationships you grow and cultivate the more savings accounts you build up for when you are in need.  You also add to the savings account every time you reach out and help somebody else in the legal profession.  Each time you made a business referral or helped someone in a pinch. The times you chose to serve as a mentor to someone else or a time you helped a friend connect with a new professional acquaintance.  Each of these is an additional deposit to put in your professional savings account.

I have yet to meet a lawyer that did not need to draw on his or her professional account at some point.  As a protégé it is easy to ask yourself, “Why should I invest into my mentor relationships?”  It is important to remind yourself of all the benefits you may get from your investment.  Some of those are immediate benefits, while others are in the account earning interest for a later date.

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