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Mentoring Articles
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Recruiting and Motivating the Millennium (Y) Generation Today's young lawyers are entering the profession with different values, attitudes, expectations and demands than the partners and recruiters who will hire them. Although generalizing about any group is a dangerous practice, I believe it can fairly be said that the Millennium Generation demands more - interesting work, fair treatment, continuous feedback -than previous generations - and are far more likely to vocalize their needs. It will take more than wining and dining - and boasting about billable hours - to attract the best of the new lawyers to your firm. |
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How Well Do Mentors Know Mentees? I maintain that law firms too often distinguish associates by billable hours, class, practice group and office. We don't get to know them as people and without doing so we can't know what buttons to push. John Wooden, the most successful coach of any sport ever, coached two of the best centers to ever play in college-Lew Alcinder and Bill Walton. They played the same position and they played it the same way, but as people they could not have been more different. John Wooden recognized that and coached and motivated them differently. |
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So You Want to be a Mentor: What We Can Learn from John Wooden So you want to be a mentor for a young lawyer? It is a great responsibility with an opportunity to make a difference for the firm, its clients and most importantly the mentee. What does it take to be an outstanding mentor? Perhaps looking at the most outstanding coach in the history of sports can provide us with some meaningful clues. |
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Specific Tips on What You Should Do as a Mentor Most senior lawyers had mentors when they were starting practice. Few of us at the time called the senior lawyer a mentor. He or she just simply answered our questions, let us watch them, watched us, offered advice and was our champion or sponsor within the firm. The best mentoring we received generally occurred on the spur of the moment. It was totally unplanned. |
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What Makes a Great Mentor Choose your mentors wisely. I've been fortunate to have a number of valuable mentors in my life, people who have helped me professionally and personally in important ways. Each of my mentors was unique, but all possessed traits I believe common among effective mentors. Based on my history, discussions with senior attorneys about their expereriences with mentors and extensive reading about the subject, I've drawn up a list of forty characteristics I believe the best mentors possess. |
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Encouraging Associates In most firms, associates are distinguished by: (1) their number of billable hours; (2) their class; (3) their practice group; and, (4) the office location. Before someone can coach or mentor an associate, he must know them not only as lawyers but also as people. |
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Investing In Your Lawyer: Firm Mentoring And Personal Planning For Associate Retention And Business Reward The Lawyers Competivie Edge: Young lawyers who are challenged by their goals, receive immediate feedback, feel in control of their career and become immersed in their law practice experience the same type of optimal performance. |
