Practice Pointers

Mutual Benefits of Mentorship

July 08, 2022

The word “mentor” comes from Greek mythology — Mentor was charged with caring for Odysseus’ son while the hero was off fighting the Trojan War. Today a mentorship is defined as a sustained relationship, often in a career-oriented setting, between an experienced, trusted person who gives advice and a less-experienced person.

Through continued involvement, the mentor offers support, guidance, and assistance as the protégé (or mentee) faces new professional challenges, goes through a difficult experience, or works to remedy existing problems.

Within the legal profession, this means a voluntary, mutually beneficial relationship of professional growth, career development, and personal fulfillment, which benefits other people beyond the direct relationship, including clients, the judicial system, the legal community, law partners, family members, and the community as a whole.

Mentors find many benefits from such a relationship:

• Shaping the future of law practice
• Personal satisfaction
• Giving back to the profession
• Reviewing one’s own strengths and weaknesses
• Learning from the protégé

Mentees, of course, gain several advantages as well:

• Having a person to turn to with a substantive, procedural, or ethics question
• Learning about the business of practicing law
• Increased productivity and performance
• Enhanced reputation and professionalism
• Objective feedback on skills
• Increased career satisfaction

While legal theory and application can be learned during law school, many aspects of the legal profession must be learned in the workplace, whether in private practice, government service, or in house. The mentor is encouraged to share experiences and provide counsel to less-senior colleagues on such topics as professionalism, law practice management, and subject matter expertise, thereby becoming a trusted counselor, advisor, and teacher. From this personal relationship, marked by trust and confidentiality, the less-experienced lawyers can learn what is truly expected of them by colleagues, firm partners, judges, and opposing counsel.

There are two types of mentoring programs within a professional setting — natural and planned. Planned mentoring occurs within a structured environment or program in which voluntary participants are screened and matched through a formal application process. In contrast, natural mentoring originates through friendship and collegiality — more of a self-selection process.

The D.C. Bar Practice Management Advisory Service seeks to encourage professional mentoring relationships between experienced and less-experienced lawyers to facilitate the transfer of valuable information and insight into the practice of law. Several years ago a D.C. Bar committee created a pilot "planned mentoring" program, but the results strongly indicated that Bar members prefer a natural approach to mentoring. Therefore, rather than attempt to play matchmaker, the Practice Management Advisory Service has designed a web page to assist lawyers in establishing their own fulfilling mentor relationships.