Alumni Mentoring Program
The purpose of the Mentor Program is to make available to each interested law student an alumni mentor who would offer informal advice and guidance on various issues of concern as you attend law school and make plans for a professional career. By providing you with contact with lawyers and judges, the program gives you the opportunity to address issues of current concern to the profession and to learn things you need to know to practice law which you may not learn in the academic setting. The goal is to provide experienced practitioners for you to better assure that, as graduates, you will be equipped to deal with the realities of the practice of law and will understand ethics and professionalism more fully.
Student Mentoring Guidelines
From the Mentor Program Resource Guide, a publication of the American Bar Association Senior Lawyers Division, 1996.
Each student is expected to be familiar with and abide by the following guidelines:
- Appropriate topics for discussion between mentees and mentors are issues of current concern to the profession, the mentors' approaches to ethical and professionalism dilemmas, career goals, types of legal practice, law practice management issues, and quality of life issues in law school and the practice of law.
- It is inappropriate for mentees to ask mentors to help them with their research on substantive courses or legal issues that arise in clinical programs for students.
- Conversations between students and mentees are confidential.
- The student is expected to initiate contact with the mentor within fourteen (14) days of selecting a mentor. Failure of the student to initiate contact with the mentor within the 14-day period will result in the removal of the student from the mentoring program.
- A mentor may be assigned to more than one student.
- While mentors may be asked for guidance as to locations and types of practice, the Mentoring Program is not meant to serve recruitment or placement needs.
- Mentees are expected to respect time and availability limits of mentors.
Establishing the Mentor Relationship
Mentors and mentees are free to structure the relationship to meet their needs and availability. They may meet informally over breakfast, lunch, late in the afternoon, or at any other mutually-agreed upon time. Mentors are asked to invite students to attend hearings, meetings, lectures, or any special law-related event. Mentors and mentees are encouraged to communicate by phone. Mentors are informed that mentees have busy and perhaps unpredictable schedules. At the same time, mentees are urged to recognize that mentors are taking time away from work and their other responsibilities to share time, wisdom, and experience. It can be challenging to accommodate schedules. It is the quality of the relationship, not the quantity of time spent, that determines the success of the mentoring relationship.
For Mentors
Our office provides a Mentor Biographical Survey with which to inform our office of individuals having an interest in becoming a mentor.
Concerns
If, at any time, you have concerns or wish to end the relationship for any reason, or a problem arises with your mentor, please contact Elizabeth Ellis, Assistant Dean and Director of Law Career Services at 312.362.8331 or eellis@depaul.edu.
