At the start of the mentoring term, the new lawyer and their mentor shall sign a Mentoring Agreement (Internal Lawyer version or External Lawyer version) which defines the parameters of the mentoring relationship and limits potential liability. The mentor may be either internal or external to the new lawyer's place of work. There are decided advantages to both internal and external pairings which may be considered to match new lawyer with the mentor. Internal mentoring participants are able to discuss many different matters relating to clients because of the shared responsibility of liability and the confidentiality that extends to office employees. However, a lawyer-client relationship is not established between mentors and new lawyers in external mentoring relationships. Accordingly, communications between the mentor and the new lawyer are not confidential.
The mentoring relationship shall be guided by an individualized Mentoring Plan developed by the mentor and new lawyer. At the outset of each mentoring relationship, the new lawyer and the mentor shall determine their planned topics of discussion and the shared professional experiences and formalize the content of their own individual Mentoring Plan. A minimum of eight in-person meetings shall be required. These meetings shall focus on accomplishing the selected activities and topics of discussion. It is the shared responsibility of the new lawyer and mentor to complete their Mentoring Plan during the mentoring term.
A Mentoring Agreement shall be signed by the new lawyer and mentor at their first meeting and be submitted to the program administrator with their Mentoring Plan. Quarterly Progress Reports shall be completed by the mentor and be submitted periodically to the program administrator. At the end of their mentoring term, new lawyers and mentors shall jointly attest to their plan completion and submit a Plan Completion Certificate to the program administrator.
Quarterly progress meetings will be held during the mentoring term. These meetings will include an educational component designed for participants to satisfy an action item listed in the mentoring plan. Attendance at all scheduled meetings is strongly encouraged.
All participants will be asked to complete a mid-term and a year-end program survey. Responses to these surveys are required to receive CLE credit upon program completion.
Mentoring pairs shall be grouped into mentoring teams in order to foster collaboration, broaden exposure to diverse practice areas, and extend additional resources and support to program participants. Mentors may share responsibility in completing their mentoring plans by facilitating discussions and activities for multiple new lawyers in the same mentoring team. At the beginning of their mentoring relationships, mentors are encouraged to coordinate the implementation of their mentoring plans and decide how particular action items may be developed as group activities.
For full participant information and the composition of the mentoring teams, please refer to your Participant Directory.