The importance of mentors

While the subject line of this post is a no brainer, I wanted to share my thoughts and experiences on the subject.  Without a doubt, mentors are essential to the development of every lawyer.  This is just as true for the newly minted lawyer as it is for more seasoned attorneys.  The reason is simple: law and the practice of law - very separate entities - are two vast oceans that can easily swallow up the unwary practitioner.  Mentors, function like life lines - or a walking/talking GPS, if you are very lucky.  With the help and guidance of a mentor, you are that much more likely not to stray into the path of an iceberg (Read: most sticky situations you thought back in law school would never happen to you as a lawyer).  

Mentors come in all shapes, sizes and from all different walks of life.  There's no set criteria for finding one and no rule that says you are limited to just one mentor.  I consider myself lucky to have no less than three solid mentors, as well as two or three other back-up mentors.  Solid mentors are those attorneys who have not only expressed their committment to helping you, but have demonstrated it time and again.  These are the lawyers who are willing to take your "urgent" call even though its 5:35 PM.  These are the same people who reply back to your email, on the same day, to give you feedback on a pleading you asked them to look over.  Put simply, these are the folks that sincerely want to help you succeed as an attorney.  

Back-up mentors, for lack of a better term, are no less committed or sincere about helping you succeed.  However, because of their own work/life committments, they aren't able to devote as much time as your solid mentors.  Even so, it's important to have these kinds of mentors in your life if only to give your solid mentors a much needed break.  Afterall, the last thing you want to do is be a pest.  Also, this type of mentor is more likely to be closer to you in terms of years of experience practicing - roughly within five years of your experience level.  So the relationship is more on the level of colleagues, rather than the master-apprentice relationship of a solid mentor.  

A healthy mix or ratio of solid and back-up mentors provides a good wealth of experience from which to benefit.  It can also provides you with a strong support system.  Inevitably, there have been times when I doubted my decision to open my own practice.  There have even been times when I doubted my decision to become a lawyer. The latter usually coincided with some extremely complex legal or procedural question that I just could not figure out for the life of me.  My mentors have all played key roles in helping me through difficult times or solving tough issues. 

So this post is as much to thank them for their help and guidance as much as it is to urge you, dear reader, to seek out some mentors of your own.