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great opportunity to give back to the legal Advice for Future mentees Edward Anido shared that he “gained
profession without an overwhelming time The internet is full of advice on how to clarity on what I wanted out of my career.
commitment. be a good mentor, but there aren’t many My amazing mentor helped me make
articles about how to be a good mentee, a fundamental career decision. When I
VS: Be open to alternative arrangements. even though the relationship is a two-way left private practice for an in-house po-
It’s possible to have a long-distance men- street. When we asked our interviewees sition, I thought I would never go back.
toring relationship—you can have a very
satisfactory arrangement with regular (both mentees and mentors) for their tips To my great surprise, I came around full
on being a good mentee, the following circle and am now back in private practice
phone calls.
suggestions were almost universal. where I belong.” Meanwhile, his mentor,
JR: If humility has you thinking, “I don’t Daniel Bourque, found the mentoring
really have anything to offer,” remember 1. be prepared. This piece of advice came experience provided him with a healthy
you at least have successful peers who can up more than any other. Mentees need to form of introspection into his own career.
join you and your mentee over a meal. take the time to think about their ques- Olga Young met a handful of other
tions and desired outcomes in advance of lawyers with excellent insight and advice
CCCA: What’s the best piece of advice or
encouragement that a mentor has given you each meeting with their mentors. Prepa- through her initial connection with her
ration can also include drafting career mentor, Jim Rossiter, allowing her to grow
in the past?
plans, goals or objectives and zeroing in her network in her new community. Jim,
VS: Don’t feel you always have to provide on certain types of scenarios to discuss. for his part, got to help a fellow lawyer and
an answer to a question right away if you made a new friend.
don’t know the answers. Get comfortable 2. listen. Edward Anido put it best when Valerie Seager shared that discussions
with saying, “I’ll get back to you.” Then he advised mentees to listen actively. with her mentee helped her think about
get back to the person with a practical an- “Your mentor has lots of experience and different approaches to her own issues
swer, not a perfect answer. the beneft of hindsight, which is a huge and provided some clarity on her own
advantage for you.” personal development trajectory.
MS: A number of senior lawyers encour-
aged me not to specialize too early and to 3. be specifc. Valerie Seager explained Cindy Kieu gained an important ally in
that as a mentor, “it’s tough to help in a Marie Strauss and a renewed focus on her
be open to practicing in as many areas as
possible. As corporate counsel, any sin- vacuum.” It’s up to the mentee to deter- new position, while Marie loved giving
mine a specifc matter to focus on. Cindy back to the profession and was reminded
gular client issue often has multiple in-
terconnected legal issues. A broad-based Kieu added that she built rapport with that “all in-house counsel face similar
her mentor by “working through specifc challenges, like how to deliver high-qual-
background is a great legal asset.
questions, which then often led to broader ity legal advice while meeting the ethics
DB: Listen before you talk and don’t jump discussions about longer-term goals and and standards of the profession.”
to conclusions. career advice.”
Are You ready to participate?
JR: The best mentors lead by example, Learn more about the CCCA Mentoring
and I have learned from their example What did You gain? Program at www.ccca-accje.org or email
that civility, humility and kindness do not Every mentoring pair we talked to had a mentoring@ccca-cba.org. Participation
compromise effective lawyering and in- highly positive experience, but the ben- is free for all regular CCCA members! ❚
stead nurture it. efts for each individual were unique.

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