Judge Hyman’s Corner : The Value of Mentorship and How to Find One
The Honorable Eugene Hyman is a retired Judge of the Superior Court of California for the County of Santa Clara, where for more than 20 years he presided over cases in the criminal, civil, probate, family, and delinquency divisions of the court. He spearheaded the creation of the Juvenile Delinquency Domestic and Family Violence Court in 1999, the first in the country dedicated exclusively to this social issue, and was awarded the United Nations Public Service Award for its success. Judge Hyman is a SCU Law alumni, and he currently teaches a Domestic Violence Minicourse at the law school.
The first article in this series dealt with the beginning of your law career, the first day of law school. Now I’ll discuss goal-setting and mentorships.
It’s important, in starting and later building a legal career, to develop consistently positive and helpful habits. When you do so, success becomes a habit. Good habits will serve you during your entire career.
In the first article, I mentioned Brian Tracy and his work on goal-setting. I can’t overemphasize this: Goal-setting is a vital habit. Successful people set written goals and review them constantly.
Goals must be written for purposes of consistency and ease of review. For one thing, it is difficult to remember something that is not written down. For another, you will need to update your goals, based upon experience, reflection, and education.
Goals are achieved by consciously and unconsciously working on them. Including while you sleep!
Goals are precious; be careful who you share them with. You will find that not everyone in your circle wants you to achieve them, for any number of reasons.
The next step in your exploration is to find a mentor. In fact, I recommend having at least two, a man and a woman. Each gender has a different perspective, and you will of course be working with both men and women in your professional life. You may have already had a male and female mentor – your parents!
You aren’t limited in the number of mentors that you may have. Mentors are a little like goals, and as your goals change, the skills you need in a mentor will as well.
It is generally not a good idea to view a mentor as a job source. Their function should be more to help challenge you and help you identify strategies – in other words, help move you forward toward your goals, improve your goals, or more clearly define them.
How does one obtain a mentor? To a certain extent, it depends upon the purpose of the mentor. If you need to talk to someone about understanding coursework that you should take to be a criminal lawyer, many faculty members can easily serve this purpose. However, if you are interested in getting a job in a particular practice or geographic area, it might be more helpful to have a mentor who is already working at a law firm where you may have an interest ultimately to practice.
Your first step in this process, therefore, is to go to the alumni office and find graduates of your school who are practicing in the subject area that’s of interest to you. Next, of course, you need to contact this person, either by email or by phone. For many people, cold calling is very stressful; an email will allow you to express yourself precisely without the necessity of thinking under pressure.
Regardless of your approach, your goal is the same: invite the person to have coffee with you to discuss what practicing in their firm and subject area is like. Explain that you aren’t looking for a job at this point – you’re simply looking for information in order to prepare yourself to be a more qualified candidate when the time comes to actually apply.
The average meeting is about fifteen minutes, a very short time period to make a great impression and a connection. Try to find out: 1) what working in the particular law firm might be like; 2) what qualifications will assist you in obtaining a job at the firm or a similar one; and 3) what the subject practice area might be like as a career. Ideally, you have established a “connection” that will provide an opportunity to have an ongoing contact and a true mentoring relationship.
Finally, ask for an opportunity to shadow the prospective mentor and spend one or more days observing them. You will know if things are not going well on the attorney’s end if you suggest getting together in, say, a month or so and they don’t seem warm to the idea. Conversely, if you sense a bad fit on your end, you can simply not ask to meet again.
Every “coffee” is a learning experience. Afterwards, it is important to reflect upon what you have learned about the attorney as a potential mentor, about the firm as a potential source of a summer associate’s position, and the practice area as a future career choice.
More about mentorships:
It is rare for a law student o contact a legal professional while in law school, outside of a summer associateship. The average lawyer is going to be surprised by your efforts. Most will welcome your inquiries: It’s flattering to be asked to be a mentor.
Do as much research about your potential mentor as possible. Use traditional search engines to find out as much as you can about the firm, the practice area, and the attorney. This will assist you in asking questions and will also demonstrate to the prospective mentor that you are serious about your interests and about establishing a mentorship.
You may have to contact several persons before you find someone who is willing to assist you. Do not view this as rejection but rather as an opportunity to practice your contacting skills and to also realize that not everyone is a good fit for your needs.
(Editor's Note: This article was originally published in the December 2019 [Volume 50, Issue 3] version of The Advocate.)