H C B A P R E S I D E N T ’ S M E S S A G E P a i g e G r e e n l e e – G r e e n l e e L a w P L L C
Supporting the next generation of Lawyers through Mentoring
The delicate balance of mentoring someone is not creating them in your own image , but giving them the opportunity to create themselves . — Steven Spielberg
From a very young age , mostly unknowingly , we start looking for people to look up to ; people who will teach us what we want to learn ; people we respect , whose values resemble ours . As children , these were often parents , adult relatives , or other grown-ups in our lives , such as teachers , coaches , and summer camp counselors . While we did not necessarily have a name for this , what we were really looking for is frequently described in professional settings as “ mentors .” For many of us , that quest never ends ; I know that I personally have people , both inside and outside of the legal profession , to whom I consistently look for guidance or who I work hard to emulate in different ways . You are never too old to learn a valuable skill , lesson , or value from someone else .
Getting comfortable in the practice of law is difficult ; law school teaches you how to think . It does not prepare you for the practical things we encounter in the workplace — balancing work and life , maintaining professional relationships with co-workers when personalities do not always mesh , or learning how to juggle billable work with bar and community service . Most of us have a story or two about someone who either formally or informally mentored us at some point during our careers . Mentoring can mean many different things — from answering one phone call from someone who was referred to you by a friend or colleague on a particular subject to participating in a formal mentoring program . A mentor can be someone with whom you
have a lot in common , or someone who could not be any more different than you . Mentoring relationships can last a few minutes , or a lifetime . And getting sage advice from a mentor , even a few words of wisdom rendered in passing , can positively impact the course of your career . While that may seem like an overstatement , I have been fortunate enough to personally experience this .
Over the course of this bar year , the HCBA has worked very hard to reboot the joint HCBA and Thirteenth Judicial Circuit Mentoring Program . Judge Frances Perrone , who had been involved in the mentoring program for a number of years , spearheaded these efforts , along with the HCBA YLD and bar leaders from many of our local voluntary bar associations . The group revamped the criteria to allow the program to be more flexible , and , of course , virtual , and successfully marketed the reinvigorated program through a video featuring judges and local attorney leaders discussing the importance of mentoring . I encourage you to review the updated mentoring program materials , including the video , at www . hillsbar . com / page / Mentoring , and to share the information with anyone you know who would like to participate . We had a very positive response , from both mentors and proteges , and on March 10th , we hosted a virtual kick-off of the rebooted mentoring program , in an effort to “ speed match ” our pairings . By the time this article is published , proteges and mentors
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