Search
This area does not yet contain any content.
Justinian News

Holding onto Hope: Gina Rinehart's Bleak House ... Seeking chunks of the huge iron ore pit, Hope Downs ... Tracing the tangled Wright, Hancock, Rinehart litigation ... Allegations of fraud against the family trust ... Manouvering ... Tax "advice" ... Shifting vesting date ... Money, the root of unhappiness ... Anthony-James Kanaan reports ... Read more >> 

Politics Media Law Society


Rupert World ... Lord Moloch’s pal Doug the Diva – driving Washington spare … News UK’s model for unionism … What next for the Washington Post? … Concealed coal lobbyists running an anti-Teal campaign … More corruption busting for Stinging Nettle … The litigation industry spawned by Lehrmann ... Read on >> 

Free Newsletter
Justinian Columnists

Party time for Dicey ... Heydon's book - a pathway to rehabilitation ... The predatory man and the clever intellect - all wrapped up in the one person ... Academic tome and cancel agenda ... Despite the plaudits the record of abuse doesn't vanish ... Book launch with young associates at a safe distance ... Procrustes thinks out loud ... Read more >> 

Blow the whistle

 

News snips ...


Debbie Does Damien ... Mortimer's first public interview as CJ ... ABC's Law Report ... The ins and out of live streaming and the media's access to documents ... More >> 

Justinian's Bloggers

Conclave Part 2: Return of the Prodigal ... Vatican fraudster returns ... Fly in the Conclave ointment ... Claims to have been forgiven by Pope Francis ... Doubts about his entitlement to vote ... What can go wrong? ... Silvana Olivetti reports from Rome ... Read more >> 

"We're in unchartered territory here. A Pope hasn't died before during an Australian election campaign."  

Jane Norman, National Affairs Correspondent, ABC News ... April 21, 2025 ... Read more flatulence ... 


Justinian Featurettes

Letter from Rome ... Judges on strike ... Too much "reform" ... Berlusconi legacy ... Referendum on the way ... Constitutional court inflames the Meloni regime with decision on boat people ... Insults galore ... Silvana Olivetti reports ... Read more >> 


Justinian's archive

Tea is for Tippy ... Life of a tiffstaff ... Bright, ambitious and, when it comes to the crucial things, hopeless ... Milking the glory of the gig ...  Introducing Tippy, our new blogger filing from within the concrete cage at Queens Square ... From Justinian's Archive, March 15, 2010 ...  Read more >> 


 

 

« Almost fit and proper | Main | It's gruesome at the bottom »
Monday
Nov142016

Mentor me

Finishing law school is an absolute fright ... The outside world is formidable ... What is needed is a mentor ... Barely Legal has a four-point plan for good mentoring 

MY time in the law school cave is drawing to a close. No more foraging around the internet for articles. No more hunting for good notes. No more Darwinian combat with my peers on a bell curve. 

To finish law school places me in a very strange position. I should be feeling prepared for the legal jungle that awaits. Yet, something's missing. 

As I step out of the cave and into the sunlight, eyes squinting, I'm overawed by my many inadequacies, especially: how in the name of Denning am I supposed to forge a career in this legal jungle into which I have stumbled?  

Who can guide my uncertain footsteps and point me in the right direction? After all, one of the things that universities don't include in a six-figure law degree is a mentor. 

Once more unto the teach

Good mentors are a diamond in the rough and in the legal caper the rough can be expansive, loaded with expectations that new entrants should pick-up the baton quickly. After all, senior lawyers don't necessarily have time to keep a hand on your fledgling shoulder. 

I know that new law firm recruits can quickly lose direction, so what I'm hoping is that some saintly mentor can reveal the meaning of life and teach me the ropes. 

However, do those you have respected early in your pathway to glory necessarily make good mentors? 

Making a mentor 

I found a mentor quite early in the piece, so here are my thoughts, for free. 

The best advice is to track down a person you respect and try to hitch a ride in their professional circle as quickly as possible. If you can't, simply ask them straight-up if they want to sit down for a coffee, and hope for the best. 

A Baltasar Gracián approach to finding the perfect mentor may be helpful:  

Patience

This is essential for a good mentor, who from the start must appreciate you will be hopeless and make mistakes. Kindness is also an important quality. The last thing you want early in your career is a foul-tempered, impatient tutor. 

Ability

Although this might go without saying, a mentor should be very good at what they do, preferably the best in the firm or office. 

Drive

Your mentor should be ambitious and want to develop professionally. Ideally, to use a frightful term, it should be a "win-win" situation.

A sense of humour

A humourless beginning goes a long way to contributing to an early exit. Find someone who makes you smile, because you'll need to enjoy their company. 

There is a handy proverb: "as iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another." I hope the iron age awaits me outside the law school cave. 

Reader Comments

There are no comments for this journal entry. To create a new comment, use the form below.
Member Account Required
You must have a member account on this website in order to post comments. Log in to your account to enable posting.