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Senior partners from a variety of firms interviewed for this article say two factors have contributed to this renewed focus on associate mentoring programs: a growing concern with the lack of civility and collegiality in the law profession – which plays itself out on numerous fronts, including a poor professional image; and the recognition that mentoring is simply good for business.

“There’s a growing sense that we’ve lost something that was part of the profession in the past,” says Bruce Carr-Harris, partner with the Toronto office of Borden Ladner Gervais LLP, one of Canada's national firms. He cites tightening financial constraints, especially at the larger firms, as a factor contributing to the lower profile of mentoring; a concern that civility and advocacy in the profession are on the decline, he says, is the result.

The profession, he says “is ripe for mentorship.”

Ian Epstein, managing partner at Toronto firm Blaney McMurtry LLP, concurs, adding that mentoring simply makes good business sense. “Studies indicate that the number one reason that associates leave a law firm is the absence of a mentoring program,” he says. “When you consider the investment a firm makes in associates, those results really drive home the economics of mentoring.” Maria Scarfo, who oversees the Blaney associate mentoring program, shares that conviction: -“The better the (mentoring) program, the more profitable the firm. You won’t be dealing with a revolving door, you’ll do less recruiting because a good mentoring program fosters loyalty. You attract better talent and that talent stays.”

In mid to larger-sized firms, institutionalizing mentoring also ensures that associates don’t fall between the cracks. “A formal program ensures you can identify future partner material early on,” says Ian, who helped establish Blaney’s formal mentoring program in the early 1990s. “You ensure that your new associates have a well-rounded training that reflects what is valued in the firm, because those associates are your firm’s future.” Add to that his own conviction that, “better quality lawyers translate into better quality clients,” and mentoring, as he says, “really is a no-brainer: It really does pay.”

Carolyn Stamegna, a senior partner at Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP, Canada's largest firm, points out the rewards of mentoring are financial and professional, for all parties. Although she initially resisted participating in the firm’s mentoring program, (“I didn’t want that ‘burden’”), she is now a committed advocate. As well as being able to take on more work, she discovered that the teamwork that is an integral part of mentoring has paid unexpected dividends. “We’ve developed deeper relationships with our clients – relationships built on a better understanding of their business, their needs and the value we bring to that relationship,” explains Carolyn. “We’re also doing the work more efficiently, because can delegate to Hilary (Goldstein, a third-year associate) and focus on other elements of a transaction or the practice. As a team, we’re more valuable and productive than if I was doing the work alone.”

Less tangible but equally valuable is the satisfaction that comes from watching a junior associate grow and become an integral part of the law firm, says Richard O’Reilly, partner with the Ottawa firm Nelligan O’Brien Payne LLP. “I look on mentoring as an important way in which I contribute to the firm’s long-term success, and help train the next generation of lawyers. How to achieve balance in their work and personal lives and not let the law suck you dry; how to develop a thick skin and learn to deal with the client who yells: These are the kinds of things we can teach mentees, along with the legal issues. Certainly it takes time, and finding that time is likely the biggest challenge that we face as mentors. But it is time well spent.”

Greg Richards, a senior partner with Weir Foulds LLP in Toronto concurs: “The energy and enthusiasm that a new associate brings can be really energizing. You look at your own work in a new light; the mundane is less so when you look at it through the eyes of someone you are teaching. Yes you have to work at making the mentor/associate relationship really successful. But the tradeoff, in many ways, is pretty terrific.”

Components of successful mentoring programs

If law firms agree on the value of associate mentoring programs, the ways in which they deliver mentoring vary widely. The following summary provides insight into how some firms organize their associate mentoring programs, and the key components of successful mentoring initiatives at these firms.

The need for a mentoring champion

Firms agree that it takes a driving, visionary force to champion the mentoring initiative through its introductory stages. In the case of Nelligan O’Brien Payne, it was Steven Welchner, the firm’s Director of Research and head of the labour group. Five years ago, he realized that the effort the firm was putting into programs for its articling students was disproportionate to the investment it was making in training new associates.

“If anything, we had it backwards: Our major investment, we realized, should be in our associates, not our articling students.” The firm’s professional development committee concurred, putting Steven in charge of structuring and implementing a comprehensive, three year mentoring program for associates. Roles, responsibilities, procedures and expectations are now documented, to provide mentors and mentees alike with a framework within which to work.

Blaneys has had a number of mentoring champions over the years. Ian Epstein was involved in creating the first set of mentoring guidelines in 1993; Maria Scarfo recently helped revise these guidelines and was chair of the firm’s Professional Development Committee until late in 2001. “Like many firms, we’ve always had a strong mentoring culture at Blaneys; but at some point you need to put some discipline and process to the relationship so that everyone understands what is expected and how things are to unfold,” explains Ian. Both are looking at revamping the firm’s program so that first-year associates are paired with a senior associate rather than a senior partner. “Studies indicate that mentoring works better if you pair the right level of mentor and associate,” says Ian.

A mentoring champion not only gets the program off the ground, but also ensures its longevity. Gowlings’ Kelly Driscoll, has been instrumental in building and fostering a culture of mentoring in the firm, and has ensured this program is supported by the appropriate infrastructure and resources.

“Mentoring should be seen as a cornerstone to associate development; and to execute on this commitment, you need policies, programs and even people who will facilitate this process,” says Kelly, who spearheaded the firm’s mentoring program as Director of Associates and Students, and was recently promoted to the firm’s Director of Professional Development. Under Kelly’s leadership, the Gowlings mentoring program has been structured to reward and recognize mentoring as an important responsibility that partners have to associates. The firm also champions mentoring by designating a full-time director to oversee the program’s implementation: “When you have two dozen or more new associates at any given time, you need someone who understands what mentoring is all about. Associates need someone to turn to other than their mentors for some issues. Mentors need someone to bounce ideas around with, someone who can direct them to new ideas and resources. That someone has to be firmly committed to the value of mentoring in all its aspects.”

A structure that encourages mentoring

Whether or not they’re documented, the best mentoring programs are those that provide mentees a framework within which to develop and grow.

“When new associates join our firm, we expose them to as many experiences as possible right away, taking them on discoveries, motions and trials, even if they don’t have any responsibility for the particular file. This way, a new associate is introduced as quickly as possible to various aspects of the practice and the lawyering process,” explains Nancy Spies, partner at Stockwood Spies.

At the same time, new associates are introduced to files where they will become involved from beginning to end. The associate participates in all aspects of the file and as much responsibility as possible is delegated to the associate. Associates are expected to attend all important meetings, discoveries and court attendances. “Whether or not you can bill the client at this point is irrelevant; we believe that all experiences are valuable” says Nancy.

“We don’t want our associates carrying briefcases around for five years and never having an opportunity to actively participate in the courtroom – you don’t learn quickly that way. We look for opportunities to develop advocacy skills, such as splitting an opening or closing statement with an associate, or allowing the associate to lead the evidence of certain witnesses at trial. We also believe that being able to see the whole picture and being involved from the outset to the resolution of a file carries tremendous benefits. In the end, you have a junior who is more valuable to the firm more quickly because you have invested up front in a more comprehensive learning experience,” says Nancy.

Vital to helping the associate learn by doing, however, is for the mentor to both hang back and be ready with constructive criticism, says Johanna Braden, a fourth year associate with Stockwood Spies. “As a mentee you need an atmosphere in which you’re not afraid to make mistakes, knowing that your firm is there to back you up and step in if you need help.”

In her first year of practice, Johanna got to examine the only witness at a trial, while her mentor Nancy Spies did the opening and closing statements. “As well as helping me prepare for that examination, Nancy did a post-mortem on how I did, what I could have done differently or better,” says Johanna. “That’s the way the best mentoring works.”

In most firms, such as Blaneys, the mentor is also a principal source of work for the mentee. In the first three years of the six-year mentoring program at the firm, the emphasis is on legal skills, including how to docket, deal with clients, and manage the administrative aspects of lawyering, says Ian Epstein. The mentor also is responsible for developing a plan that ensures mentees are exposed to all aspects of the legal process.

After a point, the need to impart legal skills takes second seat to the need to be a sounding board, and the relationship evolves: “We then deal more with ethical issues, how the associate can market himself, the plans and aspirations of that associate and how they dovetail with the firm’s plans: The issues are more complex and involve the person as a whole,” explains Ian.

Blaneys’ mentees however also have a second mentor, a member of the Professional Development Committee who is usually outside their practice area. As well as ensuring that the mentor is doing his or her job, this PDC representative provides mentees with someone to discuss matters they do not feel comfortable reviewing with their principal work provider.

Nelligan O’Brien Payne takes a different approach in its three-year mentoring program, opting to partner associates with a member of their practice group to whom they are not linked by workflow. Mentors thus become confidants with whom juniors can discuss personal issues and goals, as well as professional development guidance and advice. Weir Foulds adds further to the associate’s learning experiences by teaming up senior associates with articling students, creating in effect mentor training experiences for those still being mentored themselves.

Nelligans is enhancing its mentoring through a Career Development Plan for each practice area, a type of roadmap that sets out where associates should be at each stage of their career, from their call to the bar to partnership; the plan, now under development, will cover the types of transactions they should be undertaking, the contacts they should have made, the level of work they should be doing, as well as other benchmarks.

Mentees must make opportunities happen

The most successful mentoring, associates agree, happens when they take responsibility for making the mentoring relationship work. “Smart lawyers create situations that lead to serendipity,” Sheila Block, partner at Torys LLP, told a recent gathering of young women lawyers. “Make yourself someone who others want to mentor. Demonstrate a positive attitude and drive. Be a good listener and receptive to criticism.”

Johanna Braden takes that advice to heart. “Learning doesn’t stop once you leave law school,” she says. “You have to be willing to take risks, make mistakes, put yourself on the line. At the same time, you have to create opportunities for yourself, and seize those that come along.”

Hilary Goldstein knows exactly what Johanna is talking about. When she joined Gowlings and Carolyn Stamegna’s group in 1998, Hilary made it her business to know her mentor’s entertainment law business. “I asked what I should be reading, what I should examine; I made sure I knew as much as possible about our files, our clients, the issues. As a junior you sometimes have to be a bit more aggressive to make your presence felt because you do have something to prove.”

Nelligan associate Erin Smith, who was called to the bar in 2000, says it’s up to new associates to take stock of their own strengths and weaknesses, and to ensure any development plan meets their specific needs. “You know yourself better than anyone, so it’s up to you to make sure you get the kind of learning and development opportunities you need to become the best you can be,” she says. “As a junior, you cannot afford to sit back and wait for things to happen. You have to take the initiative, be proactive and make mentoring work for yourself and the firm.”

Creative solutions to “billing” for mentoring

Most firms agree that if there’s one issue that often stands in the way of good firm mentoring programs, it’s the need to meet a firm’s billing targets. But here too the problem is one of mindset, not practicalities, say many.

For Stockwood Spies, the solution is to charge the time an associate spends learning to an “office” account, and not worry about the short-term impact on the bottom line. When juniors assist on a file, clients are brought on side and even then there is flexibility in how the “billable hours” are billed, says Nancy Spies. “It was more important for us to bring Johanna along quickly than to worry if we could bill for her time, every time.”

Blaneys and Weir Foulds similarly will write off the time – but at the same time allow the associate to docket the time towards his or her billing targets – if an associate participates in a learning opportunity that cannot be charged back to a client. “There aren’t as many opportunities as we would like for associates to attend trials,” points out Ian Epstein. “So if we have a trial opportunity that we believe will round out an associate’s learning, we’ll take the associate to the trial, ensuring of course that we have first cleared this with the client.”

“For a junior, it can be an important learning experience to see a senior executing the work that you may have been involved in,” says Raj Anand, senior partner with Weir Foulds. “In a situation such as this, we benefit more by simply swallowing the costs involved; the learning far outweighs the costs.”

Nelligan O’Brien Payne takes the write-off concept one step further. It allocates each first year associate a bank of 35 hours, and second year associates 21 hours, of professional development time, to be used to access learning opportunities that would not be part of their normal daily work. For example, Erin Smith dipped into her PD bank to sit in on a complex development hearing, “something I probably won’t be doing on my own for a few years.” PD hours are further credited to the billable and billed targets of associates, but not charged to clients. Similarly, mentors docket time spent mentoring to a non-billable docket code. Associates are monitored to ensure they use this PD bank fully. “This kind of approach adds value to the mentoring program,” says Steven Welchner.

The bottom line: Although their approaches are different, all firms agree that the scope and success of their mentoring activities is today a much more topical concern than it has ever been. Their associates, they agree, are their future.

This article originally appeared in LAWPRO Magazine (PDF) as a part of an issue that focused on mentoring. LAWPRO Magazine is published by the Lawyers' Professional Indemnity Company (www.lawpro.ca), which provides legal malpractice coverage to over 20,000 lawyers in Ontario, and title insurance in most other Canadian provinces.