Mentoring Can You Get Your Partners To Do It

Developing the Next Generation of Rainmakers Mentoring: Can you get your partners to do it? Mentoring was a hot lawyer development topic prior to the 2008 recession. I was asked several times to help firms with mentoring programs. Now, I rarely see anything written about it.   Yesterday I received this email from Natalie, with questions about mentoring: Cordell, I recently thought about your article where a partner mentored you early in your career and how this partner met with you early in the morning to teach you about the practice of law. What advice do you offer to today’s young attorneys about forging similar relationships? How can a young attorney turn a grumpy old partner, who is only concerned about his billable hours, into a mentor? Those are great questions. My first thought when reading them was: Gosh, I hope none of the associates who worked for me thought of me as a grumpy old partner. My second thought was that the older the partner, the more likely he or she will take time to listen and provide advice. The greater challenge is getting a grumpy young partner to take the time away from billable hours. I am not sure a young attorney can ever turn a grumpy partner, who is only concerned about billable hours, into a mentor, but here are some thoughts I have. I practiced law for 37 years developing a national construction law practice representing some of the top highway and transportation construction contractors in the US.