Thank you to all of you who participated in the Mentor Kickoff last Wednesday! Nearly 65 of you attended this event! Many of you who attended made meaningful connections with local attorneys and we hope you will continue to develop those connections throughout your law school career. It was also a wonderful opportunity for the PDO staff to get to know many of you, and we’re looking forward to working with you more in the near future!
Mentor-mentee matches will be made over the next several weeks, and you will have the opportunity to contact and meet with your mentor throughout the year. The program’s Attorney Directors will match students with an attorney mentor, roughly based on backgrounds and interests. Bear in mind you will not always get someone who matches your precise career goals—and that is OK! Your goals may change, but even if they don’t, these attorneys will be there to help with school, networking, and other things that don’t depend on whether you both want to practice in the same area.
The involvement which takes place after that primarily depends on your efforts and the mentor’s schedule. At a minimum, the mentor/mentee pairs should meet at least one time in person (such as for lunch or coffee) but can meet more often if they choose (such as once or twice a semester). The pairs should also be open to communication via email and phone calls. In spring semester, there may be a social or a service project to bring students and attorneys together. Last spring, some mentor pairs volunteered with members of the S.J. Quinney Young Alumni Organization for a morning service project at a Head Start facility in Salt Lake. If you are wondering what your responsibilities are as a mentee, please read the attorney-student mentoring program introduction article that was published in the Career Brief a few weeks ago by clicking HERE.
We’re attaching some of the photos from the evening. Enjoy!