Mentors must be members of the South Carolina Bar who have been admitted under Rule 402, SCACR. A person may not serve as a mentor if the person has been an inactive or retired member of the South Carolina Bar for more than two years, or if the person is not a member in good standing under Rule 410, SCACR.
Mentors must have at least five years of experience in the active practice of law. The mentor and the new lawyer are encouraged to work together to identify and help the new lawyer achieve professional goals. Upon completion of the program, mentors receive 4 CLE hours which include 2 hours of ethics. By fostering constructive mentoring relationships, the Lawyer Mentoring Program seeks to elevate the competence, professionalism, and success of South Carolina lawyers.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What am I expected to do? Mentors are expected to provide their mentee with about one hour of support and interaction per month. Most of this interaction will take place via email and other web-related tools (for example, instant messaging) or face-to-face, as appropriate. Mentors should work with their mentee to determine what kind of support will be most useful—specific feedback related to finding jobs, general career advice, information on higher studies, technical information, personal encouragement, and so on.
- How long will the mentors be available? We ask our mentors to make commitments of at least six months to one year in order to ensure that the mentee is able to fully benefit from the relationship. If a mentor must leave the relationship early, we request at least one month's notice in order to search for a replacement mentor with similar background.
- Are there any potential risks to me or my company? No. It is not appropriate for mentors to engage in any business transactions with their mentees; instead, the relationship should only involve the flow of general information and advice.
- Relationship is not going well or I am concerned about membership, what to do? We encourage letting the mentee know about the situation and contact the Admin immediately. We will provide our full support to resolve the situation in a positive and satisfactory manner.
Mentor DO's
- COMMIT AT LEAST ONE INTERACTION/HOUR OF SUPPORT per month.
- Take responsibility to initiate the relationship.
- Set aside time for the mentoring process and honor all appointments.
- Invite the mentee to meetings or activities, as appropriate. Schedule meetings with planned topics.
- Be flexible on meeting times and places.
- Arrange frequent contacts through telephone, email, fax, face-to-face, etc., as appropriate.
- Respond to emails from your mentee within 2 days of receipt.
- Keep information that your mentee has shared with you confidential. If something concerning the mentee needs to be discussed with others, it should first be discussed within the mentoring relationship.
- Establish open and honest communication and a forum for idea exchange.
- Foster creativity and independence. Help build self-confidence and offer encouragement.
- Provide honest and timely feedback to your mentee.
- Provide opportunities for the mentee to talk about concerns and ask questions.
- Above all, LISTEN.
Mentor DON'Ts
- Try to give advice on everything.
- Encourage mentee to be totally dependent upon you.
- Provide your personal history, problems, animosities, successes, failures, etc unless they are constructive contributions.
- Be too busy when the mentee needs your friendship or your support. If you do not have time, give the mentee a heads up, so that they know when they can reach you.
- Criticize.
