As part of its ongoing efforts to promote the principles of integrity, professionalism and civility in the practice of law, the Commission on Professionalism invites law firms, law schools, bar groups, and other organizations to participate in its Lawyer-to-Lawyer Mentoring Program. Mentoring creates an opportunity for an experienced lawyer to provide professional guidance and to share practical knowledge and skills with a new lawyer during the critical transition from law student to legal practitioner. Not only do both the mentor and mentee reap the personal and professional rewards that come from this relationship, but successful completion of the year-long program also satisfies Illinois’ professional responsibility CLE requirement.
How it Works
Any law firm, law school, bar group, state, county or local government agency, or circuit court of Illinois may sign up to run a mentoring program. To encourage participation in the program and to make it easy for organizations to adopt, the Commission has developed a simple yet structured Lawyer-to-Lawyer Mentoring Plan which can be used in whole or modified as needed. Alternatively, organizations can develop their own mentoring plans or adapt existing mentoring programs and submit those plans to the Commission on Professionalism for preapproval. In order to further assist organizations with their program development, the Commission created the Lawyer-to-Lawyer Mentoring Program Guide which provides checklists and tips for successfully managing a mentoring program and has also assembled a collection of Mentoring Resources for mentoring pairs to use during the course of their relationship. All of these materials are available on the Commission’s website, ilsccp.org.
To Participate
Organizations should complete the Commission’s brief online Mentoring Program Application and designate a program administrator who will be responsible for starting and managing the program during the course of the year. Although administration of the program will be at the organizational level, the Commission’s staff is available to answer any questions and otherwise assist with the successful implementation of the mentoring program, and each participating organization will have its own page on the Commission’s website that it can use as a resource throughout the duration of the program.
Why Should Your Organization Participate in the Mentoring Program?
- For Law Firms and Law Departments: a way of ensuring CLE compliance (for free) while at the same time developing the professional skills and talents of young associates and strengthening relationships between attorneys in the firm or department.
- For Law Schools: a way of keeping recent graduates involved with the school through offering a valuable career development tool as well as a way of re-engaging older alumni who act as mentors.
- For Bar Associations: another service that can be provided to members and that can attract new attorneys to join the membership rolls.
For more information, please visit www.ilsccp.org and download the Lawyer-to-Lawyer Mentoring Program Guide, Lawyer-to-Lawyer Mentoring Plan and Mentoring Resources or contact Jayne Reardon, Executive Director of the Commission, 312.363.6210, jayne.reardon@ilsccp.org.