As a mentee, you drive the conversations. You identify the professional skills, knowledge, attributes or capabilities that you need to improve your success and effectiveness as a lawyer. In all cases, your identity and the existence of the mentoring relationship are held in confidence and are not disclosed without your clear consent.

How it Works:

At the outset, the program matches individual lawyers and mentors based on areas of law, geographical proximity and similar interests.

We ask for an initial commitment of at least three months to decide if the relationship is working and what benefits you are gaining from it. If there is a problem or the chemistry is wrong, a new pairing may be the answer. If the relationship is working, the program continues for six months. You are more than welcome to keep in touch and arrange additional meetings after that, but there is no obligation to do so.

Through all of this, Law Society staff will play a supporting role by:

• Maintaining a list of mentors who want to participate in the program.
• Matching mentors and mentees.
• Receiving confidential feedback from participants.
• Responding to any concerns or requests for accommodation that may arise during the program. All participants are encouraged to indicate any special needs or requirements on their registration form.
• Administering evaluation forms to mentors and mentees.
• Coordinating training of mentors.

Register as a Mentee.

As a mentor, your role is to ask questions and listen. You may review material to better appreciate your mentee’s strengths and weaknesses. Ultimately, you are there to use your own experiences to identify and help your mentee overcome challenges and guide decision-making.

Traditional mentoring programs like Mentor Connect don’t just benefit mentees. Mentors routinely describe how rewarding it is to meet new members of the Bar and share their insight into what it means to be a lawyer.

How It Works:

At the outset, the program matches individual lawyers and mentors based on areas of law, geographical proximity and similar interests.

We ask for an initial commitment of at least three months to decide if the relationship is working and what benefits you are gaining from it. If there is a problem or the chemistry is wrong, a new pairing may be the answer. If the relationship is working, the program continues for six months. You are more than welcome to keep in touch and arrange additional meetings after that, but there is no obligation to do so.

Through all of this, Law Society staff will play a supporting role by:

• Maintaining a list of mentors who want to participate in the program.
• Matching mentors and mentees.
• Receiving confidential feedback from participants.
• Responding to any concerns or requests for accommodation that may arise during the program. All participants are encouraged to indicate any special needs or requirements on their registration form.
• Administering evaluation forms to mentors and mentees.
• Coordinating training of mentors.

Register as a Mentor

Mentor Connect matches individual lawyers and mentors based on areas of law, geographical proximity and similar interests. Matching will be done by Law Society staff.

The goal of Mentor Connect is to provide a valuable mentoring experience for mentors and mentees alike. We ask for an initial commitment of at least three months to decide if the relationship is working and what benefits you are gaining from it. If there is a problem or the chemistry is wrong, a new pairing may be the answer. If the relationship is working, the program continues for six months. You are more than welcome to keep in touch and arrange additional meetings after that, but there is no obligation to do so.

Through all of this, Law Society staff will play a supporting role by:

• Maintaining a list of mentors who want to participate in the program.
• Matching mentors and mentees.
• Receiving confidential feedback from participants.
• Responding to any concerns or requests for accommodation that may arise during the program. All participants are encouraged to indicate any special needs or requirements on their registration form.
• Administering evaluation forms to mentors and mentees.
• Coordinating training of mentors.

Participation in Mentor Connect is free.

The Law Society of Alberta has four distinct mentorship programs for its members. You can choose to participate in whichever one appeals to you the most or sign up for all of them if you want. Since each program offers unique benefits to mentors and mentees alike, you can register for as many as your time permits.

In addition to Mentor Connect, we offer:

• Mentor Express, which facilitates one-time one-hour meetings between experienced lawyers as mentors and less-experienced lawyers or articling students as mentees. Each mentor meets with a cross section of mentees over the course of a year. Each mentee meets with multiple mentors.
• AdvisorLink, which connects lawyers or articling students with more experienced lawyers to answer one-off substantive law inquiries. Requests are made to the Law Society by phone or through an online form.
• Indigenous Law Mentorship Program, which matches Indigenous Alberta lawyers with Indigenous law students. It provides an opportunity for students to meet and connect with experienced Indigenous counsel. Students meet one-on-one with their mentor for advice, guidance and connections. Mentors and mentees are paired by Law Society staff based on similar interests and backgrounds.

Any Alberta lawyer is eligible to participate as a mentee, but the programs are particularly beneficial for:

• articling students;
• new lawyers recently called to the bar;
• lawyers in their first years of practice;
• internationally trained lawyers intending to practice in Alberta, even if not yet admitted;
• Canadian Centre for Professional Legal Education (CPLED) students; or,
• any lawyer seeking advice about transitioning to a new practice area or practice setting.

Aim for three to five hours a month at the start and go from there.

Plan for a certain number of contacts at the outset of the relationship but remain flexible. Your dealings with each other may be completely scheduled or they may be based on mutual convenience on short notice. The objective is to create a relationship that works for both of you. You should meet on a regular basis, at least once a month in the initial phase to develop a rapport and build trust.

You decide when and where that happens. You may prefer to have lunch or coffee together at the start of each month, meet weekly by Zoom or Teams for 30 minutes, and have phone meetings in between. The key is to find a time and place that works for you.

Lawyers who have practised at least five years, including inactive and retired lawyers, are eligible to participate as mentors in Mentor Connect Program. Please note that mentor eligibility may be impacted if you have any past or current claims with the Alberta Lawyers Indemnity Association (ALIA) or disciplinary proceedings with the Law Society.

Yes. A mentor’s years of experience in other provinces or jurisdictions (not just Alberta) counts cumulatively toward the five-year requirement.

During your practice, you have gained hard-won experience and insight into how best to deal with clients, other lawyers and judges. You have developed office systems that work and may have seen others that do not. You know the importance of organization and developing a strategy, whether it involves running a trial, settlement negotiations or closing a deal. You enjoy practising law without letting it be the only thing in your life.

Your successes and failures have taught you lessons that might benefit others if you are willing to share. You are ready.

Yes. There is nothing preventing you from participating in the program if you practise and live outside of Alberta.

Mentorship can benefit a lawyer at any stage of their career. Your early training and exposure may have been to lawyers with poor practice management skills or who did not share their experience with you when you were a junior. Maybe you have practised in a firm with well-developed support systems and have recently broken away to set up your own shop. Or you are moving into a new practice area, or simply moving to a new office setting.

Having a mentor will help you recognize the hazards and let you learn from other people’s mistakes as well as your own.

Yes and no. The Law Society has designed this program to encourage one-on-one interaction and to develop a relationship between the mentor and mentee. While we encourage one-on-one relationships, lawyers can serve as a mentor to more than one mentee, and mentees can have more than one mentor, especially in circumstances where mentoring would not otherwise occur. You can also repeat the program when your original match expires.

No. While we recommend in-person mentorship sessions whenever possible, they aren’t always feasible, especially under the current circumstances of a global pandemic. Please let the Mentorship team at the Law Society know if you need help with video conference software or any other part of setting up a remote meeting.

Yes. You need to repeat the orientation regardless of previous participation. This ensures you are up-to-date on any mentoring rule, policy or procedure changes. Most importantly, the orientation is designed to properly launch the relationship by facilitating the opportunity to meet, discuss communication preferences and set-up a few first meetings.

No. Mentors are neither required nor expected to do legal research.

No. The purpose of Mentor Connect is to help new lawyers become the lawyer they would like to be and to gain insight into career management, work-life balance and dealing with difficult clients, judges and counsel. It is not to discuss substantive law questions or develop plans for your files. To find out more on why substantive law questions are not permitted in our Mentor Connect and Mentor Express programs, visit this article.

For that, mentees are urged to contact the Law Society’s AdvisorLink service.

Mentees should evaluate the information they receive from their mentors using their professional judgment and provide client advice based solely on their own professional opinion, research and evaluation. This doesn’t preclude a mentor from providing or suggesting a possible referral to the mentee, but the mentor’s role is not to act as a second counsel.

The provisions of the Code of Conduct will always apply. Take care to avoid disclosing confidential information. Be aware of the potential for conflicts of interest. There is no solicitor-client privilege for communications between a mentor and a mentee.

Factors used to match mentors with mentees include geography, personal interests, availability and professional experience. Mentors and mentees are also asked to identify any characteristics or special interests that would be important to them in the matching process.

Law Society staff will contact the mentor and mentee to arrange a mutually convenient time to meet at the Law Society’s office or virtually using video conference software. Other forms of contact like email or texting could be used once you develop a rapport. Mentorship staff at the Law Society will only participate in the first meeting.

Develop a mentoring plan early on that lays out expectations and objectives. You should also review confidentiality issues as soon as possible. Confidential client information should never be discussed, and mentors shouldn’t be asked for or provide specific legal advice.

Some ideas for appropriate joint activities include the following:

• Job shadowing. This provides mentees with a great window into practising in a different work environment and lets mentees be introduced to other members of the mentor’s team.
• Networking. Mentors can introduce their mentees to members of the judiciary, court officials and other lawyers, or invite mentees to sit in on court proceedings with them.
• Professional development. Consider attending Continuing Legal Education seminars, Canadian Bar Association sub-section meetings and other suitable law-related social events together.

Mentors are not expected to provide professional advice on personal matters, but those services are available through the Assist Program. The Law Society also maintains contact information for other services available through the community and can assist with any referral that might be required.

Mentors may share information about mentees with the Law Society to provide them with additional support for their professionalism and conduct as a lawyer. Mentors are obligated to report serious ethical violations concerning a lawyer’s violation of the Code of Professional Conduct that raise a substantial question about the lawyer’s honesty, trustworthiness or fitness as a lawyer. Rules 3.3(3) to 3.3(7) and 7.1(3) in the Code of Conduct provide guidance on this matter. When in doubt, you are encouraged to contact the Office of the Practice Advisor at the Law Society of Alberta for confidential assistance.