Just like any other professions, succeeding in the legal profession according to your dreams and expectation is always challenging. Forging your way success in such a profession more so in a country like Uganda is always more challenging when you don’t have anyone encouraging you to keep pushing till the next level, mentorship is the best way to get such encouragement. So you know, a mentor plays a great role in your career if you have one. A mentor is someone who is experience in the industry or profession who keeps encouraging and shaping someone else in their personal and professional growth. Such a person can spot one’s strength and weaknesses, and many of these you may not even realize they existed, a mentor give you that constructive criticism which helps your career to move forward.
The guidance that a mentor provides helps a mentee to reach their goals which could be impossible if such a person tries to pursue their goals on their own.
WHY WOULD HAVING A MENTOR MEAN IN THE LEGAL PROFFESSION
With the stiff competition in the legal sector, good law firms need employees that are varied with such experience and background that is desirable according to the law firm’s goals. Mentorship programs allow skilled professionals (depending on how you interpret skilled) to pass down the knowledge they have acquired over time, the necessary skills, the wisdom and many more that one may need to succeed. The mere fact that these professionals have tested life before you have and have perhaps made some mistakes that they shouldn’t wish someone else to get themselves into. Perhaps through sharing with them, you get to know the does and don’ts anyway.
So hope you realize you need a mentor if you don’t, but as you look for one please consider what you most want from the relationship. Do you have any problem that you want an insight on? Maybe gaps in your experience that you need guidance on? Perhaps you only don’t know what you don’t know. With all this, please know that it’s always good to know what you want before you make the decision, this will profit you professional growth without doubt.
Just so you know, mentorship isn’t just about having a prominent or famous or respectable mentor whose name will sound before your friends or anyone else once you mention that they’re your mentor. It’s about learning and growing professionally.
WHAT SHOULD YOU BE LOOKING FOR IN A MENTOR?
For whichever goals you having when choosing a mentorship program, are you looking to gain experience, confidence or even a job, you need to consider the following;
Experience
Whether you want it or not, you need a mentor with experience so that they can guide you through the challenges you are or will be facing. What experience brings is, such a person has more certainly been involved in similar situations or even started from a similar point. He or she has been in your shoes at some moment and found a way out, so you have a chance that they will guide you on the best way to overcome such a situation regardless of how challenging it could be. It’s very important that you work with such a person, so I would advise that you find someone who has navigated through their share of challenges and has learned enough to pass on.
Rapport
Mentorship works well when you spend a lot of time with your mentor, it’s very important that you choose someone who you’re comfortable or feel compatible with. How easy does it feel to talk to such a person? How comfortable do you always feel when asking those questions or even seeking feedback?
Interaction between a mentor and mentee has gross impact on a mentee’s personal and professional growth so if you can’t really freely interact with your mentor then you won’t be getting the full value of their experience.
Diversity
Mentorship has more impact when you’re mentored by someone who keeps on encouraging you to step out of your comfort zone and get a different perspective of your career. This is what usually matters, not making you feel not self-worth or too bad to be transformed to be what you want. Mentorship is about development so you need someone that will be willing to push you to development in the best way and not to damage you instead.
You shouldn’t be afraid of getting a mentor who is certainly different from you in terms of opinion, age, religion, gender, experience however much I cannot disregard that they too may matter in some way.
Trust
Mentorship at times involves sharing private information with your mentor which means it’s important that you trust them. Trust isn’t built in a single day or two, but rather takes time and you need to understand that whoever the mentor maybe. Opening up is never easy even with our closest friends, but mentorship requires opening up at times if you are to get the development you are looking for. So with time, you will at least have set some ground rules, learned the communication styles of each other and built a foundation from which trust comes from and you will see the development in yourself.
Time
Interacting with your mentor is the best importance of mentorship you could think of, it’s therefore important that you choose a mentor who is willing to spare time to interact with you. The legal profession is a very busy one with lawyers always having their time dedicated to the work before them, a person who doesn’t time for you isn’t a good mentor regardless of their experience. It’s possible that you don’t work with your mentor but it’s important that you have time with them because that’s the easiest way of imparting knowledge.
HOW OR WHERE TO FIND A MENTOR?
If you’re now looking for the right mentor please consider this:
The Professional Association that you have.
Some of the benefits of joining professional organizations is the opportunity such organizations provide to finding a good mentor. There is an opportunity that you’re surrounded by the people who are actively engaged in the profession and having gained the necessary experience. These association members are likely to be proactive about learning and interested in contributing to the community of professionals but they can only help if you reach out to them.
Friends and Colleagues
Many of the friends you have or colleagues you work with have probably worked with a mentor or know someone who has. They can give you some recommendations if you actually ask them. Even when the firm you’re working with doesn’t have a mentoring program, the senior colleges there may be in a position to be your mentors provided you admire them and they’re experience. It’s only about asking them and then wait for their response.
Mentoring Program
Not many law firms in Uganda have a formal mentoring program, so if your firm does then you should consider taking advantage of it. The mentors that usually take part in such programs always have the skills, the work habits plus the personality traits that could be valued at your office. Therefore taking part in such a program will give you the sense of the firm’s culture and values together with a boost of what will come in next.
I think you should also understand that the best way of searching for a mentor is by networking and the best site for professional networking is LinkedIn. Your profile plays a big role in attracting particular individuals to you, its therefore important that you keep your profile up to date. With that done, you need to connect with these people and more so personally message them. It’s important to sell yourself so that they can see you potential.
It’s good that you inform them from the start that you would wish to establish a formal professional mentorship with them, ask if it’s possible meeting up with them. That won’t be a bad start but be sure of the words you use, people have different troubles and mentorship always seems like favour they would be giving away, you know lawyers are not good at giving favours to strangers so it important that you language is decent and persuasive too.
MAINTAINING THIS RELATIONSHIP
Many of the mentorship relationships do not stand the taste of time as many lawyers are always busy on more pressing matters than answer questions for people who barely make an effort. So it’s important that you keep impressing your mentors if you want them to be of help or else they may give up, remember it’s you who loses out.
Normalize being punctual, working hard, avoid any careless mistakes, get all your work done accurately and keep showing them that you’re up for the task. Many mentors want to see the development in the mentees if they’re to keep going with the program so it’s on you to show that the development exists.
With this, when your mentor has an opportunity for you or wants to introduce you to someone then they will have the confidence in you. More to that, senior lawyers consider respect so much so remain respectful however close you may seem, keep the relationship professional, be courteous and don’t come off as bothersome or overwhelming.
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This article is written by @joelnamugera
He is a content writer who knows about the law. He has experience in social media management and also holds basic research skills.
For any necessary contact;
Email: joelpeternamugera@gmail.com
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