Speed dating meets the law: MentorJet networking event conducted at Cooley

By Roberta M. Gubbins Legal News A mentor, according to Webster's II dictionary, is a person looked upon for wise advice and guidance. To mentor is to offer advice and guidance to a junior colleague. A speed version of the process took place at Cooley Law School in Lansing on Monday, March 5. MentorJet: Taking Networking to New Heights, a program created and sponsored by the National Association of Women Judges (NAWJ) and hosted by Cooley Law School, brought 29 practicing lawyers and 35 law students together for a six minute conversation about the wide array of legal opportunities available to the students when they graduate. "It is a chance for the students to learn about the variety of law options available," said Wayne County 36th District Court Judge Katherine Hanson, NAWJ representative for the event. "For example, did you know that Homeland Security has its own legal department?" Who knew? Now some students know and may consider that as a career path. Bradley Merritt, Career and Professional Development coordinator at Cooley Law School, helped organize the event. The lawyers were divided into three groups, ten to a group. "I organized them so that each group had at least one judge from either district, circuit or appellate courts, a lawyer with a large law firm, one with a small law firm or in private practice and lawyers working for federal, state, county or local governments and non-profits." All but one of the lawyers participating were Cooley graduates and personally recruited by Merritt. While this is the first time for the event in Lansing, the response from the students was very good. "We had 15 to 20 on our waiting list," said Merritt. Merritt received the following comments from the students: * They were glad they had this experience and once the event started the time flew by. * They received a lot of useful advice from the attorney mentors and were impressed the attorney mentors were open providing them with contact information and encouraging them to keep in contact. * The students were glad that most of the mentors were Cooley alums. The students wanted to know if similar events were planned to which Merritt responded, "I let them know we will have a Speed Networking Event this summer." Ingham County 55th District Court Judge Donald Allen, a mentor, said, "I think it was a great opportunity to provide busy law students with an unprecedented networking experience. The students had a chance to connect with professionals of their choosing and quickly bounce ideas about career choices and to plan further contact with individuals that had more information to offer." "MentorJet was developed in Anchorage Alaska," said Dana Fabe, Alaska Supreme Court justice and NAWJ president 2009-2010. In March of 2010, the NAWJ board adopted the Alaska program as an NAWJ national program. "We put it on the first two times outside Alaska in September, 2010, at the University of Cincinnati Law School and Chapman University School of Law in Orange County, CA," Fabe said. Fabe participated in the U. Cincinnati Law School MentorJet program as NAWJ president in September 2010 and NAWJ President-elect Marjorie Laird Carter attended the September 2010 Chapman program. When contacted, Fabe was in Louisville, KY where the MentorJet program was taking place at the Brandeis School of Law at the University of Louisville. "The program," she said, "is modeled after speed-dating and presents an informal and fun setting for students to meet a diverse group of judges and leading attorneys in their communities. The students are able to ask the mentors about their career paths, the advantages of judicial clerkships, job possibilities in the public or private sectors, and tips for maintaining work-life balance in our profession." NAWJ is an organization of women jurists dedicated to preserving judicial independence, ensuring equal justice and access to the courts for women, minorities and other historically disfavored groups, providing judicial education on cutting-edge issues, and increasing the numbers and advancement of women judges at all levels to more accurately reflect their full participation in a democratic society. They provide opportunities for members to enrich their professional lives, keep abreast of important issues, and network while contributing to social justice. NAWJ welcomes both men and women, as well as judicial clerks, attorneys and law students. Members include federal, state, tribal, military and administrative law judges at both the appellate and trial levels from every state in the nation. NAWJ's mission is to promote the judicial role of protecting the rights of individuals under the rule of law through strong, committed, diverse judicial leadership, fairness and equality in the courts, and equal access to justice. For more information on the organization, visit NAWJ@NAWJ.org. Published: Mon, Mar 26, 2012

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