Mentorship: Reaching out

As many organisations work to implement or enhance their own diversity and inclusion (D&I) efforts, it has been increasingly apparent that the sharing of experiences can be a powerful catalyst for productive change.

This is particularly true in the legal community, which has struggled mightily with these issues. We need to share how our law firms and legal departments are making commitments and driving progress. I have outlined below some of my own observations and experiences, and hope that they will help others to create meaningful changes in our industry.

Office culture

D&I efforts have often highlighted the importance of diversity in mentorship,ie, diverse partners serving as mentors for diverse associates. The benefits of these relationships include the retention of associates and increases in the firm’s diverse leadership. Diverse mentorship can also expand a young attorney’s professional network, which can broaden their business development opportunities.

Pre-pandemic, in-person office interactions were the norm, with few law firms allowing partner-track attorneys to work remotely. Consequently, in addition to substantive work, attorneys expended additional emotional energy on deciphering the office culture, including informal mechanisms for getting prime assignments and evaluations, and attending obligatory ‘happy hours’ and other social networking events.

However, the challenges for diverse attorneys in these areas were greater than those faced by non-diverse individuals. Diverse mentorship was one way to help diverse attorneys navigate these challenges, and when law firms were forced to move to fully remote work, there was a concern that the benefits of such mentorship would be lost. However, while there were some issues, diverse individuals—particularly Black and Hispanic/Latinx knowledge workers—appeared to generally thrive in remote work environments.