July 22, 2024Back to Latest

“…with courage, guidance and support, facing [career] challenges can help one to grow in strength, maturation, character, leadership ability and the desire to contribute to the development of society at the highest level. I want my mentees to find hope and encouragement, that in facing the many challenges, they will experience growth, and find meaning and purpose in their lives.”

Richard has been a mentor with the Law Society’s Mentor Connect program since 2017. 

Q: Why did you get involved with Mentor Connect?
A: “I got involved as a way to contribute to the profession, and assist young lawyers as they try to get their feet under them in a very demanding career, one with a very high level of responsibility that requires a great deal of maturity to handle.”

Q: Tell us a bit about your current mentoring relationship:
A: “I am currently mentoring a rural practitioner starting a young family and facing significant decisions that will have lasting impact on his career. It has been a relationship that he reports of being of value to him, and I have found both interesting and rewarding to be a part of. ”

Q: How long have you been involved in mentorship?
A: “I have been mentoring with the Law Society since 2017. “

Q: What do you enjoy the most about your role as a mentor?
A: “I enjoy the giving of myself, my time and my attention, to another who finds value in our time together. It is a win-win relationship. The mentees are not alone in facing their challenges and have a person who is independent of their situation to bounce things off of, and I get the reward of finding that my experience has value and can contribute meaningfully to another as well as to the future of the profession.”

Q: What do you hope your mentees take away from working with you?
A: “Mostly I want them to have hope. At six years into the profession, my marriage was falling apart, I was seeing an industrial psychologist, looking and hoping for a career change to get out of the stresses of the private practice of law as my life was collapsing around me. Now, after 35 years of practice, I am deeply grateful that I remained in the practice, and find great meaning and reward in contributing to my society and using my experience to help another. Learning to handle the demands, challenges and stresses of practice is an experience that can either defeat and destroy, leading to incivility, depression, cynicism, substance abuse, and suicidal ideation, if not suicide itself. On the other hand, with courage, guidance and support, facing these challenges can help one to grow in strength, maturation, character, leadership ability and the desire to contribute to the development of society at the highest level. I want my mentees to find hope and encouragement, that in facing the many challenges, they will experience growth, and find meaning and purpose in their lives.”

Q: What have you learned from working with your mentees?
A: “That every mentee is different, facing different challenges in themselves and in their circumstances, and that compassionate giving of yourself to another is a path to finding joy in your own life.”

Q: If another lawyer is thinking about becoming a mentor, what should they know beforehand?
A: “Not every mentor-mentee relationship will work out, and you need to approach the relationship with some humility and acceptance of it will be what it will be. Being authentically present and open is what is going to help. The more you listen and seek to understand the mentee, the better the odds of a successful relationship. As lawyers we can be very quick with the answers, but I have learned that often what the mentee got from me, was not the point I thought I was making, but an aside or off the cuff remark I made, or an attitude they observed ‘between the lines’.”

The Law Society of Alberta offers Mentor Moments to acknowledge the contributions made by volunteer lawyers in their mentorship programs and to encourage other Alberta lawyers to consider participating. Read more Mentor Moments.

We do not attempt to verify mentors’ statements in their Mentor Moment profiles and the opinions expressed are solely their own. The Law Society of Alberta does not endorse any individual profiled or contents provided.