Colorado Supreme Court
Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel
Promoting Professionalism. Protecting the Public.
Mentoring program turns 3 years old
The Colorado Attorney Mentoring
Program accomplished a lot since 2013, learned some valuable lessons and is
excited about moving forward in the future.
By JOHN BAKER
Winter 2016
The Colorado
Attorney Mentoring Program (CAMP) turns three years old this month, and our birthday
seems an opportune time to reflect on what we’ve accomplished, the lessons
we’ve learned and where we need to go in the coming years.
When I was
selected to run the new statewide mentoring program in February 2013, Colorado
had four pilot projects on the Front Range. Now there are almost 30 diverse and
distinct programs throughout the state. CAMP has programs now in 18 of the 22
judicial districts — from the eastern plains, through the ski towns, to the
western slope of Colorado.
Along with
those distinct programs, CAMP has worked to promote diversity and inclusiveness
in the legal profession, we’ve learned that mentoring is not just for trial
attorneys, and we’ve pushed to reach the state’s underserved legal communities.
Big steps in three years
CAMP co-sponsors
its 30 mentor programs with local bar associations, Inns of Court, law firms, government
law offices, and other legal organizations. Each of the CAMP programs is
distinctive in character (and sometimes in structure) to meet local needs and cultures.
Some co-sponsoring organizations adopted the CAMP “12-month CLE Credit Structure,”
which suggests activities and discussion points for the mentor and mentee.
(See the
CAMP website’s current list of
programs.)
Other local
organizations customized their programs, picking and choosing some, but not all,
of the CAMP structure. Some chose to make their programs less formal and more
organic. The CAMP mission under Rule 255 C.R.C.P. is to support and promote all
types of lawyer mentoring in Colorado; whether organic, informal, formal, or CAMP
structured.
Mentoring is for everyone
One of the key
lessons learned over the first three years is that mentoring is not just for
trial lawyers. Traditional legal mentoring has always been a part of the trial
lawyer realm. Due to demand from newly admitted attorneys looking to establish
a transactional law practice or to seek in-house counsel positions with
businesses, CAMP had to develop a transactional and in-house attorney mentoring
program structure. See the CAMP Mentoring Plan Template for Designing Your Own
Program for Transactional and In-House Attorneys.
Instead of a
field trip to the courthouse to meet court clerks and watch a trial, the
mentors are encouraged to invite their mentees to Board of Directors meetings
or real estate closings. Instead of discussing litigation and trial skills, the
transactional lawyer mentoring program promotes discussions of topics like how
to get along with in-house counsel, how to get along with outside counsel, how
to work with the business managers and executives as clients, and how to
negotiate a deal. As with the more trial law oriented CAMP programs, ethics and
professionalism permeate the transactional program structures.
Promoting diversity and inclusivity
Recognizing
that a diverse and inclusive legal profession needs to be promoted, CAMP has
taken two important steps. First, it established co-sponsored mentoring
programs with three of the specialty or affinity bar associations in Colorado,
so far. Two other specialty bar associations are considering CAMP mentoring
programs. See the current complete list of CAMP
programs.
Second, CAMP
has collaborated with Karen Hester, Executive Director of the Colorado-based
Center for Legal Inclusiveness (CLI), to establish activities and discussion
topics for mentors and mentees in all of the CAMP programs. Since some CAMP
mentoring pairs are diverse by gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or
generational differences, CAMP has developed “Boot CAMPs” for individual
programs on mentoring across diversity. Topics for these CAMP activities
include recognizing and overcoming unconscious or implicit bias’s held by many
attorneys. For CAMP information about diversity and inclusiveness, please see
the CAMP Mentoring Resource Center.
Off the beaten path
Most young
attorneys that come to CAMP to find a mentor hope to establish their law practice
along the I-25 or the I-70 corridors. Legal jobs in both of those geographic
areas are scarce. They do not want to leave the bright lights of the city
behind them. Often these young lawyers “hang out their own shingles” in
metropolitan Denver. Many struggle to make a living in these solo practices. There
is an alternative to this struggle!
CAMP has worked at establishing co-sponsored mentoring programs in all four
corners of Colorado. In the process of developing these programs, CAMP has
discovered that Colorado does have underserved legal communities that provide opportunities
for these lawyers. Twice a year, Chief Justice Nancy Rice and I encourage these
newly admitted attorneys to seek mentors through CAMP and join local bar
associations in many of these underserved communities. Although the primary
mission of CAMP does not include “job finding” for these young lawyers, helping
them build their network through mentors will help them find employment,
possibly outside of the I-25 & I-70 corridors.
Moving forward
I was
honored to help CAMP grow from a small series of pilot projects into a robust
resource for strengthening the legal profession in Colorado. I will be retiring
from my position as CAMP Director later this year but I am confident that CAMP
will continue to expand and change to meet the needs of new lawyers as they
join the evolving legal profession.
John Baker is the
Director of the Colorado Attorney Mentoring Program. He practiced law in
Colorado for almost 40 years. He is the former President and Executive Director
of the National Institute for Trial Advocacy and has served as the President of
the Denver Bar Association.