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w w w . c a n a d i a n l a w y e r m a g . c o m M A R C H 2 0 1 9 11 ing by browsing an online list of experi- enced lawyers and their specialities. Fifty lawyers signed up to be part of Mentor Express, with each committing to undertake at least 10 meetings — a total of 500 sessions for which prospective Alberta mentees can sign up. "Think of it like speed-dating for improving your legal practice," laughs Hickerson. A partner with Wilson Laycraft in Calgary, Hicker- son is one of the lawyers available through Mentor Express. The impetus for Mentor Express, says Cori Ghitter, director of professionalism and policy at the LSA, came from feed- back for its Mentor Connect program, which has long been fostering longer- term mentor-mentee relationships in the Alberta legal community. "We had great uptake in the Mentor Connect program," says Ghitter. "But we came to see that not all lawyers interested in being mentors have the amount of time to give through a typical mentoring relationship." The LSA realized the new software it began using for managing its other men- toring programs could be used to set up a speedy system where a mentee could find a variety of mentors to convene with for single meetings on specific issues. That would also reduce the time burden on mentors as well. Hickerson, a commercial litigator prac- tising for 25 years now, has been a more traditional-style mentor before. When Mentor Express was launched, the law society asked him to take part in a pilot program to test run the concept. "I wish I'd had something like this when I was wet behind the ears," says Hickerson. Doing law well, he explains, "is something you have to work at every day. Lawyers don't have the greatest reputation in society." He'd like to see that change, so one motivation for his mentoring is to help improve the quality of the profession. During the pilot, Hickerson met up for coffee with a different mentee on two occasions. He likes to hold the sessions in informal places such as cafés. "There is a bit of a confessional aspect to this" for the mentees, he says. "So, it helps to not sit in an office or a big boardroom with photos of partners a hundred years old." There are benefits for the mentors, too, he adds. "Oftentimes, when someone talks to you about a problem, you might be dealing with something similar in your own practice. Talking things out with [a mentee] might help you solve something in your own practice. The other thing is there is some reasonably good evidence that mentoring someone else helps you become more resilient." With all 500 Mentor Express sessions taken up in a matter of days after launch, Ghitter says, the LSA is "definitely open to expanding and adding more men- tors. But for now, we want to let this run a while first, see how many of those appointments actually get taken up. Then we will do some followup with mentors and mentees and make sure it's all work- ing as we hope." — Anthony Davis R E G I O N A L W R A P Master the law. Canada's leading law school offers a graduate degree in four unique streams: Business Law Canadian Law in a Global Context Innovation, Law and Technology Law of Leadership Apply today. Visit gpllm.law.utoronto.ca Questions? gpllm@utoronto.ca ntitled-6 1 2018-05-25 11:45 AM

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