A rewarding way to fill a void

It’s fair to say that law school doesn’t prepare anyone for the challenges they’ll face as a new lawyer. 

"People are completely ill-prepared for every aspect of the profession,” says retired corporate lawyer Murray Gottheil. 

“You're not prepared to handle a file. You’re not prepared for managing clients. You’re not prepared for knowing how to go out and get clients. You’re not prepared for managing your mental health, for setting boundaries, for evaluating whether you should work for a particular firm, or for knowing what to do if you’re assigned to the partner from hell or pushed to do things that are unethical. You don’t know anything at all about the practice of law.”

He knows this because he lived it.

“I started my career and was instantly out of the bar and in charge of a corporate practice,” says Gottheil, who practiced law in a medium-sized firm in Mississauga, Ontario.

“I had no experience being mentored.”

It’s why he now shares his expertise with junior lawyers, as a way of giving back to the profession. He believes that those starting in the field should seek out a mentor to help guide them through their legal careers.

"I’ve worked with a number of young people since I retired. Some once or twice, some on a continual basis,” Gottheil says. 

“I developed a mentoring fee schedule. It ranges from $0 to $1 million. The majority of people take the free option, and some pay me. That’s fine. I made my money working way too hard in the profession.”

‘I felt quite isolated’

Dimple Kainth was also largely on her own when she began her career in law 20 years ago.

“I’m a South Asian woman, and I’m a first-generation Canadian,” she says 

“I entered the profession without a built-in network or anyone who really understood what I was navigating as a new lawyer.”

A principal lawyer at Satya Law in Burnaby who practices administrative, professional regulation and employment law, Kainth says the experience affected her career trajectory. 

“I came away always feeling like I didn’t fit in, and whatever I was experiencing, I felt quite isolated,” she says.

“I really struggled. That’s really what prompted me to become a mentor myself."

She formally mentors junior lawyers through Canadian Bar Association’s programs. Informally, she’s taken on people who’ve contacted her directly. 

“If I have the capacity and I feel connected to that person, then I mentor them. It’s been many years, and I love it,” she says. 

“I’ve basically become the mentor I needed myself.”

A cornerstone of traditional legal practice

Kainth strongly believes mentorship, both formal and informal, is necessary for the legal profession. 

“It has been the cornerstone of traditional legal practice. It’s how lawyers were traditionally trained,” she says. 

“You’re passing on wisdom from one generation to the next, learning how to practice ethically, how to exercise sound judgment, how to navigate pressure, how to build resilience.”

Nastaran Roushan, a litigation partner at Seabrook Workplace Law in Toronto, notes that having a mentor is particularly important for female lawyers and those from marginalized communities.

"So much of our knowledge is shaped by our experiences,” she says.

“Especially when you're starting out, your experience is limited … Mentorship is a way of gaining knowledge from other people's experiences. It fills a void.”

And it goes beyond just having a collegial relationship with your coworkers, and having someone to ask about legal principles, ethics advice, or how to proceed with an issue of law.

“A mentorship is more long-term,” Roushan says. 

“It’s about providing more long-term advice and assistance with both career and your personal issues … It provides you with someone who's going to go to bat for you—maybe for a reference, or proposing you for noteworthy engagement within an association, and so on. This helps propel your career.”

In fact, Gottheil recommends that lawyers consider seeking out mentors outside their law firm altogether. 

“Don’t believe your firm when they tell you they’ll assign you a mentor,” he warns. 

“That mentor is about ensuring you record your billable hours and do what the firm wants, not about your career path.”

In that vein, Roushan encourages junior lawyers to join professional organizations and clubs where they can connect with senior lawyers.

Wherever you seek mentorship, Kainth says, focus on creating authentic relationships. She advises young lawyers and law students to seek out someone who is intentional about building relationships.

“Look for people whose careers or values resonate with you.”

Benefits go both ways

Mentorship isn’t a one-way relationship. It turns out that mentors also reap benefits from it. 

"You're going to get a different perspective. You're going to learn from somebody else,” Roushan says.

That’s certainly been Kainth’s experience working with younger lawyers.

“They have innovative ways of thinking and doing things,” she says. 

“They challenge us to reflect on our own practices and habits. I see this generational shift, and I think younger lawyers can help older lawyers figure out new ways of doing things that make their working life better.”

Gottheil agrees that learning goes both ways.

“If you’re a 50-year-old lawyer mentoring someone 25, you can learn about technology and how younger people are thinking, which you can use to relate to younger clients.”

He has personally derived a lot of enjoyment from being a mentor. 

"I’ve possibly impacted people’s careers, and that’s satisfying. Maybe it makes me feel less guilty about the years I spent chasing dollars.”

For Kainth, the experience has deepened her sense of purpose. 

"It’s fulfilling because I support somebody else’s growth, especially where I once struggled by myself,” she says. 

“It creates connection, a sense of community, shared purposes, and those things enrich the life of both the mentor and the mentee.”