What is a Mentor?
A mentor is not the same as a teacher. A teacher’s main function is to impart knowledge to a group of students on a discrete subject, assess their grasp of that knowledge through final exams, essays, and presentations, and give them a final grade.
Mentors do not give grades. They go far beyond a teacher’s circumscribed role. Mentors advise and guide a student through the complex and often overwhelming experience of studying law by addressing all questions, concerns, and fears until that student can say with confidence: “I understand.”
Mentors are all about giving their full attention to one person in a private setting.
For instance, mentors advise students bewildered by legal principles such as duty of care, and head-scratching Latin and Old French legal terms such as stare decisis, obiter dicta and cy pres, and words like affidavit, case law and settlement.
They can also empathize with students, and validate their feelings, having gone through the crucible of law school themselves.
Through this approach, a legal mentor’s goal is to help students realize their potential and build their confidence. In other words, a mentor is personally invested in the full development of a law or paralegal student or a person with a keen interest in the law. Each student’s questions, concerns and fears are unique. Therefore, mentors tailor their advice and guidance to each individual student. Whereas, teachers tailor lectures to a generic group.
Law schools across Canada offer mentorship programs for first year law students. Students are matched with lawyers who practice in areas students have an interest in. These mentors focus on the day to day life of a lawyer, in and out of court, and help students develop networking skills.
Mentor law complements these programs by assisting students with course work, by being there for them in the learning phase, before students enter their working phase in a law firm. Moreover, Mentor Law pays close attention to students whose first language is not English, or who have law degrees from a civil law or sharia law country. Many students in Canadian law schools and paralegal programs come from outside of Canada, and have no knowledge of our common law system. Unsurprisingly, they also require a helping hand grasping the nuances of the English language. Universities are not ESL schools, so instructors there do not have the time or resources to help ESL students.
That’s where Mentor Law comes in. At present, Mentor Law is offering assistance in these areas of law:
- Introduction to the Study of Law
- Tort
- Civil Procedure
- Contract
- Criminal
However, this list is not exhaustive. Other areas of law available include:
- Family
- Aboriginal
- Intellectual Property
- Insurance
- Real Estate
- Wills and Estates
- Corporate
- Equity
- Collections
- Administrative
- Client Interviewing
- Ethics
