Law Students

Finding a Safe Harbor Mentor

By Ms. JD

Ed. Note: The following article, by April A. Christine, comes to Ms. JD from the Los Angeles Lawyer.

barristers tips BY APRIL A. CHRISTINE

Los Angeles Lawyer March 2009

 Finding a Safe Harbor Mentor 

A PERFECT STORM OCCURRED in October 1991 when three storms combined into one off the coast of Gloucester, Massachusetts. The combined storm created waves 10 stories high and winds of 120 miles an hour, whipping the sea to heights that only a few witnessed and fewer survived. While the perfect storm, as memorialized in a book and recounted in cinema, was a historic event, it can be compared to events that happen in everyday lives in the workplace. When opposing counsel appear inflexible, clients overly demanding, supervisors watching and evaluating every move, and colleagues circling like vultures waiting for the untutored to stumble and fail, the legal profession can seem like the perfect storm. To stave off the potential devastation of a perfect legal storm, it is important to find a mentor who can act as a safe harbor, assisting in navigating through the politically stormy waters of the legal profession.

A safe harbor mentor serves as a trusted counselor or teacher?someone to whom the protégé can ask questions, seek guidance, bounce ideas, and discuss issues one would not normally discuss with a supervisor. Providing a safe harbor, however, is not to be confused with harboring misconduct. Mutual trust in a safe harbor relationship is essential. A safe harbor mentor should also not be put in an advocacy or mediator role between the protégé and his or her supervisor. Instead, a safe harbor mentor guides the mentee in making sound professional decisions.

read more

Full post as published by Ms. JD on June 17, 2009 (boomark / email).