Support your colleagues

Are you a sole practitioner ? Do you feel isolated in your practice ?
Do you have some issues that you wish to discuss ?
Do you need the advice of an experienced colleague ?
The Mentoring Program is there to help you !

This service, offered by the Bar of Montreal and the Young Bar Association of Montreal (YBAM), has been created to provide a mentor to any member of the Bar of Montreal for a minimal six month period. The purpose of the program is to help lawyers to come out of their isolation, to respond to questions related to the practice of law and to guide the youngest in their practice.

A lawyer, admitted to the Bar for more than ten years, will serve as a mentor to a colleague (“mentoree”). The mentoree may either benefi t from the mentor’s social network andresources or simply get another point of view with respect to the challenges of professional practice.

The relationship between the mentor and the mentoree is rewarding in that it gives a positive image of cooperation, not only within the legal community but also the population in general. Mentors may respond to questions from both young and sole practitioners who wish to discuss matters relating to professional ethics or practice.

Mentorees

All lawyers may wish to discuss various subjects such as :

• Building a social network
• Ethics and professional issues
• Work/Family conciliation
• Personal work habits
• Possible career paths
• Working environment improvement
• Self esteem and motivation at work
• Fees and office management (file-keeping, accounting, billing, marketing, client servicing)
• Advice when looking for a new job
• Partnership.

The purpose of the program is not to provide free legal advice to the mentorees.

For every question with respect to substantive law, the mentor will refer the mentoree to the Legal Counsels Program of the YBAM if he or she has been in practice ten years or less. In all other cases, the mentoree will be referred to the Referral Service of the Bar of Montreal.

Mentors

The mentoring requires a series of meetings, whether at lunch time or after work, in order to have the time to discuss the concerns of the mentoree.

It is proposed that the dates of the meetings be determined in advance, at the suggested rate of once per month.

The Mentoring guide aswell as information on other services provided by the YBAM and the Bar of Montreal may be given to the mentor.

Participants can count on full confidentiality from the program.

For more information, please contact Mtre Doris Larrivée, at 514 866‑9392, extension 226.

Instruction for participants
Parameters
Mentorees' form
Mentors' form