Biglaw, In-House Counsel

Mentoring As An Act Of Selfishness

Note the differences between law firms and in-house environments when it comes to mentorship.

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dartboard pen inside straightI gotcha with that title, didn’t I?

But it can be true, at least within law firms: You can act as a mentor purely because of selfishness.

Within a law firm, a senior person often chooses to mentor a junior person. But who, and why?

Who?

The senior person ordinarily mentors only the junior person who is good. A rare few people might choose to mentor a fool, for whom they had no respect. But that’s not usual. Typically, a senior person works with a junior person who is great. The senior person teaches the junior person about the practice of law, introduces the junior person to important folks, invites the junior person to co-author articles, invites the junior person to participate on panels, and otherwise advances the junior person’s career.

Why?

Is that pure altruism?

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I think not.

First, it’s not pure altruism; it’s human nature. (Maybe the fact that I posit “altruism” and “human nature” as opposites suggests more about me than I should reveal publicly.) If you meet somebody who’s good, you help that person.

Second, it’s a little bit of altruism. You should help younger people. If you meet somebody who’s good, that’s the one to help.

But third — and this is really my point — it’s also selfishness. Good associates are in high demand at law firms. Bad associates are not. (Why should a partner never call the head of the L.A. office and say, “I have a case with some L.A. tentacles; who can you offer me?” Because the head of the L.A. office will naturally give you the associate who has some free time. That’s terrible! The person has free time only because the person is no damn good! You want the person who’s already ferociously busy, because that’s the talented one.)

Anyway, if there is — and, believe me (I worked at a large firm for 20 years), there is — competition among partners for associates who are good, then how is a partner to ensure that good associates want to work for the partner? By being perceived as a good partner to work for: You’re the partner who hands out good work, introduces associates to clients, creates business development opportunities for associates, goes to bat for associates who are up for partnership, and so on. In other words, to get good associates to work for you, be a mentor!

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It’s not altruism; it’s selfishness: Being a mentor is the way you get talented associates to work on your matters.

I grant that this doesn’t apply across the board. In a corporate structure, you have six or eight direct reports who will report to you until they quit, retire, get promoted, get fired, or die. There’s less internal competition for talent (as exists within law firms), and you don’t have to be a good boss to convince these people to work for you. (Perhaps you have to be a good boss to keep your direct reports from quitting, but that’s not the same as the competition for talent within large law firms.) You might nonetheless mentor your direct reports out of a sense of human decency, or obligation, or because your corporation requires it, or whatever. But it’s not quite the same as at a law firm.

Moreover, there are certainly some people who choose to act as mentors to people outside their own organizations: There are senior people who help junior people whom they met at a bar event, or on a non-profit board, or whatever. Maybe those mentors are acting out of altruism (or friendship, or some such thing).

But within law firms, there are really two reasons to be a mentor: The first is altruism. The second is pure selfishness.

Mark Herrmann spent 17 years as a partner at a leading international law firm and is now responsible for litigation and employment matters at a large international company. He is the author of The Curmudgeon’s Guide to Practicing Law and Inside Straight: Advice About Lawyering, In-House And Out, That Only The Internet Could Provide (affiliate links). You can reach him by email at inhouse@abovethelaw.com.

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