Legal Mentoring

The following article recently appeared in the New York Times.

The Children of Cyberspace: Old Fogies by Their 20s
By Brad Stone, published January 9, 2010

This article deals with technology. A comment which interested me was that there are now mini-generation gaps rather than merely generation gaps. According to Wikipedia (but with a disclaimer that there is no substantiation) gender gaps means:

"The term first became popularized in Western countries during the 1960s and described the cultural differences between the young and their parents."

Although some generational differences have existed throughout history, because of more rapid cultural change during the modern era differences between the two generations increased in comparison to previous times, particularly with respect to such matters as musical tastes, fashion, culture and politics. This may have been magnified by the unprecedented size of the young generation during the 1960s, which gave it unprecedented power, and willingness to rebel against societal norms."

If a generation is about 20 years, that leaves a couple of generation gaps between me and some of the articling students. A frightening but challenging thought. The generation gap and technological advances present formidable obstacles to the "elder generation".

We (i.e., me) are so immersed in today's problems and the urgency and deadlines imposed by practice, we have even less time to contemplate the multitude of ways in which the legal world will change and we are far removed from the cultural and even physical technological changes. This is a problem which is likely faced by young lawyers too - too little time and too much to do. How are we to plan for the future while struggling to keep our heads above water today.

As a mentor, I wonder if my experience will be relevant to the practice of law as it inevitably evolves over the next 20 - 30 years?

The teenagers of the '60's and '70's thought the experience of their parents was irrelevant at best and counter-productive and tainted at the worst. I can say this with confidence having grown up in that long-ago era.

Being an optomist, I assume that I have some valuable or at least interesting ideas, stories and experiences for young lawyers.

So the purpose of this post is to invite the reader to think about how lawyers practice law, how they use technology (or don't), how they communicate within their office, with their peers and with their clients, and whether they are anticipating those inevitable changes. Also what it is that the older lawyers can communicate to newly called lawyer that they may perceive as valuable and interesting.