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Mentoring Plan and Mentoring Agreement
The Mentoring Plan
The Mentoring Plan includes core concepts, lawyering skills, activities and experiences which should be used as learning activities for the new lawyer and the mentor and as topics for discussion between them. The activities and experiences are an introduction to the following topics with which lawyers need to be familiar for the successful and professional practice of law:
The Mentoring Plan should be developed by the mentor and the new lawyer together during their first meeting. Each individualized Mentoring Plan should incorporate as many of the activities and experiences as feasible, while being customized to the particular practice setting, individual needs and personal goals of the new lawyer.
The Mentoring Plan lists activities and experiences grouped by topic. Instructions accompany each topic indicating the minimum number of activities which must be elected in each section and the suggested timeframe within which the section might be completed.
Each activity has a corresponding box which should be checked if the new lawyer elects to participate in the corresponding activity or experience. Once the new lawyer and the mentor check the activities that will make up the new lawyer's Mentoring Plan, both the new lawyer and the mentor must sign the Mentoring Plan Pledge. The executed Mentoring Plan must be submitted by the new lawyer to the Commission on Professionalism, along with the executed Mentoring Agreement, at the start of the mentoring term. For May admittees, the deadline is July 31, 2006; for November admittees, the deadline is March 2, 2007. Both the new lawyer and the mentor should retain a copy of the Mentoring Plan and Mentoring Agreement.
The Mentoring Plan submitted to the Commission will be the checklist of activities which the new lawyer and the mentor are required to complete together by the end of their mentoring term.
There are three minimum requirements for successful completion of the Program:
These are, of course, minimum requirements. The Commission would encourage more than the minimum number of meetings. For example, it suggests monthly one-hour in-person meetings throughout the mentoring term with a number of other regular contacts throughout each month. Additionally, the Commission suggests that the participants engage in as many of the activities which are of interest and relevant to the new lawyer's practice, even if the total number of activities exceeds the minimum number of activities required. Finally, the Commission suggests supplementing the Mentoring Plan with other mutually interesting activities which the new lawyer or the mentor discover over the mentoring term, as well as discussing concepts that may have been introduced in the New Lawyer Training course(s) that the new lawyer has taken.
Engaging in additional meetings or activities will not result in receiving more CLE credit or negating the requirement to complete the activities originally selected in the Mentoring Plan, but it will likely foster a more meaningful relationship between the new lawyer and the mentor and produce a more valuable learning experience for the new lawyer.
The Mentoring Agreement
All mentors and new lawyers will be required to sign an agreement that defines the parameters of the mentoring relationship and limits potential liability. The Mentoring Agreement must be signed by the mentor and the new lawyer at their first meeting and submitted with the Mentoring Plan at the start of the mentoring term. For May admittees, the deadline is July 31, 2006; for November admittees, the deadline is March 2, 2007.
Download In-house Mentoring Agreement 
Satisfactory Completion of the Mentoring Plan
In order to receive credit for completing the Mentoring Plan, the new lawyer must submit to the Commission on Professionalism at the end of the mentoring term a Certificate of Satisfactory Completion signed by both the new lawyer and the mentor, indicating that the participants met for at least the required number of in-person meetings and completed all of the activities elected in the new lawyer's Mentoring Plan, including a discussion about substance abuse and mental health issues. The deadline for submitting the Certificate for May admittees is July 30, 2007, and for November admittees is Dec. 31, 2007.
The Secretary to the Commission shall review the Certification submitted by the new lawyer to determine whether it may be approved for participant credit. If the secretary approves the Certification, s/he will notify the Commission on Continuing Legal Education of a new lawyer's and mentor's satisfactory completion for their appropriate CLE credit.