“Mentoring” as a concept is as old as the practice of law itself, but while we have a loose patchwork of programs around the Commonwealth, we look forward to discussing some new and creative ideas and lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic, including the following: (1) an effective mentoring program can be extremely helpful in sharing information and in overcoming isolation, depression and a host of other mental health and professional challenges presented by lockdowns and cancellations; and (2) the mass emergence of video-conferencing technologies makes it easier to connect “virtually” than ever before. This CLE will focus on the value of mentoring, non-traditional mentoring ideas, the important role of mentoring in both educating lawyers but also improving lawyer competence and well-being and the additional implication and application of the Rules of Professional Conduct. This includes the issues of competence, conflicts, client confidentiality, candor, independent judgment, responsibility of supervisory lawyers and a lawyer’s duty to report.

MCLE Credit: 1.0 Hour (--Ethics) PENDING

Sponsors:  Education of Lawyers Section, Senior Lawyers Conference, Diversity Conference, Young Lawyers Conference, Family Law Section