DSBA Mentoring Program
The DSBA is proud to provide an online mentoring system to help lawyers become and/or find Mentors among our valued members.
Every year, over 100 attorneys are admitted to the Delaware Bar and become members of the DSBA. As new attorneys make the transition from the classroom and into practice, they face many challenges and potential pitfalls. The DSBA Mentoring Program is designed to elevate the competence and professionalism of Delaware’s new and recently admitted attorneys and thereby increase the probability of their long-term success.
This program is designed to match Delaware attorneys with more experienced members of the Delaware Bar in their substantive area of practice or expertise.
It is our hope that the mentoring relationships created through this program will accomplish the following:
- Assist in the development and improvement of the legal skills of the new admittees or recently admitted Delaware Attorneys
- Encourage the use of best practices and the highest ideals of professionalism and civility in the practice of law
- Pass on knowledge of and adherence to recognized traditions and customs unique to the practice of law in Delaware
- Cultivate collegial relationships among the members of thr Delaware Bar and involvement in the DSBA
Matched Mentors and Mentees are…
- Recommended to commit to a mentoring term of at least 1 year
- Recommended to have at least six in-person meetings during the mentoring term
- Recommended to attend at least two DSBA organized events together during the mentoring term
- Encouraged to provide candid and constructive feedback to the DSBA during, and at the end, of the mentoring term about their experiences and how the DSBA can improve the program going forward
- Be a current (and active) member of the Delaware Bar
- Be a current member of the DSBA
- Read the Principles of Professionalism for Delaware Lawyers & the Delaware Lawyers’ Rules of Professional Conduct and agree to promote and foster by word and deed these principles and rules to their Mentees
- Have no record of disciplinary sanctions
- Agree to comply with the DSBA Mentoring Program Guidelines
Mentees must…
- Have sucessfully passed the Delaware State Bar Exam, with the exception of Law Student Members
- Be admitted to practice law in Delaware, or in the case of Student Members, plan to work in Delaware
- Be a current member of the DSBA
- Be committed to practicing law in Delaware for the duration of the mentoring term, or be a student at a Delaware law school or a Delaware student resident
- Agree to comply with the DSBA Mentoring Program Guidelines