Earlier this year, Gabrielle Golding (PhD Candidate and Teaching Fellow from the Adelaide Law School) successfully launched the ‘Young Lawyers Mentoring Program’ for final year students from the Adelaide Law School.

The Program has allowed for 40 final year Law students to be mentored by active young legal practitioners who are all members of the Law Society of South Australia’s Young Lawyers’ Committee (YLC). The mentors come from a diverse range of backgrounds, including private commercial practice, the public sector, as well as criminal and family law firms. Each mentor has been allocated 3 or 4 students, based on the students’ interests in a particular practice area and the mentor’s own practical experience.

The Program began with a ‘meet and greet’ networking event held at the Law Society in late April 2015. This allowed for students and their mentors to meet for the first time.

Since then, students have had the opportunity to have informal catch-ups with their mentor once per semester (e.g. over coffee), and in some cases more regularly, depending on the mentor’s availability.

This is not a Program that guarantees students a job in a law firm. Rather, it is designed to allow students to ask questions of a young lawyer who is interested in giving them advice on furthering their career and assisting them to make the transition from university to the workplace.

Students involved in the Program have reported that they are very grateful for the opportunity to ask questions and seek career-related advice from these young members of the profession. They also value the opportunity to forge lasting connections in the legal profession while still at Law School.

Given the success of the Program to date, it is anticipated that the YLC will run it again in 2016.

Should you have any queries about the Program, please feel free to contact Gabrielle at gabrielle.golding@adelaide.edu.au.