In October of last year, Leslie Harris ‘84, former judge at the Suffolk Juvenile Court and one of the founding members of the BC Law Black Alumni Network (BAN), passed away. As highlighted in BC Law Magazine’s profile, Judge Harris was deeply involved in the BC Law community, promoting diversity on campus and in the legal community at large, and mentoring countless students and young alumni. BC Law Impact spoke with current students to reflect on their fondest memories with Judge Harris.
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The Conversations That Matter: How Mentors Changed My Life
The coffee was burnt. The décor, forgettable—muted earth tones, a token abstract print on the wall. The air-conditioning droned overhead, numbing the space, while the espresso machine sputtered and sighed into the empty café. But the conversation was life-changing. I was twenty-two, sitting across from an attorney at Bloomberg in Hong Kong, trying to calibrate my enthusiasm, trying not to seem too eager, too green.
He sipped his espresso, glanced at a fancy watch, and then, just as I started doubting my ability to navigate this unfamiliar dynamic, he leaned forward and asked, “So, tell me about yourself?”
Continue readingIt Takes a Village: Why Mentorship is So Important
Today, law students are primarily sculpted in classrooms, with the chances for out-of-class experience strewn throughout summer work, school clinics, and externships. But becoming a lawyer in the U.S. was originally premised on the experience of apprenticing. Direct observation, hands-on work, with a touch of baptism-by-fire-shaped lawyers. On a broader level, apprenticing was premised on mentorship. Though law students must endure the modern right of passage that is the dreaded 1L year spent in structured doctrinals, mentorship has remained a mainstay of a legal education.
“Networking” is a daunting word for most in the professional world and known all too well by those in the legal field. Law students understand early on that building a network is a crucial part of forming their careers. But mentorship is just as important as – and in fact both encompasses the nature of and is an expansion of – networking. As a remnant of early legal education, having mentors from the moment you start law school until your last day of retirement at that fancy law firm you started is vital to success in the legal field. Having a network is important, but having people in your corner to guide the ship that is your career journey is what makes your network rich.
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BC Law: Impact 