Creating an Alumni Bar Mentoring Program

AuthorSara J. Berman
ProfessionConcord's Assistant Dean of Bar Support Programs and is also the Assistant Dean of Academic Support and Bar Support at Whittier Law School in Costa Mesa, California
Pages63-66
63
7
CREATING AN ALUMNI
BAR MENTORING
PROGRAM
Years ago, I launched an alumni bar mentoring program. As Chapter 5 in the text
makes clear, I believe strongly in alumni mentoring. (e text discusses getting help
from reliable sources including bar reviews, ASP faculty and mentors.) Alumni may
be more credible than professors, who have generally gone to dierent (often more
prestigious) law schools, in a dierent era. e alumni used all the same books, had
the same professors and classes, and faced the same or similar challenges as these bar
candidates. e message mentors convey most credibly is “If I could do it, you can do it.”
Professors are often not credible to current students. ey think professors somehow
were smarter or dierent.
We select as mentors graduates who have recently passed the bar exam the rst
time around and pair them with students studying for the upcoming exam. People
who just passed the bar often have the freshest and most practical advice. Also, they
usually are dying to talk about their experience!
An eective alumni mentoring program can also help time-strapped ASP faculty in
providing motivation and support without spending as much individual one-on-one
time. Mentors serve as the front line; they interact rst with the students. Every fe w
days during bar season I send group emails to all my mentors, and I have a weekly
phone conference with them. In emails, I remind them to let me know if any of their
mentees need to speak with me. (is saves time, too, because it often helps focus my
time on those who really need assistance, and my call to the student may simply be
to conrm what a mentor has said. Even if the student needs a lot of help, his or her
PTB Teachers-Final_131104.indd 63 11/4/13 2:33 PM

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