by Caroline Gabsewics
Staff Writer
In the three years it takes to become an attorney, one of the more important components of law school — besides going to class and studying — is networking with practicing attorneys.
The Hispanic Bar Association (HBA) of Northeast Florida and Florida Coastal School of Law’s Hispanic American Law Student Association (HALSA) is launching a mentorship program in January designed to help FCSL students do just that.
Mike Jorgensen, associate professor at Florida Coastal and HALSA’s faculty advisor, said the mentoring he received 20 years ago is very different from today.
“How can we create a partnership between young attorneys and veteran attorneys?” he asked.
Two months ago Jorgensen, Ada Hammond — attorney and president of the HBA — and attorney and member of HBA Giselle Carson met to talk about a partnership between Florida Coastal and the HBA.
“We established how effective a mentoring program would be between the Hispanic students at Florida Coastal and the Hispanic Bar,” said Jorgensen. “The relationship starts in law school.”
They are hoping the partnership will be very successful in Jacksonville and eventually become a prototype for other bar associations in Florida, including the Florida Bar.
“My idea of a Bar function is to give something back to the community and in return we have something to give back, too,” said Jorgensen.
Hammond said there has been a lot of talk within the Florida Bar about the need for mentorships.
“I think this is wonderful,” she said. “Hopefully, by starting early, we can help the students develop outside of school.”
The idea, Hammond said, is to help the students determine what they want to do once they graduate.
Hammond said she recently sent out letters to all of the 35 attorneys/judges who are members of the HBA asking them if they would be interested in being a mentor.
“I actually just got our first response and they have agreed to be a mentor,” she said.
The program will allow one law student to “shadow” a practicing attorney. The law student will be paired with an attorney who is practicing law in the area the student is interested in. Jorgensen said if the student finds they are not interested in that area of law, they can move them to another attorney. Students will have the opportunity to go to Jacksonville Bar Association meetings, sit in on depositions, client interviews, hearings, closings, trials, negotiations and mediations.
“It is a win for the students because they will get to have all of those experiences, and they will be networking,” said Jorgensen. “It is a win for the (Hispanic) Bar because there are always benefits in doing service work.
“It is their obligation to help new lawyers.”
As a part of the program, the attorneys can call on their mentee to help them with Spanish language interpretative assistance, he said.
There are currently 17 Florida Coastal students in their first, second or third years of law school who are members of HALSA.
“This is really exciting, because this is the first year this has been done,” said Laura Randeles, second-year law student and secretary of HALSA. “It gives students an opportunity to learn some practical experience.
“We will get to learn some of the professional skills before we graduate.”
Randeles’ family is from Mexico and she said it is really important to have those professional skills.
“It allows us to get our heads out of our books to get out and network,” she said.
Jorgensen added that the networking opportunities with this program are one of the more important parts of the partnership.
“We can’t stress it enough. This is giving — especially the 1L’s (first years) — the experience they need outside of school,” he said.
Jorgensen said he hopes the relationships the students form with their mentors will continue after graduation.
“We don’t see it (the relationship) as ever really ending,” he said. “We want them to develop a close relationship because it leads to more opportunities to network.”
Paul Arcia, also a second-year law student and a member of HALSA, agreed that it is a great way to network with local attorneys.
“It is one thing to read about it (law) and another thing to experience it,” said Arcia. “It is important to have those professional skills and learn what to do and what not to do.
“Just the ability to get out and network, meeting people, building contacts and getting out in a more formal setting — it is never too early to get out and network.”