Ida O. Abbott, published by NALP and sponsored by The New York Women’s Bar Association Foundation, 2000.

Excerpted from a review of mentoring resources by Bonnie Goldberg:

The Lawyer’s Guide to Mentoring offers a blueprint for constructing and enhancing a firm’s mentoring program. Ida Abbott argues convincingly that mentoring is one of the most important tools in a recruiter’s toolbelt when it comes to both attracting and keeping talent. While bonuses and skyrocketing salary may be a Band-Aid solution in the short term, mentoring sustains through a bad economy and nurtures the life of a firm.

We learn that mentoring programs build loyalty, boost retention, and effectively build and transmit accumulated firm culture. Abbott notes that mentors boost their own productivity and further their own professional development by mentoring other lawyers in their firms. Mentees, on the other hand, benefit from someone in their profession implicitly stating, “I believe in you and want to help you succeed.”

The book covers every area imaginable, including the tricky morass of office relationships and troubleshooting obnoxious mentors. The particular challenges women and minority lawyers face in firms are sensitively and cogently addressed as well. Although directed at professional offices, the guide has a great deal of information that is easily transferable to career services offices that administer mentoring programs.

View the table of contents (PDF)