On Tuesday, February 7, 2006, the ACS Students’ Chapter at The University of Texas School of Law hosted a kick-off event for our mentorship program. This is the first semester that we have had a mentorship program, and we have been very excited about the results so far. 18 attorneys and 19 students total are participating in this semester’s mentorship program

Most of the students are 1L’s and some have been overwhelmed, and even disillusioned, by the narrow field of job options they felt they would have after graduating law school. The lawyers come from both the private and public sectors and were recruited through outreach by the ACS Austin Lawyers' Chapter. The happy hour gave the students a chance to meet with progressive lawyers and see that there are actually a broad variety of career paths available to them. The event also provided the attorneys with a chance to meet one another in a more personal setting and allowed the students to mingle with each other in a relaxed, non-competitive atmosphere.

Since the event, we have received positive feedback about the happy hour from both the mentors and the mentees. We have emailed the lawyers and the students to thank them for their participation and to follow-up on their experiences thus far with the program. In the next few weeks, the Board members will be planning an end-of-the-semester luncheon for the mentors and mentees. We look forward to a successful mentorship program for this and future semesters!