State Bar Disability Issues Committee Mentor Program

Volunteer to be a Mentor today!

The Texas State Bar Disability Issues Committee is proud to announce the creation of a mentorship program in which licensed Texas Attorneys are paired with law students with disabilities and who attend a law school in Texas. If you are interested in being a source of support and encouragement to a law student with a disability, please sign up to be a mentor today! In particular, we encourage attorneys with disabilities to volunteer and share their experiences with a mentee.

Background and Purpose

The Disability Issues Committee was contacted frequently by law students with disabilities who sought a one to one resource to answer questions, provide guidance, offer support, etc. regarding the practice of law, barriers they might encounter, and recommendations on overcoming those barriers to make their law school experience and their entry into the practice of law a more rewarding and successful experience. The Committee also heard from attorneys interested in sharing their experiences, their training, and their insight toward the pursuit of a successful legal career. To provide these students that support, the Disability Issues Committee created the mentorship program for:

• law students with disabilities and
• recent law school graduates with disabilities

Our goal with the creation of the mentorship program is to provide law students and attorneys with an invaluable resource of information, guidance, and support.

Enrollment and Participation

To start the process, prospective mentors or mentees are asked to complete the appropriate form available via link from this site. This form serves to add your name to our database of mentors or mentees. Once the form is completed, the form is reviewed by one of our committee members in an effort to match the mentor/mentee. We will make every effort to match the mentor and mentee based on the type of information sought, the disability involved, common legal areas of interest, and geographical location. We respect the privacy and confidentiality of our participants and the information they are sharing via this program. To protect that privacy, the list of potential mentors is sent without names or contact information to the mentee. The mentee will be asked to select a potential mentor. Once a selection has been made and submitted to the committee, the committee will contact the selected mentor to see if they are available to work with this particular mentee. If the mentor is available, his or her contact information will then be provided to the mentee.

Because the goal of the mentorship program is to provide as much individualized guidance as possible, once the match is made, the mentor and mentee are free to develop this mentor/mentee relationship as they mutually agree and believe will best meet their needs. The Disability Issues Committee and its members are always available to assist and help develop the relationship.

Currently, the Mentorship Program of the Disability Issues Committee is seeking participation from offices and individuals at law schools and law firms who provide disability support services.

If you have any questions about our Mentor Program, please contact:

Shannon Geihsler at sbg [at] sbgaal.com or at 806-763-3999
-Or-
Lynda Frost at lynda.frost [at] austin.utexas.edu

.