Relationships in learning: the role of mentors in the developmental trajectory of law firm associates

This phenomenological study examines the multiple workplace influences, including mentors and other developmental relationships, on the growth and development of young lawyers from law school through the first few years of practice. The research questions are analyzed through the multiple lenses of situated learning, transformative learning, and mentoring. Situated learning theory directs attention to workplace participatory practices and affordances. Transformative learning theory describes epistemological change. The literature on mentoring and social networks provides a framework to understand the complexity of developmental relationships in the workplace and the effect of those relationships on individual agency. Eleven lawyers in six different large multi-service law firms located in a large Canadian city participated in the research. Three primary methods were employed: an in-depth interview, brief questionnaires on mentoring behaviours and practices, and the Role Construct Repertory Test. Learning occurred within a richly diverse field of influences, including mentors, supervisors, senior lawyers, peers, and clients. These relationships strongly affected the invitational qualities of the workplace, in terms of access to work and support for learning. Mentors were only one member of the constellation of developers and not always the most important influence on individual development. Some participants enjoyed strong and enduring mentoring relationships almost from the outcome of their career, while others struggled without a mentor until later in their career. Formal mentors were more likely than informal mentors to engage in dysfunctional behaviours such as poor communication or limited support. The importance of luck in the workplace was an unanticipated finding. Nearly every participant was able to tell a story about how luck influenced their professional life, either by an early encounter with an important person or access to important work. The participants identified a clear growth trajectory from student through the first three years of being an associate. They described high stress levels and a general feeling of being in over their heads. As they developed confidence and coping skills they described a lessening of the stress and an increasing sense of mastery over their work.

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