Future Law

Where is Professional Development Headed in Law? Find Out at This Virtual Conference

After a four-year hiatus, the National Legal Mentoring Conference (NLMC) returns in a virtual format in October. The conference is one of the only in the U.S. that teaches professional development (PD) leaders how to implement programs that support lawyers in the development of their careers and professional identity through mentoring, sponsorship, competency models, and other skill-building platforms.

The skills that today’s lawyers need to succeed in the legal environment are constantly evolving. The NLMC will provide PD professionals and legal educators with a roadmap of topics that are moving the industry and should be part of their curriculum now and into the future.

 

The conference will be held on Friday, October 7, from 8:20 a.m. – 12:20 p.m. CDT via Zoom. Registration is $99.

Register here

 

Are you a leader in PD, talent management, or legal education? If so, here are some reasons why you should consider attending:

1. Connect with Speakers Who Truly Care About PD for Lawyers

Unlike other professional development conferences, speakers at the NLMC are laser-focused on the legal profession. Through their research and in their practices, they are deeply involved in the knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed to succeed in the profession and have intentionally designed processes and activities to help shape attorneys, organizations, and the profession as a whole.

Some of the speakers include Megan Bess, a professor at the University of Illinois Chicago School of Law who has written on professional identity formation; Alyson Carrel, a professor at Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law who developed the celebrated “Delta Model Lawyer,” an updated competency model for 21st-century lawyers; and Sylvia F. James, Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer for Winston & Strawn in Washington, D.C., where she develops and implements metrics-driven diversity and inclusion programs.

2. Explore More Than Mentoring

As the post-COVID legal landscape emerges, the demand for new ways to access justice and deliver legal services is prevalent. It’s apparent that the pipeline of legal education from law school into practice must develop beyond substantive law learning. The next generation of lawyers is hungry for it and clients are demanding it.

While nurturing effective mentoring and sponsorship programs are a vital part of the NLMC, the 2022 conference will go beyond mentoring to explore other topics that are essential to the career development of legal professionals, including:

  • How to leverage the law and technology to create a more holistic alternative legal competency model.
  • Ways to support lawyers’ professional identity, including implementing the ABA’s new accreditation requirement for law schools.
  • Opportunities to move beyond policy and create actionable change in diversity, equity, and inclusion.
  • New processes for delivering mentoring and PD more efficiently and effectively.

3. Build Your PD Network

PD in the legal profession can be quite a niche. But the NLMC draws a unique audience of passionate, like-minded PD professionals who are eager to share their ideas and cultivate new connections.

The agenda is designed to bring new ideas and strategies to help serve attendees’ organizations at home.

Who would benefit from attending?

  • Professional development leaders
  • Bar association leaders
  • Law school deans, administrators, and professors
  • Mentoring program leaders from law firms, bar associations, courts, government offices, corporations, law schools, and professional groups
  • Mentors and mentees

The NLMC aims to make its conference accessible with a virtual format, a condensed agenda, and a registration cost of only $99.

To learn more or register, click here.

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