Big Law Attorneys Share Why Mentoring Matters: Part Three

In the third part of our “Why Mentoring Matters” series, two female partners at large law firms write about their personal journeys and how mentoring or being mentored has played an important and positive role in their careers.

Morgan Lewis & Bockius labor and employment partner Debra Fischer discusses how her lack of a female mentor as a young attorney inspired her to become a mentor to others, especially women. She relates how she had no role models to guide her when she returned from maternity leave at another firm in the 1990s. That, and her discovery that she had been excluded from male partners’ get-togethers, forced her to create her own mentoring and networking style with other attorneys and clients.

And Helam Gebremariam, Cravath, Swaine & Moore’s first Black woman litigation partner, discusses her experience being mentored by litigator Evan Chesler, who grew up “a son of the Bronx.” As a daughter of Ethiopian immigrants, a first-generation college student, and a first-generation lawyer, she says she found common ground with her mentor, also a first generation lawyer, who helped her feel that she belonged at the firm.

Click on the attorneys’ names below to read their stories of how being a mentor, or receiving that kind of coaching or guidance, has played a significant role in their lives and careers.

• Morgan, Lewis & Bockius Partner Debra Fischer (Los Angeles)
• Cravath, Swaine & Moore Partner Helam Gebremariam (New York)

Then, join us again next week for our fourth installment of “Why Mentoring Matters.”