At the ABA Business Law Section Council Meeting held in West Palm Beach, Florida, on January 7, 2017, Justice (Ret.) Henry duPont Ridgely delivered the following remarks.
Good morning,
I am very honored to be asked to speak with you this morning as a Business Law Advisor. Often this becomes a time to recount some of the professional history that the Advisor may have. But in view of my recent interview in the December issue of Business Law Today I am not going to go over that again. What I want to talk to you about is, what I am worried about as a member of our profession, as a Judge in Delaware for more than 30 years and as a member of the Bar for 43 years. I am worried about young lawyers. And I want to talk to you about mentoring and the critical importance to our profession of our service as mentors.
It is our shared responsibility as senior members of the Bar to provide and improve guidance to young lawyers and law students as their mentors. Over my career, I have come to recognize that there are limits to what law schools can do. There just isn’t the time to do what a mentor traditionally does. I am worried about young lawyers who can be adrift in a large law firm, or even worse, young lawyers who cannot find jobs and who open a practice on their own without professional guidance.
Since my own admission to the Delaware Bar in 1974, I have seen many Delaware lawyers serve as mentors. We have institutionalized that role in Delaware. Every applicant for Bar Admission must have a preceptor and complete five months of clerkship requirements under the preceptor’s direct supervision and guidance. It’s a long list of things you have to do that essentially is an introduction to the practice of law under the oversight of an experienced Delaware lawyer. You have to have been a lawyer for at least 10 years to be a preceptor. Preceptors set the example of leadership, public service, and professionalism for the new lawyer. The best prec
