Santa Clara University

Gary Shara B.S. '67, J.D. '70 (right), says mentoring is "an opportunity for first-year law students to have contact with a graduate of the law school and to discuss issues that have a particular concern to them in their first year of law school." Shara is a mentor this year to Evelyn Tom '06.

It’s 5 p.m. on a Thursday in late October. They are sitting in a reception area in SCU alumnus Gary Shara’s office waiting to meet him. He will be taking them out to dinner. The interviewer asks them, "Have you met him? What is he like? Where will he take you? What do you expect your dinner to be like?"

Blind date? "The Bachelor"? No, it’s the Law Alumni Dinner Program, where first-year law students are invited to dinner by alumni and have the chance to pick their brains about law school, the practice of law, or favorite movies.

Modeled after a program at UCLA and the brainchild of past Alumni Board President Jeff Hyman ’94, the Law Alumni Dinner Program began five years ago with just a handful of mentors. It has blossomed to include 90 alumni mentors and 180 first year students. This year it has twice the number of participants as it has had in the last few years, according to one of its founding members, Alumni Board President Rebecca Sue Jones ’87.

"The growth of the program has been phenomenal," says Jones. "Alumni love to get involved. Often all you have to do is ask them. This program requires such a small time commitment that it’s easy to participate."

The opportunity to interact with students is one of the things that makes this program so popular with alumni, according to John Baldwin, director of development for the School of Law. He says, "Alumni get a good feeling working directly with and helping students. Students get the opportunity to talk to alumni about the law school experience and about opportunities upon graduation in business and in law." A number of mentors and protégés have kept in touch through graduation, developing friendships and professional contacts, says Baldwin.

Mentoring is now considered one of the most valuable extracurricular law school experiences, according to the American Bar Association’s Senior Lawyer Division. School of Law Dean Donald Polden, while at the University of Memphis School of Law, was part of a group of law school deans and ABA officials who put together a how-to manual on establishing mentoring programs. The publication, titled Mentor Programs: Resource Guide, lists information on the "best practices" for law school and bar association mentor programs. He strongly believes in mentoring, having himself benefited from mentoring by judges and older attorneys who he says shared with him the "folklore of the profession" and "modeled professional behavior."

Polden says mentoring is a way to impart from one generation of lawyers to another "the transcendent values in the legal profession: the need to know your client, the concept of fidelity to the client, and the obligation of civility and professionalism with respect to others in the practice of law."

Mentors and Protégés

Between the full-time practice of law, golf, and writing movie reviews for his own movie review Web site (sign up at www.qsreviews.com), James V. Quillinan ’74 makes sure he has time for his two protégés.

James V. Quillinan '74

Typically, says Quillinan, the students have "tons of questions, not only about law school but about the practice of law."

Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Mary Jo Levinger ’74 wishes the mentor program had existed when she was at SCU. Levinger was part of a pioneering class of women law students in the 70s who established the School of Law’s first orientation program, an important step in helping students make the transition to law student, and a program that exists to this day.

Levinger, who regularly hires SCU students as law clerks, says the mentoring program keeps her up to date on the law school. "The value for alums is in keeping in touch with what’s happening, how the student body is comprised, what the faculty is like, and how the school is delivering services to the students."

For students, the value is in "getting some ideas about where they can go with their law studies," she says.

Sarah Hager ’06, who had had dinner with Levinger a few nights earlier at an Italian restaurant near campus, says she enjoyed talking with someone with the breadth of experience of Judge Levinger. Hager, who eventually may run for public office, was interested to hear of the opportunities in public service and the challenges of balancing professional and personal life.

Gary Shara B.S. ’67, J.D. ’70, who has a corporate practice, has been a mentor since the dinner program began. For him, mentoring is "an opportunity for first year law students to have contact with a graduate of the law school and to discuss issues that have a particular concern to them in their first year of law school," as well as "an opportunity for the mentor to stay in touch with what is happening at the law school and, particularly, with the concerns of first year law students."

Shara is amazed at how similar the concerns of students are today to "those we had 30 years ago." The mentoring experience, he says, also "helps students look beyond law school to life after law school: how to make a living and what is available, so that the student can find a career path that fits that student’s interests and personality."

Shara’s protégé, Evelyn Tom ’06, signed up for the mentoring program to "get the inside scoop" on what SCU School of Law is like and to learn more about what it’s like to work in corporate law. A graduate of U.C. Davis, Tom chose SCU because of the prestige of its high tech program.

Basil Farjo, Shara’s other protégé, is a Seattle native and a 2003 Georgetown graduate with degrees in history and English. Farjo chose SCU’s law school because of its size, location, and because it was "far enough away from home." Farjo sought a mentor to "have someone to ask advice of, to talk to, and to learn from about business law." To Farjo, the choice was a no-brainer: "Something for nothing," he says. "A great opportunity without too much time away from studying."

Mentor Fred Gonzales ’77 hopes all SCU law students realize what a great opportunity they have to join the "network of SCU alums who are available to help them." The majority of jobs, in law and outside of law, are obtained not through responding to job announcements, but through personal contacts. "People will choose a known commodity rather than take a risk on the unknown," he says. "If students participate in the Alumni Dinner program, Law Career Day, and internships, they have the opportunity to be mentored not just by one designated mentor, but by the entire network of SCU graduates."

Gonzales’s lucky protégés had just enjoyed a home cooked meal accompanied by plenty of champagne.

Keeping In Touch

So how did Shara’s mentoring dinner go? According to him, the dinner, at a "nice Italian restaurant," went great. "Evelyn and Basil are very confident students. We talked about recent court cases, the recall, how to solve the Mid-East crisis, etc. All in all, they are very impressive people."

The tally? A unanimous vote for another meeting (though Shara jokes that it may be at In ‘n’ Out Burger this time.)

Invitations to become mentors for fall 2004 will be sent to alumni in August. If you have questions about the program, please contact Angela Bunting at 408-554-1748 or ambunting@scu.edu.

Susan Vogel is a frequent contributor to Et al. and other SCU publications.