08/03/2024
At IE Law School, we’re always looking for ways to support our students’ personal and professional development. The Mentoring Program focuses on exactly that.
The IE Law School Mentoring Program gives bachelor’s and master’s students from the IE Law School firsthand access and insight into their chosen sector. Through careful pairing of mentors with mentees, students have the opportunity to form a relationship with an experienced professional who can relate to—and help them to overcome—the challenges that they face at the beginning of their careers.
Mentees receive hands-on support and advice that will have a positive impact on both their personal and professional lives.
And the benefits are not only for the students; mentors also have the opportunity to embark on a transformative journey that will aid their own personal and professional growth. As well as staying in touch with the challenges facing young professionals entering their sector, they further expand their own network and, above all, have the privilege of inspiring and guiding the next generation of lawyers.
To mark the beginning of this edition of the program, IE Law School held a kick-off event to welcome the latest cohort of mentors and mentees and give them a chance to get to know each other.
Mentors received advice on how to succeed in their important role, and mentees had the opportunity to sharpen their networking skills before embarking on the mentoring journey.
Building connections with leading sector names
Through its far-reaching network of industry-leading professionals, IE Law School has paired mentors from top law firms and companies across the sector with current bachelor’s and master’s students. The mentors come from a diverse list of collaborative partners, including Allen & Overy; Amazon Spain; Clifford Chance; EY; Santander; KPMG; Pérez-Llorca and Squire Patton Boggs, among others. All provide a wealth of experience and expertise at the very top of the legal sector and offer immersion into extensive, worldwide networks of professional contacts.
Over a series of one-to-one meetings, mentees receive hands-on knowledge and insights from their mentor over a ten-month period.
It’s a chance to build a bond and receive individual support specifically catered to their own professional journey. And it’s already clear the relationships that participants form can be valuable and lasting. As Rebecca Fanger, mentor and mentee coach, comments, “A mentorship can become a friendship that will last through the years.”
Giving students the best start in their careers
In an increasingly connected world, getting a head start and building a wide network are crucial to every young professional’s success. The Mentoring Program helps mentees to do just that. This, along with the expert advice and wide range of resources available through IE Talent & Careers, and a whole host of extracurricular events and activities, help students to stand out from the crowd in the highly competitive law sector.
We spoke to some mentors and mentees about their involvement in the program.
What are some of the benefits of the Mentoring Program for mentees?
Mentee Silvia Gosálvez, Dual Degree in Laws & International Relations:
“This opportunity means being able to have someone, a contact, in this uncertain role that I’m about to get into. Someone who can guide me a bit into what it means to be a young lawyer.”
Mentee Alexander Nebendahl, Master of Laws (LL.M.):
“Insights and firsthand experience from within the industry are very valuable to students like us because [they allow us to see] the other side of the table. Hopefully, someday after graduating, we’ll be sitting on that side of the table.”
Mentor Ainhoa Busto, Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) alum and current employee at White & Case:
“The program gives the opportunity to students to be in close contact with people that are already practicing law.”
How does the Mentoring Program add value to your program at IE Law School?
Mentee Aleksa Pejovic, Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.):
“We’re very lucky that IE University is interested in providing a contact who will not only advise on the short-term [but also] generate a long-term, meaningful relationship with somebody… in the field.”
Diego Mayén Bosch, Master of Laws (LL.M.):
“You can see the practice and daily routine of what being a lawyer means. It opens your eyes [to what goes on outside the classroom], and it’s a great learning opportunity.”
What do mentors get out of the program?
Mentor Rosina Muller of RIC Energy:
“Being a mentor is interesting because you get to know the new generations that are coming in, what their interests are and how we can adapt the profession to them.”
There’s no substitute for experience, and with the Mentoring Program, students are getting exactly that.
At the same time, our top sector partners are getting an early look at some of the fantastic talent coming out of our Law, International Affairs and Public Policy programs. We look forward to following the outcomes of the initiative.
