Carlissa Shaw

Mentoring matters. For a very long time in the legal field, it was a mentoring field, and you had to study under a lawyer to become a lawyer. While I understand the purpose of formal education, I also understand that mentoring is probably the most important aspect of becoming a lawyer. Just because you know some things out of a book and you test well is not typically going to translate well to whether or not you understand the practice of law - whether you understand who the clerk is in that particular judge's chamber, the temperament of that particular judge, or whether you have the forms to file or fill out about this particular hearing. There are just some things that you can't necessarily learn from a book, and you have to learn from more seasoned professionals than yourself. Make sure that you build an authentic relationship with them so that they are just as invested in your success as you are. The second part of that is be teachable and be coachable. Having mentors that you don't listen to is a waste of everybody's time. Can you take advice? Can you take hard advice? And can you apply it and adapt your behaviors to the advice that you're given?

The biggest challenges will continue to be in a world where generations behind us do not have to invest so much money to make money. You see generations who are gamers and YouTubers and streamers and all these other things, and there are so few barriers for people to access those careers. When you think about professional schools - law schools, PhD programs, and medical schools - there are huge barriers for entry: the costs, the years of required coursework. I don't think that generations who are introduced to other avenues of education or career paths are going to want to sign up for these types of careers. I am very concerned about the future of the legal community and making sure that, to the extent that it's possible, we are changing with the times and making legal education and legal careers as adaptable as possible, because training is still very much required to do this work. But how does it look for future generations? My biggest area of growth is going to be the use of technology and how to streamline technology into our legal practice - what AI tools are appropriate and which ones are inappropriate. I'm able to see that there are some cautions when it comes to high-stakes professions and using AI tools and technology. I know that there are issues, but the rest of the world is moving towards technology. I don't think the solution is just to stay the same. We need to be very intentional about figuring out the blend of old school versus new school in our profession.

Honesty. When it comes to being a lawyer, so much of who you are and what you have to offer is your word. Can your clients trust you? And even in a larger sense, can the community trust you? Because typically when you're a lawyer and you speak on a community issue or a legal issue, people want to believe what you're saying without having to go double-check it, and typically there isn't another lawyer that somebody can call. Being able to be honest, I think it's just at the heart of what it takes to be a good lawyer. To parallel that is making sure that you're grounded in societal good. I think the famous quote is either a lawyer is a mechanism for social change or a parasite. Making sure that you're the engine for social change and that you are being mindful of how your actions or inactions impact the whole of a population.