At a packed MentorLink Mixer in the WSBA Conference Center on May 15, Roger Moss, a Seattle attorney and mediator, spent the afternoon sitting with a rotating batch of other lawyers — some younger, some older, some in law for a while, some still fresh to it — who were looking for advice on what to do next in their careers. The topic of the day was Alternative Careers for Legal Professionals, which drew so much interest that the mixer reached capacity about two weeks before the event.
If you took Moss’s advice from that day and distilled it to its most basic components, it would be “I go to things.”
When Moss moved to Washington from the Bay Area in California, he joined the WSBA’s Mindfulness Group, which he highly recommended to the mentees seeking his advice at the mixer. Then he became a member of a section and attended a section leadership event, which is actually how he heard about MentorLink Mixers. As one of 17 mentors who attended the May mixer, Moss participated as a way to pass along the lessons from his own experiences to less-experienced lawyers.
Roger Moss
WSBA’s MentorLink Mixers are free events that connect potential mentees and table coach mentors based on unique topics in the legal profession. If mentors and mentees decide to continue the mentorship relationship after the mixer, they can pursue a self-structured mentorship program for MCLE credit.
“Whatever success I’ve had, I owe to mentors,” Moss said, adding that he gets just as much fulfillment being a mentor as he did when he was being mentored by others—if not more. His mentors helped him realize where his passions lie. They also had a diverse background of experiences, something that’s shaped Moss’ philosophy when it comes to his own career path, which he’s now passing on to other lawyers: get out, attend events, meet new people, and ask for help when you need it.
“That’s how we discover opportunities for ourselves that we weren’t aware of,” he said.
The next scheduled WSBA MentorLink Mixer, “Navigating Through Transitions in Government,” will be held at the Hotel RL in Olympia on June 14. Table coach mentors will share their experience with other members about how they have navigated their careers through changes in government leadership, policies, and priorities. If you’re interested, RSVP today.
Colin Rigley. Colin worked as a print news journalist and editor in California, as well as a content strategist in the Puget Sound area, before joining WSBA as the communications specialist earlier this year. He can be reached at colinr@wsba.org.
INEZ P PETERSEN
Another position to be eliminated if I were in charge of the WSBA budget and engaged in reducing mission creep (and dues). A “mindfulness group” ? When I read that, I said, “You’ve got to be kidding.” But no, it really exists; and some believe it is value added and even essential. I am not one of those people. I want a bare bones bar association with dues to match, and most of all, I want a voluntary bar association where those who like this kind of “nanny” stuff can pay for it without involving my hard earned dues dollars.