This past Monday, November 17, 2014 attorney Christine Vogel participated in an 8 minute mentoring program held at University at Buffalo Law School, SUNY.
The program was sponsored by WBASNY (Women’s Bar Association of the State of New York) in connection with SUNY Buffalo Law School WSBL (Women of SUNY Buffalo Law).
This event is set up using a speed dating format in that students rotate every 8 minutes, moving to a different seat to chat with a different attorney. This exposes students to a wide array of practice areas in a very short time.
Christine is a fierce advocate for women and women’s rights and takes any opportunity she can to mentor women. She came back to the office very impressed with the diversity of women she met. What she noticed the most was the younger women simply needing a reminder that it is OK to be assertive when job hunting and when reaching out to the local legal community. She reflected that a lot of the women were working though being really nervous when communicating with professionals. They needed a reminder that it is good to show excitement and to use the resources available to them. Christine recounts that the lesson she stressed the most to the students was: “Don’t wait until next week to send a follow up email, do it tomorrow.” So many women are still scared of coming across as too “aggressive.”
Events like this not only help connect the law students with local lawyers and resources, but creates a peer to peer environment. Christine was inspired by a lot of the students she met on Monday.
(In the attached photo, Christine Vogel is pictured to the lower right. Photo courtesy of Dean Saran at the law school)
