Twenty-Second Annual Mentor Awards Honor Attorneys, Students

The 22^nd annual Lewis & Clark Law School 1L Mentor Program honored mentor Sean Clancy and mentee Sophie Von Bergen on April 4. Clancy received the Andrea Swanner Redding award and Von Bergen received the Outstanding Mentee of the Year Award.

Additionally, the event honored four recipients with the First-Year Mentor Program Award, which recognizes four outstanding mentors who have worked with 1L students. The honorees were Jermaine Brown, Maura Fahey, Tom Payne, and Sarah Einowski, who were nominated by their mentees.

Lewis & Clark pairs incoming 1Ls, as well as upper division students, with attorney mentors in the Oregon legal community, based on shared interests and backgrounds. Mentors give first-years advice on how to manage time commitments, develop into responsible attorneys, and network with lawyers in their fields of interest. While all 1Ls are assigned mentors, 2Ls and 3Ls can also request a mentor, and this year there are a total of 202 matched pairs in the program.

The law school organizes a number of events for students and their mentors during the school year, and the annual awards ceremony celebrates mentors for the generosity, commitment, and support they lend to mentees.

The Andrea Swanner Redding Award was named in honor of the late Andrea Redding, who founded the Mentor program. Students nominate mentors who go above and beyond getting to know their mentees and providing them with tailored educational experiences. Clancy’s mentee, Rachel Jennings, presented the award to her mentor, remarking, “Sean Clancy has made himself available to me even when he didn’t have the time. He has been instrumental in boosting my confidence relating to finding a job, in explaining the realities of law school, and helping me hone exactly what I want to do with my legal career. “

Lewis & Clark Law School also invites mentors to nominate mentees who made their mentoring experience positive. Merissa Moeller nominated her mentee Von Bergen for the Outstanding Mentee Award, saying, “As a mentee, Sophie has been proactive about using me as a resource and seeking out the type of mentorship that furthers her goals.”