How to Join The Camp Program
For Mentors
A mentor must be a Colorado attorney or judge, with an active license, in good standing or retired Colorado attorney or judge, who retired from the practice in good standing. The mentor shall be licensed for a minimum of five years and have no history of suspension, disbarment, or pending disciplinary actions, including diversion programs.
To become a CAMP mentor or to join or propose a mentoring circle please click here.
For Mentees
To qualify as a mentee in CAMP programs, the lawyer must be a licensed, active Colorado lawyer, who is either practicing or is intending to practice law in Colorado – OR – a Colorado law student – OR – a law school graduate working toward or awaiting licensing to practice law in Colorado. The lawyer or law student need not be a member of any bar association. If you are unsure if you qualify to be a mentee, send an e-mail to CAMP Director Ryann Peyton at r.peyton@csc.state.co.us.
To become a CAMP mentee or to join or propose a mentoring circle click here.
Prior to being matched in the program, CAMP staff will have a personal conversation with every mentee and mentor to learn more about each person’s unique circumstance, life experiences, and desired outcome for a mentoring relationship. Upon creating your mentor or mentee profile, you will receive an invitation to schedule a pre-match consultation with the CAMP office.
How to Participate in CAMP
Before applying to join the CAMP program, please review the information below concerning how to participate in the CAMP program.
What Are the Rules & Policies of the CAMP Program?
CAMP is authorized by Colorado Rule of Civil Procedure 255. The rules and policies of the CAMP program are derived from CRCP 255 and can be reviewed HERE.
What Are Partner Programs?
For some CAMP participants, it is beneficial to find mentoring specifically within the local bar association, inn of court, law firm, or legal organization in which they seek to become better networked, acquainted, or affiliated. CAMP partners with various legal organizations across Colorado to provide unique mentoring programs for members of those organizations.
In addition to being a source of contact in your local community, many partner programs offer their own mentoring curriculum, events, and opportunities for mentoring pairs within their program.
If you are considering participating in CAMP through a partner program, please check with the facilitator of your program to learn more about the specifics of your organization’s mentoring program, including how to apply as a mentor or mentee.
Current CAMP partner programs and the facilitator contact information can be found here. We encourage you to contact the program facilitator regarding questions specific to that organization’s mentoring program.
Most lawyers participate in CAMP as an individual. Those mentees and mentors wishing to participate in CAMP as an individual should create a profile through the links provided above and select “Individual Program” when prompted by the software.
What Are My Obligations as a Mentee or Mentor?
CAMP does not believe in a “one size fits all” mentoring experience. As a result, we have intentionally created the program to be as flexible and modifiable as possible to allow each mentee to design a custom user experience based on their professional interests and needs. To that end, there are no mandatory meetings, mandatory time commitments, or mandatory mentoring structures associated with the CAMP program. Each mentoring pair will determine together whether they would like to pursue a traditional mentoring experience or engage non-traditionally as a mentoring pair.
What is a “Traditional” program?
Mentoring pairs engaging in a traditional mentoring experience will generally exhibit three characteristics:
(1) The mentoring pair will have one or more specific goals or learning objectives for their time in the program,
(2) The mentoring pair will meet on a more scheduled basis (as opposed to on an ad hoc basis), and
(3) The mentoring pair will follow some type of mentoring plan or curriculum to assist them in achieving their mentoring goals and objectives.
The mentoring plan or curriculum for each mentoring pair will differ from pair to pair. Mentoring pairs are encouraged to create a plan that is most meaningful and relevant to the mentee. To assist mentoring pairs in developing their mentoring plains, CAMP has created template mentoring plans designed to meet the needs of Colorado lawyers at all stages of their professional careers. Mentoring pairs are encouraged to utilize these mentoring plan templates to provide structure and organization to their mentoring relationship and to set goals and develop important competencies during the mentoring relationship.
Available template mentoring programs include:
- Newly Admitted Attorneys (Lawyers in their first three years of practice)
- Attorneys New to Colorado
- Attorneys Changing Practice Areas
- Attorneys Entering Public Service/Government Positions
- Attorneys Hanging Out Their Own Shingle
- Attorneys Raising or Caring for Families
- Women Attorneys (Colorado Women’s Bar Association Lift! Program)
- Attorneys Seeking Trial Practice Skills
- In-House/Transactional Lawyers
- Modern Lawyers
- Colorado Lawyer Self-Assessment Mentoring Plan
Links to these template plans can be found here.
Those mentoring pairs who successfully complete a traditional program may qualify for CLE credit. However, to qualify for CLE credit, a mentoring plan must cover certain subject areas including:
- Initial Planning Meeting
- Personal and Professional Development, including work-life balance, inclusiveness & diversity, and wellness
- The Colorado Bar and Legal Community
- History and Importance of the Legal Profession
- Colorado Rules of Professional Conduct, Professionalism, and Civility
- Practical Practice Area Experience
- Law Office Management and In-Office Procedures
- Working With Clients
- Pro Bono & Civic Involvement
The CAMP staff is happy to assist mentoring pairs in developing a unique and relevant mentoring plan, as well as reviewing any proposed mentoring plan for CLE accreditation.
Traditional programs generally take six to twelve months to complete.
What is a “Non-Traditional” program?
Sometimes mentees do not have specific goals or objectives that would be served by a structured mentoring program. In these cases, a mentee may simply need a mentor to serve as a connector, door opener, or “as needed” resource. In this case, CAMP takes responsibility for matching the mentoring pair and the pair takes sole responsibility for developing and sustaining their mentoring relationship.
Choosing a non-traditional mentoring program does not offer any less benefit or significance to your mentoring relationship. It simply means that you are choosing not to follow a traditional mentoring plan for the purposes of structure or CLE credit. The time frame and content of the mentor relationship is entirely at your discretion.
In selecting a non-traditional program, you are taking sole responsibility for developing and sustaining your mentoring relationship. The CAMP mentoring plans remain available to you for guidance and inspiration. Additionally, the CAMP resources and events also remain available.
If you are seeking non-traditional mentoring, but do not wish to go through the CAMP matching process and engage in a “one-on-one” mentoring relationship, you might consider seeking a “coffee mentor” who is available for short meetings to discuss career path questions, practice area issues, or to attend networking events.
Mentees in need of any of the following assistance should consider contacting a member of the CAMP Coffee List:
- Seeking a “starting place” for networking within a certain practice area, bar association, or legal organization
- In need of a more seasoned attorney to serve as a resource for practice area specific questions
- Solo practitioners seeking other solo attorneys to serve as a resource for practice management questions
- New lawyers looking for someone to accompany them to a bar association or legal organization event
- Pursuing available leadership opportunities within a bar association or legal organization
- Resume review
- Informational interview
- Alumni connection
- Client referrals
- Professionalism resources
What is Circle Mentoring?
In addition to one-on-one mentor pairings, CAMP offers circle mentoring opportunities. The mentoring circles concept relies on peer-to-peer mentoring, as opposed to traditional mentoring paradigms.
In a circle program, participants from all levels of practice are encouraged to join or propose their own mentoring group. This unique setup gives motivated lawyers another avenue to grow within the profession and opens the door for all lawyers to find or create a circle that gets them excited.
Topics don’t always have to be practice related and they can cover a wide range of ideas. A few inspiration topics include “Working Moms,” “Young Lawyers,” or “Time Management.” Circle owners designate limits for number of participants, set expectations for how, when, and why the circle will meet, and put their proposed circle on a “marketplace” – a listing of circles that need participants. Lawyers browse the marketplace for circles that catch their fancy and when enough people join, the circle owner formally launches the circle.
More information about CAMP Mentoring Circles can be found HERE.
Questions? Contact CAMP Director Ryann Peyton at r.peyton@csc.state.co.us or 303-928-7750.
CAMP Mentoring Software
The Colorado Attorney Mentoring Program is one of the only attorney mentoring programs in the nation to utilize an innovative software platform to assist mentoring pairs in structuring and facilitating their mentoring relationships. The use of the CAMP’s mentoring software is completely optional. However, for mentoring pairs seeking an intuitive, paperless way to work through a mentoring plan, schedule meetings, goal plan, and communicate with one another, the software platform may be a very useful tool.
Each mentoring pair will have access to a Mentoring Connection Plan. Your mentoring connection plan is made up of various components some of which have been designed for you and others which you will design for yourself. Each Mentoring Connection Plan is comprised of milestones, tasks, and goals which the mentoring pair will work to complete during their time in the program.