Black JD Mentorship Program
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Black JD provides information and resources to assist Black and Brown students who want to obtain their Juris Doctor degree (JD). Our goal is to provide Black JD members with the same opportunities as their non-minority peers. Black JD’s student membership offers a platform where our members are matched with mentors who serve as volunteer counselors during a one-year term. The entire mentor-mentee relationship will take place online, allowing us to overcome geographic and logistical barriers that can potentially impede the effectiveness of such a relationship.
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The mentorship program is an exclusive benefit that is available only to Black JD members. For a pre-law student to be eligible for Black JD membership, they must (1) be a person who identifies as Black or Brown; (2) have a serious interest in obtaining a law degree; and (3) enroll in membership on our site. Each applicant must supply basic information regarding their name, address, contact information, age, location, academics, interests, and career goals.
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Mentors will be subject to an application process to ensure both readiness and willingness. Specifically, we need mentors who are responsible, reliable, respectful, and relentless in their commitment to helping others succeed in their prospective legal careers. Mentors are required to complete an application and then attend an orientation session.
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Mentors that successfully complete an application will be contacted to sign-up for an orientation session. During the orientation session, mentors will receive training on the format of the mentorship program and the timeline of their responsibilities and obligations.
Each week, a mentor will be contacted by a Black JD staff person to notify them that they are “on-call” for the week, which means that this mentor has to respond to a Black JD members’ questions from the time period of the notification email from Black JD on a Sunday morning to the following Saturday evening at 11:59 pm. The members’ questions will be made available in a Google Drive form.
Additionally, every month, mentors will be selected (based on their availability) to co-host an open mentor session via Zoom to introduce themselves to Black JD members/mentees and follow-up on any questions.
A mentor will be selected at random draw each month to be named “Mentor of the Month” and receive a spotlight on Black JD’s website as well as a small gift from Black JD board members.
The time commitment is availability at least once a week to answer mentee’s questions in a Google Drive form, one hour at least once per month to co-host a session from March 2023 to March 2024. All mentors are invited to all other Black JD programming and events on an optional basis.