THE MENTOR WHO KEEPS LEARNING

After four decades in practice, Steven Rubin says Counsel to Counsel offers as much to mentors as it does to new lawyers

Volunteering with Counsel to Counsel was a natural progression for sole practitioner Steven Rubin. With a legal career of more than 40 years, Rubin has a long personal history of volunteering with The Florida Bar and the Palm Beach County Bar Association.

Counsel to Counsel is the Bar’s free mentorship program offered through the Henry Latimer Center for Professionalism. It uses the MentorcliQ app to pair new lawyers with mentors based on their user profiles and track progress. Mentees are lawyers licensed with The Florida Bar for five years or less, mentors are lawyers licensed for five years or more, and both are eligible for CLE credits through the nine-month program, which culminates in a graduation ceremony during the Florida Bar Convention.

“I’ve always taken the approach to stay active in the bar associations and pro bono work. It’s paid off in terms of what I get out of it,” says Rubin.

Rubin, of the Law Offices of Steven D. Rubin in Boca Raton, says he enjoys talking to young lawyers, hearing about what's difficult for them and what's easy, because the landscape of the law has changed since he opened his practice in 1983, when there were far fewer lawyers practicing.

“It gives me a good perspective of what they're going through as a new attorney, especially those who decide to open their own practices like, Yasha [Osby],” says Rubin, referring to one of his recent Counsel to Counsel mentees.

Osby discussed her mentee relationship with Rubin, whom she credits with helping her to transition to a more suitable practice area, in an April News article.

“It's been a real pleasure working with her,” he says. “She's very impressive — especially for someone just out starting on their own. She's really intelligent, she's ethical, she's professional. Everything that you'd want to see in a new attorney.”

Rubin continues to volunteer with Counsel to Counsel. He and his most recent mentee have established a regular cadence of monthly late-lunch meetings.

“I learn a lot from [mentees]. In terms of technology that they're currently using, they probably have more skills at that than I do,” says Rubin. “That's why I continue with the program, because I continue to learn from my mentees.”

In the late 1990s, Rubin began volunteering with the Bar’s Lawyers Advising Lawyers, a predecessor program to Counsel to Counsel.

“It's sort of like a very mini-Counsel to Counsel. Counsel to Counsel is a continuing program. Lawyers Advising Lawyers is for a specific issue,” says Rubin.

Rubin says he thought Lawyers Advising Lawyers was a great concept and borrowed it when he served as chair of the Bar’s Board of Legal Specialization and Education to establish the Certified Lawyers on Call (CLOC) service in 2018, which is offered in conjunction with FFLA. Rubin continues to serve as CLOC coordinator.

However, he notes that inquiries to both the Lawyers Advising Lawyers and CLOC have dropped since the advent of AI.

“With AI, anyone can probably look up the right answer to a legal question,” he says. “You’ve got to verify it, of course — you don't want to just believe it's true. But I think AI's going to get better and better.”

Mentorship, however, cannot be offloaded to AI, says Rubin, who believes “the real benefit of the mentor program is not necessarily any legal knowledge that I can provide to the mentee, but the experience of practicing.”

“Everyone should consider becoming a mentor,” he adds, “because I think the mentor will get as much out of it as the mentee — maybe more — and it's always nice to meet new people and find out what's going on with those who are just coming into the practice of the law.”

Counsel to Counsel registration usually opens in August with the program starting in October. To learn how to get involved, visit the Counsel to Counsel Mentoring Program webpage.