Morgan Lewis chair Jami McKeon is the sole law firm leader to be chosen in a U.S. State Department partnership with Fortune's Most Powerful women to mentor emerging female leaders around the world—this year serving as mentor to South African attorney Lerato Thekiso. (Courtesy photo)

For each of the last five years, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius chair Jami Wintz McKeon has hosted a rising female leader from a different country at the firm's offices on the East Coast. Every time, McKeon says, she finds herself learning something new.

As a the sole law firm leader participating in the Global Women's Mentoring Partnership, a joint initiative from the U.S. Department of State and Fortune Magazine, her participation is aimed at giving a mentee—this year, South African attorney and consultant Lerato Thekiso—an up-close glimpse of how one of the largest law firms in the world operates.

But there's more to the exchange than that. In past years, Philadelphia-based McKeon has had women from El Salvador, Kenya, Vietnam and Ghana shadow her and other leaders at the firm, and she says her lessons go beyond learning about their countries of origin and extend to their unique trajectories.

“Like so many other things in life, you always feel like you benefit the most from things where people think that you're giving back,” she said. 

With Thekiso, 34, it's been an education about how young attorneys at Morgan Lewis can expand their involvement in the community and how lawyers around the world are becoming more business savvy.

Thekiso, a Johannesburg resident, trained as an attorney and started her career as a litigator in a large South African law firm before moving into the nonprofit sector, filing cases to take on the country's mining industry on behalf of local communities at the Centre for Applied Legal Studies. Curious about what it was like on the other side, she then went to work for a mining company and rose quickly through the hierarchy—her time working with communities, nonprofits and regulators gave her an unusual, and valuable, skill set.

“I went in as an environmental lawyer in this mining company but ended up really advising the board on strategic investments they should be making, what they should consider and the risks they face,” Thekiso said.

After a similar stint at a second mining company, she and her husband founded Thekvest Legal Advisory Services, where she offers legal advice to companies but spends more time advising boards on strategic decisions. In 2011, she also founded her own nonprofit, the Unleashed Leadership Development Foundation, which seeks to combat youth and female unemployment.

“A big part of our work, which is quite symbiotic with our client relationships, is that we are able to place young unemployed people in work opportunities,” she said. “I think this is the edge that distinguished me from some of my peers.”

Thekiso was contacted by staff at the U.S. embassy in South Africa and encouraged to apply for the mentorship program. Of four South African names put forward, she was one of two selected among 19 total participants.

McKeon said that, over the last 10 days, she's realized that rising lawyers at Morgan Lewis could stand to be more involved in boards and nonprofits, particularly in leadership positions.

“That's something that talking to Lerato has made me think about a lot,” she said.

McKeon also has been intrigued by Thekiso's business.

“We talk about emergence of alternative providers. She's really a very entrepreneurial alternative provider,” McKeon said. “She's using her legal training to help companies look at bigger issues: risk management, how their boards are run. Some of these things she gets exposed to because she does great on a legal matter for them and becomes a trusted adviser. Sometimes it's the other way around.”

Morgan Lewis and other U.S. firms have seen the same trend on a different scale.

“As clients have built up their own internal legal departs, they don't come to law firms anymore for basic legal questions like what the statute of limitations is for torts in Pennsylvania. They come to you because they have a big problem that has legal ramifications but affects their business,” McKeon said. “But it's really interesting to talk to someone who's developing a model that is overtly at the intersection of business and law.”

Thekiso emphasized that the dynamics of the legal industry in South Africa matched what she has seen from her time in the U.S.

“Corporations are really watching their pockets now, so it's important for us to meet them at our point of need,” she said. 

And lest anyone get the impression that McKeon was the only one who gained from the experience, Thekiso raved about spending time together, calling it “life-changing.”

“It's just phenomenal witnessing what's possible in the future, and she does it without batting an eyelid,” Thekiso said of McKeon, who's known for sleeping just four hours a night.  ”Just the authority and confidence that she has in her team as well, it's not a one-man show at all, but it's about the collective effort that it takes to build such an incredible organization.”

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