Seslee Smith of Morris, Manning & Martin said law firms did not generally see the value of offering mentors to young lawyers when she was a few years out of law school in the late 1990s.

“I feel like it’s been the primary impetus for me to be really present for a lot of younger lawyers, to listen to them and really just encourage them to go out and do what they innately can do,” Smith said. “I just enjoy it. It is part of me wanting to see young lawyers, and particularly women lawyers, not have to struggle as hard as I did.”