Dan Mateo of Holland & Knight. Courtesy photo

Dan Mateo, Holland & Knight

As you built your career, who mentored you?

I cannot identify a single mentor as I built my career. Initially, I worked independently to prove myself. As the lawyers I worked with began to appreciate my work ethic and see glimmers of talent, they would take an interest in my professional development. That resulted in community-style, informal mentoring. I slowly started to feel that I had a safety net and it gave me permission to take on more autonomy and responsibility. Although not the typical mentor-mentee relationship, I was able to mine this community of informal mentors for advice, practice development skills, and substantive training. I learned different skills from different lawyers. I was also notably encouraged and mentored with respect to bar leadership. One of my partners actively encouraged me to get out of the office and attend bar association events. This advice was career changing. It not only expanded my professional network but also my confidence. I did not know it at the time, but my involvement with bar associations, particularly the Hispanic Bar Association of New Jersey and the Hispanic National Bar Association, would help propel my career into big law and provide the leadership, substantive and business development skills that I would need to spend 30 plus years as a big law litigation lawyer.

What is the value of robust mentorship?