Professor Renee Knake Jefferson shares insights on mentorship and legal ethics gleaned from her relationship with Professor Deborah Rhode. The Essay, written as part of the Fordham Law Review colloquium in Professor Rhode’s memory, argues that the stories of women and minority lawyers—regardless of whether one had a personal relationship with them—are an unrealized, valuable source of informal mentorship.  It lays the groundwork for formalizing mentorship as an ethical obligation of leaders in the legal profession and beyond.

This Essay was prepared for the Colloquium entitled In Memory of Deborah Rhode, hosted by the Fordham Law Review and co-organized by the Stein Center for Law and Ethics on October 21, 2022, at Fordham University School of Law.