Inn of Court: Elite Mentorship & Legal Dialogue

The Detroit Bar Association Inn of Court The Detroit Bar Association was established in 1836 as a forum for lawyers and judges who sought to improve the administration and quality of justice in their community through education, dialogue, and community activities. All these years later, the Detroit Bar continues to advance these goals through its Inn of Court program. The Detroit Bar Inn of Court (IOC) is designed to promote strong relationships between attorneys in different firms and practice areas, create more frequent mentorship and training opportunities, and foster more regular and constructive contacts between the bench and the bar. Based on the English model of legal apprenticeship, the Detroit Bar IOC program involves monthly, team-led programs over a 5-month period that address issues of law, ethics and practice. The structure of the Detroit Bar IOC program is similar to other models. Each team has a “Team Leader,” who is a member of the State or Federal bench. Along with a Team Leader, each team has “Masters” who have at least 12 years (and typically more than 20 years) of practice. A team also consists of “Barristers,” who have at least 5 years of practice, “Associates,” who are newer members of the bar, and “Law Clerks,” who are law students and non-attorney legal professionals. Each team is assigned a program date and topic and provided with program ideas. All team members are responsible for working with leadership and developing a program on its assigned topic. When it is not that team’s responsibility to develop and facilitate the program for the monthly meeting, the only requirement is enthusiastic participation during the other monthly meetings. #J-18808-Ljbffr Detroit Bar Association