Why I Mentor New Lawyers – Stan’s Story Part 1

Stan’s Beginnings

I’m Dean Standish Perkins — Stan to my friends and colleagues. I’ve spent my career as a personal injury attorney, serving the Issaquah area since 1986, when I started my own law firm, Dean Standish Perkins & Associates. I earned my B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley in 1982 and went on to receive my J.D. from Seattle University School of Law, formerly the University of Puget Sound Law School, in 1985.

Over the course of more than three decades, I built a place in the legal community through my dedication to my clients and my pursuit of justice for them. But as my children neared adulthood and my practice flourished, I found myself yearning for something that would let me make a lasting impact: mentoring young lawyers.

Today, I serve as the benefactor and director of the Seattle University School of Law’s Incubator Program. Housed under the university’s Access to Justice Institute, the program helps new attorneys establish successful solo and small-firm practices. I share my time, resources and experience there, offering the guidance I wish I’d had when I struck out on my own and began my practice.

The Beginning Of SU’s Incubator Program

In 2013, Dean Annette Clark of the Seattle University School of Law — and a dear friend of mine — approached me about the rapidly growing movement of incubator programs at other law schools. She proposed that I get involved to support and guide recent graduates venturing into solo or small-firm practice, so they would have the mentorship and resources to succeed.

Two core pillars of the incubator programs already in existence captivated me: their focus on supporting attorneys who serve people of moderate means, and their emphasis on cultivating the entrepreneurial spirit of lawyers. My own journey in law mirrored the challenges the program’s participants were facing. Dean Clark and I both came to see that my entrepreneurial background could be the right foundation for starting a program of our own. With that, we decided I would spearhead the creation of an incubator program at SU Law.

Innovators Create The Incubator Program

Diana Singleton, the head of the Access to Justice Institute at Seattle University School of Law, collaborated with me to turn this vision into reality. Fueled by my newfound passion, I immersed myself in research, outreach and development to finalize a curriculum tailored to the unique challenges solo and small-firm practitioners face. By the fall of 2013, the stage was set for the launch of the program’s inaugural class in January. Through the combined efforts of my colleagues and the directors of incubator programs across the nation, four deserving candidates made up the debut class of 2014.

A Long-Lasting Legacy Of Helping Others

The start of the incubator program was exhilarating; it was my first real opportunity to be involved at the SU School of Law. But the birth of the program represented more than a professional achievement — it was a profound personal journey. When I graduated, passed the bar exam and began my practice, I did it without an incubator program. What I needed then, and what I went looking for, were mentors and the business knowledge law school never gave me. Today, I’m thrilled to be involved with the school and to have helped start this program for its alumni.