Here's proof that mentorship works

Someone once said that mentoring is a brain to pick, an ear to listen, and a push in the right direction.

That’s one thing we could all use as we continue to fight our way out of the recent global recessions. And while mentoring can certainly help us in our careers, it’s important to know that we could be helpful to others in the same way. We need to be mentors to each other as much as we need to be mentored.

One of the fundamental truths about mentoring is that it has affects beyond what the mentor might be registering while he or she is mentoring. Mentorship itself could be the catalyst for reconnecting later on in life — sometimes when you least expect it.

Years ago, when Joseph Zumpano was in law school, he eagerly applied for clerkships at several top law firms in Miami. His first opportunity was provided by Gary Matzner who, at the time, was considered by many in the industry as the Father of Health Law. Because of Matzner’s mentorship, the young intern learned a great deal more than just health law.

Zumpano recalls two lessons in particular. The first lesson came when he realized that, despite Matzner’s success, he was an excellent listener and he always valued everyone else’s point of view — even that of a young law clerk. The second lesson was that Matzner always stressed the importance of being fair in your decisions. Both of these lessons created a lasting impression on Zumpano, which would serve him well in the years to come.

A second clerkship paired Zumpano with Arnold Shevin, who would later go on to give Zumpano his first job as a lawyer. Arnold Shevin and his brother, Robert, steered a successful law practice at the time, which was highly respected for its willingness to take on difficult cases and for its success when representing these cases. During his time at the firm, Shevin taught Zumpano valuable lessons about the importance of patience, perseverance and discipline to get the job done regardless of what he was facing on the other side.

Since those early years, Zumpano has gone on to achieve phenomenal success, and his law firm, Zumpano Patricios and Winker, is recognized globally for its successful representation of what other firms might consider “hopeless cases.” Two cases in particular stand out.

Zumpano and his team of lawyers are one of the few U.S. based law firms to recover a considerable amount of money for a client from a Bahamian trust. The case took nine years. Breaking a trust in the Bahamas was something no one thought could be done — in fact, everyone told him it was impossible. Yet thanks to the perseverance and patience Zumpano learned from his mentor, he and his partners won the landmark case and made history in the process.

Perhaps the most difficult case the firm has taken on is the lawsuit filed on behalf of Janet Ray Weininger against Fidel and Raul Castro, the Cuban Army and the Republic of Cuba over an atrocity committed during the Bay of Pigs invasion. According to Zumpano, “the Cuba case was a combination of perseverance and humility, which led to extraordinary results.” Those results included an $87 million judgment against the Castro government of which $24 million was quickly collected from the Castro’s frozen assets here in the United States.

Turning his sights on HMOs and health insurers, Zumpano has recently architected and argued a series of cases on behalf of hospital systems and healthcare providers. The results obtained by Zumpano, partner Leon Patricios, and their team of healthcare attorneys have exceeded $100 million on behalf of healthcare providers.

Mentoring works, and the impact a mentor can have on the success of a protégé, and the lives of others is truly immeasurable. As for mentoring being a catalyst for reconnecting later on in life, Zumpano kept in touch with his two mentors over the years and always felt an unspoken permanency in their relationship.

That relations has come full circle as both Gary Matzner and Arnold Shevin have joined Zumpano at ZP&W making the already successful law firm even stronger.

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GARCIA-TUNON,

Author Biography

Manny García-Tuñón is executive vice president of Lemartec, an international design-build firm headquartered in Miami. He can be reached at [email protected].