Gary Shara, BS ’67, JD ’70

Corporate Attorney

Gary Shara B.S. ’67, J.D. ’70, who has a corporate practice, has been a mentor since the dinner program began. For him, mentoring is "an opportunity for first year law students to have contact with a graduate of the law school and to discuss issues that have a particular concern to them in their first year of law school," as well as "an opportunity for the mentor to stay in touch with what is happening at the law school and, particularly, with the concerns of first year law students."

Shara is amazed at how similar the concerns of students are today to "those we had 30 years ago." The mentoring experience, he says, also "helps students look beyond law school to life after law school: how to make a living and what is available, so that the student can find a career path that fits that student’s interests and personality."

Shara’s protégé, Evelyn Tom ’06, signed up for the mentoring program to "get the inside scoop" on what SCU School of Law is like and to learn more about what it’s like to work in corporate law. A graduate of U.C. Davis, Tom chose SCU because of the prestige of its high tech program.

Basil Farjo, Shara’s other protégé, is a Seattle native and a 2003 Georgetown graduate with degrees in history and English. Farjo chose SCU’s law school because of its size, location, and because it was "far enough away from home." Farjo sought a mentor to "have someone to ask advice of, to talk to, and to learn from about business law." To Farjo, the choice was a no-brainer: "Something for nothing," he says. "A great opportunity without too much time away from studying."

Mentor Fred Gonzales ’77 hopes all SCU law students realize what a great opportunity they have to join the "network of SCU alums who are available to help them." The majority of jobs, in law and outside of law, are obtained not through responding to job announcements, but through personal contacts. "People will choose a known commodity rather than take a risk on the unknown," he says. "If students participate in the Alumni Dinner program, Law Career Day, and internships, they have the opportunity to be mentored not just by one designated mentor, but by the entire network of SCU graduates."

Gonzales’s lucky protégés had just enjoyed a home cooked meal accompanied by plenty of champagne.