Why the need for a mentoring programme?

We’ve listened to lots of in-house lawyers talk about how they don’t have the same support they had in a law firm. Combined with the need to pick up a whole new set of skills it can be very isolating. In-house lawyers have told us how they have really benefited from being part of a mentoring scheme and we thought that it would be great if we could give more in-house lawyers the opportunity to have this experience. Learning from more experienced colleagues is one of the best ways to develop skills and careers. The mentor also benefits from improving their leadership and management skills. There are no fees involved, it’s a nice opportunity for us to help.

What is mentoring?

Mentoring is the relationship where a mentee is paired up with a mentor to help them develop and achieve their goals. Mentoring is about mutual trust and respect. It is a two-way relationship – you both get the chance to learn new things. Every mentoring relationship is different, but each will present the opportunity for both mentor and mentee to learn from each other.

Will I get anything from it?

We have over 100 people in the scheme and both mentors and mentees say how useful they find it. Here’s what our participants had to say:

‘opportunity to chat through challenges and issues with someone who has experience and is unconnected to your business’
‘it gives me an insight into the challenges my own team may be facing’
‘networking, introductions and friendships’
‘it gives me a greater awareness of my own strengths and weaknesses’

Benefits for the mentor

Becoming a mentor isn’t just a ‘nice thing to do’ it can have a positive impact on your personal development and future career. Typical benefits include:

reinforcing and refreshing your own knowledge in your specialist field
improving your coaching and development skills—knowing how to do something and enabling someone else to do it are two very different things
an opportunity to build strong working relationships within the organization
clearer understanding of the challenges faced by those further down the ladder

development of leadership skills
improved self-awareness
increased confidence in your capabilities
the motivation high of helping someone else accomplish something

Benefits for the mentee

The benefits go beyond simply ‘learning new stuff’ and other benefits include:

the opportunity to observe a successful manager up close
great practical tips and advice from someone who’s ‘been there’
fantastic networking opportunity
a chance to get your voice heard at more senior levels
developing your communication skills

improved personal reflection and self-awareness
enhanced long term career planning
setting personal and career goals and being held to account on your progress
you’ll get to grip new skills a lot more quickly, and be able to focus in on the specific skills you’ll need to progress

Join today

To sign up for our mentoring scheme please complete the short profile form. The information provided will help us to match you based on your level of experience, desired learning outcomes and interests.

Once we are happy we have found a good match we will get in touch with you to let you know about the other person. We will check you are both happy too, and then leave it to you to make contact and arrange your first meeting.

Contact us for more information

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Please outline below any work experience or interests that would help us pair you with an appropriate mentor/mentee. For example: the type of work you deal with; any challenges you are facing; what you want to get out of the scheme; hobbies and interests; if you are a mentor - particular areas where you can offer support.