Navigating the legal profession can feel like stepping into a maze. Endless twists and turns, unspoken rules, and a pressure to “have it all figured out.” That’s where mentorship comes in. It’s like having someone handing you a map, pointing out the shortcuts, and cheering you on when you feel lost.
GROW Mentoring (GROW) helps make that possible. We connect mentors and mentees through tailored pairings and invite our mentees to join a supportive community that empowers everyone involved.
Why become a mentor?
Mentoring isn't just valuable to those starting out on their legal journey. It offers benefits to both mentors and mentees. For mentees, it's a chance to assess where they want to go, set long-term goals, and start thinking about what kind of law they want to practice. For mentors, it’s an opportunity to support someone as they find their feet, navigate the legal world, and begin to manage working expectations - familiar challenges for existing legal professionals.
Supporting mentees to succeed
The impact of mentoring from a mentor’s perspective doesn’t stop there. When you take on the role of a mentor, you’re not only helping someone shape their career; you’re also sharpening your own understanding of the profession and building key skills. Explaining firm dynamics and expectations encourages you to reflect on your own experiences and develop your leadership skills.
As one of our mentors states:
My biggest takeaway is that mentoring goes both ways - as a mentor, I learn just as much from my mentees as I hope they do from me. It’s one of the most rewarding voluntary activities you can do and one of the best ways to hear and appreciate diverse perspectives too!
This sentiment goes to the heart of our approach at GROW Mentoring: emphasising that mentoring is a two-way exchange of insight, support, and growth.
For mentors who have not yet held management or coaching positions, mentoring challenges you to communicate more clearly, listen attentively, and offer thoughtful advice tailored to someone else’s needs. It’s a rare opportunity to develop leadership skills and confidence early in your career, while also helping you build practical expertise in guiding others.
Beyond personal development, mentoring expands your professional network. Connecting with fellow mentors and mentees allows you to build relationships and access diverse perspectives. Mentoring is a mutually rewarding experience that deepens your own professional growth while making a meaningful difference in someone else’s journey.
Mentoring strengthens your ability to support others through challenging situations, such as handling application rejections or career setbacks. Guiding your mentee through these experiences provides experience in navigating difficult conversations and fostering resilience. Meanwhile, mentees gain the reassurance and encouragement needed to achieve their goals. Mentoring cultivates confidence and resilience on both sides of the relationship, reinforcing your leadership capabilities while empowering the next generation of legal professionals.
Mentoring doesn’t just benefit individuals; it helps shape a stronger, more inclusive legal profession. By supporting new talent from all backgrounds and sharing practical advice and insights, mentors help create a culture where success is based on ability and not just solely access or connections. This makes the legal community more diverse, collaborative, and better equipped to serve the people and businesses it represents.
Why become a mentee
For aspiring lawyers, developing the right skills and mindset early on can make all the difference. Becoming a mentee is a chance to learn from someone who has already taken those first steps and found their way in the legal profession. It means having someone to share honest insights, practical tips, and encouragement along the way.
Mentees often find that having a mentor helps them to build important skills that are otherwise hard to develop on their own. Commercial awareness, for example, becomes much easier to understand when discussed with someone who uses it every day in practice. Preparing for interviews also feels less intimidating with a mentor’s support, from learning how to express motivations clearly to feeling more confident answering challenging questions.
Mentoring also helps bring clarity to big decisions, whether it’s exploring different practice areas, deciding where to apply, or working out the next steps in your legal journey. Guidance from someone who understands the profession makes it easier to recognise new opportunities and feel more assured about the direction to take.
One of the things that makes GROW unique is our tailored approach to pairing mentees and mentors. In the application form, mentees can share information about their background and experiences, so that they are paired with someone who really understands their perspective. Whether coming from an ethnic minority background, or being a first-generation university student, or having studied a non-law degree. This tailored approach helps mentees feel genuinely supported and ensures they receive guidance that resonates with and is directly relevant to their experiences.
As one of our GROW mentees shared:
My mentor played a huge role in helping me build the skills I needed to succeed, especially when it came to preparing for interviews. Their support was invaluable in helping me secure my training contract. As a GROW mentee, I have gained so much knowledge about the profession, developed my confidence, and felt genuinely supported every step of the way. It truly transformed my journey.
Becoming a mentee is a chance to build new skills, feel more prepared, and join a community that wants to see everyone succeed.
How GROW Mentoring makes it all possible
GROW Mentoring facilitates and enhances this process by offering bespoke pairings and connections tailored to the individual needs of mentees and mentors. As a registered charity dedicated to advancing social mobility, diversity and inclusion in the legal profession, GROW is committed to increasing access to law through mentorship and community building.
Since launching in 2020, GROW has successfully paired over 5,000 students from more than 120 universities with experienced professionals across the legal industry. By matching aspiring lawyers with mentors who share similar backgrounds, experiences, or interests, GROW ensures mentees feel represented and understood. These bespoke pairings consider factors such as ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, shared experiences, and personal interests. This ensures mentees feel they are engaging with mentors who understand their unique perspectives or serve as inspiring role models.
Beyond one-to-one mentoring, GROW builds lasting professional relationships and a strong sense of belonging through its vibrant community. Many connections continue well beyond the term of the formal programme, fostering long-term support networks. Initiatives run by GROW include a series celebrating and empowering specific community groups through dedicated events for International Women’s Day, Pride, and Black History Month, creating vital networking opportunities for specific marginalised groups.
GROW hosts an ‘Annual Summit’ bringing together over 250 attendees for keynote talks, panel discussions, and breakout sessions designed to connect our community with key partners and build skills in a welcoming and supportive environment.
Through our tailored approach to mentoring and extensive community engagement, GROW not only supports individual development but also helps create a more inclusive and connected legal profession.
Applications to join GROW Mentoring as a mentee will open on 8 September, closing 8 October – sign up via the link here!
Abi Cooper is a member of the Partnerships team at GROW Mentoring, and is a future trainee solicitor at Mishcon de Reya. Abi graduated from the University of Bristol with a First-Class Honours degree in Law.
Alex Denny is Chief Operating Officer and Head of Partnerships at GROW Mentoring. He is a Derivatives and Structured Finance Associate at A&O Shearman, having studied Archaeology at St Catharine’s College, Cambridge.
Want to learn more about our Mentor Scheme? While applications are closed, please refer to this page for information: https://intl.barbri.com/sqe-mentor-scheme
Interested in finding out about what we offer our alumni? Click here: https://www.barbri.com/sqe/alumni
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