Kicking off Mentoring Month 2021, this month we are shining a light on the Law School mentoring schemes, offering our current law students the opportunity to gain deeper insights into working in commercial law, applying their law degree to a less corporate role, or gaining networks in their home countries. We hear from previous Professional Mentoring Scheme participants, Hannah Bellingall (mentee) and Alex Farrell-Thomas (mentor) as they outline the best bits and learnings from their experience last academic year.
What can I gain from being mentored during my law degree?
“When I first applied for the Professional Mentoring Scheme, I was still unsure which career path I wanted to take. Although I had attended several networking events, I felt there was not a space I could have a genuinely honest conversation with those who work with commercial law.
The mentoring scheme was a way I could gain way more insight into commercial law in general and have a candid conversation on topics such as work/life balance and mental health with someone within the industry.
It was also amazing to talk to someone who had been through the application process themselves, and my mentor was able to offer great feedback and tips on how to write good applications and which strategies are best to use.”
Hannah Bellingall is a final year LLB Law student, having taken part in the Professional Mentoring Scheme in 2020-21 during her second year.
How will my mentor be able to support me?
“I took part in the Professional Mentoring Scheme last year, whilst working at Osborne Clarke. I really liked the idea of giving something back – and giving advice to someone in a similar position that I was in, not so long ago, as a student myself.
I could really relate to the kind of difficulties that my mentee was having and the advice that she was after.
Being able to speak as someone who is now working at a law firm, and understand how you develop the skills to get there – I found that the scheme was a great opportunity to share some of that knowledge and be there to answer questions that my mentee had. Hopefully the experience enabled us both to develop some new skills.
As a junior lawyer, now that I start to delegate work to other juniors in my team, I think it’s important to stop and consider, if I was in their position, what do they need from me to be able to complete the task that I have asked them to help with? The mentoring scheme helped me to develop those skills because it allowed me to reflect and put myself in someone else’s position.”
Alex Farrell-Thomas is an Employment Associate at Osborne Clarke and joined the Professional Mentoring Scheme during 2020-21.
We offer three distinct mentoring schemes to allow students to explore a variety of career paths. Here we’ve set out some tips to help you decide which scheme to choose:
“I want to explore corporate/commercial routes (i.e solicitor/barrister)” we recommend choosing the Professional Mentoring Scheme – find more information here.
“I want to explore wider career paths outside of corporate/commercial routes (i.e. careers in human rights, policy…)” we recommend choosing the Law in Society Mentoring Scheme – find more information here.
“I’m an international student and would like to build legal networks in my home country” we recommend the International Law Mentoring Scheme – find more information here.
Eligibility
The Professional Mentoring Scheme is open to second year LLB and final year MA students. The Law in Society Mentoring Scheme is open to second and final year LLB and MA students. The International Law Mentoring Scheme is open to second year, final year LLB, MA and LLM Law students.
How to apply
Please check all eligibility requirements before applying. Please note that applications for the Professional Mentoring Scheme open on Monday 4 October and close at midnight on Friday 22 October.
Applications for the Law in Society and International Law Mentoring Schemes open on Wednesday 6 October and close on Sunday 31 October.
Find out more about our mentoring schemes here.