MENTORING
Mentoring and its benefits
There are so many benefits to mentoring, including encouragement and empowerment to ask for what you want at work, whether that's related to pay, types of work or promotion (including applying for partnership, silk or judicial office), identifying and working towards career goals, increasing confidence and having access to confidential support.
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WICL members are welcome to apply to join one of our fabulous judicial mentoring circles or our 1-to-1 mentoring programme as a mentor, mentee or both!
Judicial Mentoring Circles
Our mentoring schemes are in high demand, so please bear with us while we look for your perfect match or circle.
Please note we only offer mentoring for our members. To take part you have to be already working in the criminal justice system, unfortunately we cannot offer mentoring to students.
If you would like to get involved or know more, get in touch below:
Judicial Mentoring Circles are small groups of women from a range of backgrounds and stages of their careers, and led by a judge. They offer circular mentoring, as we feel everyone can learn from others, be it more senior or junior to themselves. These groups are not specifically designed for those making judicial applications, but to assist generally with mentoring and the development of careers. So far, we formed over 20 circles, and have several more in the pipeline. The groups are headed by judges from courts all across London and beyond including The Old Bailey and High Court.
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PS! If you are a judge who might be keen to lead a circle - we would love to hear from you! Please do email us at womenincrimlawmentoring@gmail.com.
Request to join a mentoring circle
Request a mentoring match here:
Mentor
Mentee
Judicial Mentoring Circle feedback
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" The group has been so much more than just talking about judicial applications – it feels like a genuine support network where you have an opportunity to talk to other women, at all stages of their careers, about the issues affecting them most. I always look forward to our evenings of chatting over drinks and nibbles.
I would encourage everyone in WICL to apply to join a judicial mentoring circle."
(Barrister, 2015 call)​​​​​​​​
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" In the meeting that we had, it was clear that our group despite being from different legal backgrounds and at different stages in our careers all had some advice to give to each other. Our Judge in particular was really proactive in asking us all what our aspirations were and how to achieve them.
The suggestions weren’t always those typical of a barrister or a solicitor so that was really useful."
(Solicitor,13 years PQE)
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" I have only met up with my judicial mentoring circle just once, and I already feel humbled by the safe place created in by the women in my circle. It’s incredibly empowering to hear such accomplished women bravely discussing their difficulties and ambitions. I was welcomed despite being of comparably low experience and qualification to the other members, and encouraged to share my thoughts regardless, as they are just as valuable as those of others.
I am excited to see where our next meeting takes us."
(Paralegal)