Becoming a successful lawyer relies on more than intelligence, dedication and expertise. Interpersonal skills play a large part, enabling lawyers to establish trust and build lasting relationships with clients and colleagues. Access to a network, in the form of clients and referral relationships, is also essential. After a year of social distancing and working remotely, developing those essential skills and building that all-important network is harder than ever. For the next generation coming up through the ranks, not being able to be physically present in the office to meet clients, interact with teams and learn from others in person will have a real impact. This is even more true for young female lawyers who often need extra encouragement and support to develop their careers. As someone who benefitted greatly from mentoring, I really value mentoring as a tool to help young female lawyers achieve their potential. This International Women’s Day, I am thinking particularly of these young women.

I have been there myself.  At 22 years old and a Dutch national and Dutch law graduate, I made the decision to leave The Netherlands and move to a new country, out of curiosity and a desire to do something different. So I moved to Bristol to study law and while I was there I began a part-time job in a local firm of solicitors to fund my studies. Entering a world where I did not know the people and where I was unfamiliar with the culture and customs generally, and the legal system in particular, certainly was a challenge. Turning to a mentor helped me through and set me up for my entire career.

Despite being a fairly fluent English speaker, my strong Dutch accent was proving problematic in my role, which required a large amount of dictation – so much so that I was let go from my position, not once but twice. With an important exam coming up that would see me become an accredited police station representative (which would, at that time, be my only formal UK qualification and my ticket to a proper job), I knew I needed guidance. I found a mentor, a senior male lawyer in the firm, who taught me to speak more clearly and who helped me hone the skills I needed. Having someone on my side who could not only advise me but who invested time in me and who believed in me was invaluable. I passed the exam and I have never looked back.

These are vital lessons I have tried to pass on as I have progressed in the field of white-collar crime law, an area that has historically been dominated by men, and I find that mentoring other women is enormously rewarding for both of us. Now, as an elected member of Jenner & Block’s Policy Committee, ensuring that women feel as empowered as men to climb to the top of the career ladder will continue to be a key area of focus as I help shape the firm’s policy decisions. As more and more law firms are becoming aware, attracting and retaining the best talent from a diverse candidate pool is central to business success: the challenge remains how to go about it.

The legal profession still has some way to go in that respect. Though around half of lawyers are women, that falls to a third of partners according to SRA data. Progress on improving female representation at partner level has been gradual in recent years and we cannot allow the Covid-19 pandemic to undermine it, especially since the burden of childcare during lockdown appears to have been weighing down hard on working mothers.

We need to act now and take this moment to roll out formal mentoring and sponsorship programmes, rather than relying on it to just happen informally (which is unlikely in a remote environment). We need to make sure that as we slowly return to the offices, we don’t let anyone fall between the cracks. We must be mindful that pre-Covid-19 childcare arrangements may no longer be in place and that our female workforce may need time to ramp back up. We need to make sure we understand needs and pressure points and find ways to address them. We need to make sure we focus on opening up networks and ensuring our young women lawyers have opportunities to develop their own contacts. This should be an urgent priority while the workforce remains dispersed.

Having someone to talk to, bounce ideas off and provide reassurance and inspiration is more critical than ever in the uncertain and stressful world we find ourselves in today. We all need to recognise the value of the people around us – and we can all benefit from helping each other. Women who are already in leadership positions have a real responsibility to support, mentor, empower and encourage other women to fulfil their career ambitions, so that they can do the same one day, creating a virtuous circle. I, for one, will be renewing that particular resolution this International Women’s Day and I remain grateful to this day for the mentoring I received all those years ago.

Christine Braamskamp is a partner at Jenner & Block