This special one-off edition is a roving recording from the London Legal Walk 2021 where Fran and Sassy talk to walkers about what access to justice really means.   

The London Legal Walk is a huge annual event in the Legal calendar, where the whole legal community come together to walk 10km and raise vital funds for the London Legal Support Trust. They in turn fund front line legal services. 

Between drinks, chips and photos with hedge people, Fran and Sassy head to the start line and talk to a fascinating range of walkers about why access to justice is so important. 

This episode features;
-   Robert Rinder MBE (aka Judge Rinder)
-  Derek Sweeting QC (Chair of the Bar)
-  Lubna Shuja (Vice President of the Law Society)
-  Elizabeth Harper, Amanda Illing and Bob Nightingale MBE (London Legal Support Trust)
-  Matthew Leopold (Lexis Nexis)
- Paola Bruni (Dentons)
-  Ifeoluwa Ogunsakin, Rachel Robbins and Ralph Cox (Clyde and Co)

Useful Resources:
- The London Legal Support Trust (https://londonlegalsupporttrust.org.uk/)
- James Harper talks about the Rule of Law;
https://www.barcouncil.org.uk/becoming-a-barrister.html       
https://www.lawsociety.org.uk/career-advice/becoming-a-solicitor/     
- The World Justice Project https://worldjusticeproject.org/about-us/overview/what-rule-law
- The Access to Justice Foundation https://atjf.org.uk/ 

Immigration law is wide and varied but there is a particularly important and urgent legal issues to be discussed: climate migration / displacement.   

This episode looks at what we mean by climate migration, why it is an imminent threat, and how it links to matters of social justice. The ReImagine Law team are joined by Maria Patsalos and Becca Hird from Mishcon de Reya who talk about their work on the Mishcon Climate Migration Project and how listeners can help put this important issue on the political agenda despite it not being on the COP26 agenda. 

This episode encourages listeners to undertake some practical actions after listening to the episode.

 1.     Visit the COP26 website. Have a look at the issues and the agenda – can you spot what is missing?
 https://ukcop26.org/
2.     Mishcon de Reya have many resources and links on their website. Take a look at their release of the 5th October to understand the topic more:
https://www.mishcon.com/news/climate-migration-a-growing-human-rights-emergency-without-definition

Useful Resources: -       

Mischon de Reya:
https://www.mishcon.com/news/mishcon-de-reya-announces-climate-migration-project     
The Global Report on International Displacement 2020:
https://www.internal-displacement.org/global-report/grid2020/       
Visit the Plan B website:
https://planb.earth/plan-b-v-government-bailouts-for-polluters/
The Independent Assessment of UK Climate Risk:
https://www.theccc.org.uk/publication/independent-assessment-of-uk-climate-risk/-     
Look at the Race to Resilience:
https://racetozero.unfccc.int/race-to-resilience/

In this episode we continue the theme of our ReImagine Law team speaking about the learning from their own careers, and Simon Reichwald interviews Nigel Spencer about his career pathway.  

Nigel speaks about a range of themes from his career which has ranged from Classical Archaeology, to PwC and leadership development in the legal sector! 

In the interview, Nigel and Simon explore the impact that individuals can have in helping to shape our lives, be that an inspiring teacher, or a great mentor at a time of need.  Nigel speaks about how he learnt the importance of reflecting on “What do I really enjoy doing?” as he progressed, and also realised that finding the answer to this question was often about being curious to try out new things – volunteering and exploring the edges of a job description and getting involved in different projects to develop new skills or a next opportunity.  

Also, Nigel reflects on the benefits of building broad networks.  Networks which can help you to stay outside your comfort zone, to keep you learning regularly and, when you face setbacks, can be a source of support from mentors and contacts, so that you are not facing your challenges alone.

Finally Nigel speaks about his hopes for the future of work, a world where perhaps technology will create even more interesting jobs (rather than taking away jobs), freeing us up to be creative and to find new solutions to increasingly complex and cross-disciplinary challenges. 

Resources:

 “Seven lessons about Career Change with Professor Herminia Ibarra: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKwYTmHExWQ

This special episode shines a light on co-host Kerry Jarred.  How has she come to own three businesses and what has she learnt along the way.   
Kerry started out as an accountant at PWC and shares her journey to date including the moment she realised that she did not want to do the career that she initially thought... 
Along her professional journey, Kerry has met some incredible people and undertaken additional responsibilities to continue to professionally ‘stretch’ herself. 

Useful resources-     
https://www.jarredconsulting.co.uk/associate/kerry-jarred/-     
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kerry-jarred-jarredconsulting/?originalSubdomain=uk-       
Institute of Student Employers (previously known as the Association of Graduate Recruiters) https://ise.org.uk/

In this episode Julia Robinson, Senior Manager of Professional Development at global law firm Ropes and Gray, discusses the importance of developing one’s ‘human skills’ in order to develop a career in the legal sector of the 21stcentury.

 We explore on the episode how the ability to adapt, to relate to others, to empathise, and to show deep levels of emotional intelligence have all been highlighted by the pandemic – and why these skills are all relevant to “robot-proofing” your career.  Also, we discuss why these skills are important to the clients of legal practitioners and how leaders of law firms are focusing increasingly on maintaining the human connection and “glue” across their organisation, especially as we look ahead to increasingly hybrid work patterns, with some team members in the office and some choosing to work flexibly.

 Questions to consider:

·       Being adaptable is helped by having a mind-set of ‘lifelong learning’.  Could you volunteer to be involved in a new project or different type of work, where you will learn a lot on the job?

·       When in meetings or in conversations, how often do you focus on the other person’s needs and ‘check-in’ what is going on for them?  Being curious and interested in others is a great way to learn how to relate well and build emotional intelligence.

 
Resources:

·       Training in a pandemic: the last 12 months

·       Robot proofing for lawyers

In this podcast, Simon Reichwald, Elizabeth Robertson and Tim Smith discuss how law firms can support legal professionals from less privileged backgrounds to progress their careers. The discussion focuses on three key areas:

·       The evidence and research underpinning the need to focus on progression

·       The tools available to support progression such as mentoring; how to avoid marginal mentoring and instead deliver ‘mentoring with purpose’; why choice of mentor matters

·       How creating the right culture and environment matters

Simon Reichwald is Strategic Lead for Talent at MyKindaFuture and a Delivery Partner for the Government commissioned taskforce to improve socio-economic diversity at senior levels in UK financial and professional services.

Elizabeth Robertson is a partner and white collar crime specialist at Skadden Arps, an international law firm. She is also a Board member of PRIME, an alliance of law firms across the UK and Republic of Ireland determined to improve access to, and socio-economic diversity within, the legal profession.

Tim Smith is a partner at Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner where he specialises in planning and environmental law. Tim is also Chair of PRIME’s Partner Advisory Group and a trustee of the Bridge Group.

Useful links:

PRIME - https://primecommitment.co.uk

PRIME is an alliance of law firms across the UK and Republic of Ireland determined to improve access to, and socio-economic diversity within, the legal profession. Visit our website for more information on how your law firm can join PRIME.

Taskforce to address Socio-Economic Diversity at Senior Levels in Financial & Professional Services - https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/supporting-businesses/business-support-and-advice/socio-economic-diversity-taskforce/socio-economic-diversity-taskforce-brochure  

Why mentoring programmes often deliver only marginal impact - https://hbr.org/2020/07/why-your-mentorship-program-isnt-working

The Government backed ‘Get into Work’ Technology platform to support those who need it get into work and progress when in work - https://getintowork.co.uk/lp-a

How firms are delivering ‘Social Impact’ through mentoring https://www.mykindafuture.com/2021/04/08/supporting-young-people-hit-hardest-by-covid-19-with-mykindafutures-partnership-with-the-jobcentre-plus/

https://www.mykindafuture.com/2021/07/08/6995/

Finding the right mentor can be transformational, but where do you start? We speak with law firm partners Tim Smith and Elizabeth Robertson about how to find a mentor and make the most of the relationship, as well as Simon Reichwald at MyKindaFuture, where they leverage technology to make finding and accessing mentors easy! They talk about researching to identify the right mentor, being clear on what you want to achieve from the relationship, and preparing for your conversations with your mentor. But first you have to ask someone to be your mentor, and that may not be as hard as it might seem, because people love being mentors! 

Elizabeth Robertson is a partner and white collar crime specialist at Skadden Arps, an international full-service law firm based in New York.

Tim Smith is partner at Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner where he specialises in planning and environmental law.

Simon Reichwald is Strategic Lead for Talent at MyKindaFuture, a technology business, supporting ‘new’ talent get into work and ‘existing’ talent progress when in work. 

Useful links:

PRIME - https://primecommitment.co.uk

PRIME is an alliance of law firms across the UK and Republic of Ireland determined to improve access to, and socio-economic diversity within, the legal profession. A successful career in the law is based on what you can do, not where you are from. Start, develop 

and excel in your legal career. It all starts with work experience from PRIME. Visit our website to find out more.

‘Get into Work’ - https://getintowork.co.uk/lp-a a Government supported technology platform giving those who need it access to mentors from across multiple industries

“Mentoring has such a valuable role in supporting young people with their future success, and it’s great to see DWP partnering the team at MyKindaFuture to match young people with mentors and content”. DWP Minister for Employment, Mims Davies MP

In this final episode in our mini-series of tips and ideas for personal development, we bring different ideas together and consider how this fits into a practical and inspiring career plan.

 Have you built into the plan your interests and strengths, and captured ideas where you are curious to find out more as possible future roles and directions?

 What has your experience to date told you about the environments you enjoy most?  We discuss how you can measure progress and also the importance of considering the ‘pace’ you want your next phase to be – to avoid burnout and to enable you to balance your work and other life goals.

 Finally, we explore briefly the future world of work, changed by the current pandemic, and how this might help you to plan ahead.

 Questions to consider:

·       How much ‘stretch’ am I giving myself currently?  Do I need to slow down, or am I achieving the right balance?

·       How will I know if the next career phase I am planning will be a success – what are my metrics and the learning I want from that?

Resources:

·       Understanding your priorities: your ‘big rocks’: https://www.forbes.com/sites/hillennevins/2020/01/21/what-are-your-big-rocks/  

·       Looking at your career over the long-term, an example from the legal sector and managing your ‘pace’ of development: https://www.sbs.ox.ac.uk/programmes/executive-education/custom-executive-education/creating-competitive-advantage/interview-dame-janet-gaymer

In this sixth episode in our mini-series of tips and ideas for personal development, we look at mentoring.

 What do you need to think about as you seek out a mentor for the stage of career you are at? Where do you find a good mentor, and what skills and experience do they need.

 We discuss in the episode how important it is to be clear on the purpose: what specifically do you want to learn or seek guidance upon?  Should your mentor be within or outside your current organisation – and what is the difference between a line manager’s role and someone who mentors you?

 In the episode, we also discuss how important it is to consider when you should change mentor, and should you have more than one at any single time.

 Questions to consider:

·       What would I need most from a mentor at this moment in time to help my career thinking?

·       Whom do I know with the skills or experience to guide me?

Resources:

·       10 best practices for mentees: https://www.centerformentoring.com/top-10-best-practices-for-mentees

·       Skills for successful mentoring: https://my.lerner.udel.edu/wp-content/uploads/Skills_for_Sucessful_Mentoring.pdf

The fourth episode in our mini-series of tips and ideas for personal development explores the topic of feedback.  

 We discuss why getting feedback is so important.  The need to gain different perspectives on how you are developing, how the last project was received by colleagues you assisted, and how this information can then guide your career thinking.

 There’s also the key question of how to have the feedback conversation, what will make it as effective as possible, how you can best create some good actions, and what will help the person giving you feedback to be as open as possible.

 Questions to consider:

·       To give you some useful data on your strengths and any areas for development, who do you need to speak with?

·       What would you really like to get out of this specific conversation, which will most help you? 

·       After you receive the feedback, which 2 specific actions will you take?

 
Resources:

·       Tips on receiving feedback: https://ardencoaching.com/ten-tips-accepting-feedback-gracefully/