Mark Lumley on becoming an SCL Mentor:
I first became a mentor by accident. It was a happy accident.
I attended a Business Link (now defunct) law clinic as an advisor as a favour to a friend. [They] wanted to run more of these clinics but couldn’t find lawyers to support it consistently. I spoke to our trainees, put together some brief training for them and then oversaw their advice. As a by-product of this process, the trainees provided feedback on what they enjoyed and what piqued their interest from the wide variety of issues which popped up at the clinics. We discussed this, and it helped in trainee skills assessment and career choices. Since then I have participated in several mentoring schemes for aspiring lawyers and tech business owners, for everyone from undergraduates to those seeking mid-career change.
Lawyers are often by nature, pragmatic, sociable, fair-minded and generous with their time. I appreciate that flies somewhat in the face of the numerous jokes at our expense of the “what do you call 100 lawyers at the bottom of the sea?” variety, but nevertheless, with the odd exception, helping others is in our DNA.
“Helping others is in our DNA”
Mark Lumley
SCL’s tagline is ‘Tech Law for Everyone’. For many of the current student population without a relative in a law firm or perfect grades (and even for those who do), an experienced helping hand from a mentor can make all the difference, not just to get them a start they might not otherwise have, but to make better decisions about what a future career might look like. SCL has made a great start to widening participation and helping the next generation of tech lawyers, see: the SCL Ambassador Scheme. SCL are committed to providing structured and helpful support to SCL mentors, but now we need the wider SCL community to get involved. Whether you have been a mentor before or not, we would love to hear from you.
Contact SCL at hello@scl.org to find out more about the SCL mentoring scheme and to apply to become a mentor, it may be the best few minutes you spend at work this week!
Mark Lumley is a Consultant at Freeths LLP and an SCL Trustee.
All SCL University Ambassadors are offered the opportunity to be mentored and SCL is also seeking to recruit mentors for the forthcoming Student Tech Law Challenge. But, while the need for mentors for those purposes is especially pressing, mentors are sought beyond these categories.