Career Development and Mentoring – New Opportunities for CLS Members
Francesca Lofts
Associate Counsel
Cambridge University Press
I joined the CLS Committee in November 2020, taking on the newly created role of Career Development and Mentoring Officer. This role has been created as part of the CLS rebranding and revitalisation, to help drive excellence and better connection throughout our legal community in Cambridgeshire, and I’m really excited to help launch new initiatives and schemes.
Career development means different things at different times in your career. You may be looking for a promotion, a change in direction, a new challenge, to return to work or take a break, to work out what a voluntary role or hobby could do to help your professional life, or simply to expand your professional network. Over the next year I hope to roll out opportunities for CLS members to explore different career development avenues and as part of that I would welcome any suggestions that you may have for topics, or if you would like to share your experiences with other CLS members. Please email admin@cambslaw.com with the heading “Career Development”.
Alongside career development, many individuals within CLS may be facing career challenges or seeking new opportunities, and be looking for support through those moments. Mentoring is really beneficial for both mentors and mentees: helping to develop your skills and providing exposure to different experiences and to be inspired by those you meet. Mentoring does not have to be a senior partner dispensing their wisdom to a wide-eyed NQ; as valuable as that is, we recognise the huge breadth of experience and skills within the CLS and want to help a wide group engage with mentoring. Reverse mentoring, or creation of a mentor pool with defined specialities enable those at all different stages of their careers both to provide and to receive mentoring. As this is a new programme for CLS, I will be seeking expressions of interest from the CLS community to understand how best you want to connect with your fellow members – look out for a survey in 2021 so you can get involved.
I look forward to connecting with many of you!
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