Nikki Alderson
Returning to legal practice after a career break, whether for maternity leave, health issues, elder care, or other personal reasons, can feel daunting. Confidence wavers, priorities shift, and the landscape at work often looks different. Yet, with the right support structures in place, a return can be more than just a comeback. It can be the beginning of a new, empowered phase in the legal careers of solicitors and barristers alike.
As someone who has navigated this journey personally during my time at the criminal bar and now works with lawyer returners professionally, I know first-hand how occasionally overwhelming, yet ultimately rewarding, this transition can be. The power of strategic planning, supportive systems, and simple shifts in mindset can make all the difference to the success, or otherwise, of a return.
The good news? When law firms, barristers’ chambers and lawyer returners themselves all play an active role in the process, the outcomes can be transformational, not just for individuals, but also for organisational retention, inclusion and long-term success.
This article provides a practical overview of key challenges together with an exploration of how HR/ People departments in law firms, barristers’ clerks and individual legal professionals (both solicitors or barristers) can each play a part in reshaping the returner experience for the better.
HR Departments in Law Firms: Building Organisational Frameworks for Returner Success
Law firm HR departments are on the talent retention frontline. Retaining mid-career talent, especially women, is a persistent and costly challenge, with return processes often being patchy and inconsistent, consequently impacting diversity at senior levels. Supporting lawyers, and in particular working mothers, back into practice after a break shouldn’t simply be a box-ticking exercise: meaningful provisions protect firms’ investment in experienced people and keep talent pipelines strong.
Here are five strategies that can make a real impact for HR Departments:
1. Engage Returners Before They Take a Break Don’t let valued employees “leave before they leave.” Encourage them to document achievements, gather performance feedback, and update CVs or LinkedIn profiles whilst still in work mode. This keeps them visible and valued during their time away and makes the eventual return smoother and more confident.
2. Design Bespoke Return Plans No two returns are alike. A “one-size-fits-all” approach risks alienating the very people firms are attempting to retain. Collaborate with returners to build flexible, tailored return to work plans that aligns with the individual’s personal circumstances and practical needs, as well as their professional ambitions and aspirations – whether that’s a phased return, part-time or compressed hours, project-based work, ongoing flexible or remote working.
3. Conduct Structured Check-ins
Structured, consistent, meaningful and bilateral communication during leave is essential, where agreed. Clarify contact expectations and keep returners in the loop on firm-wide updates, events and role changes. Practice development conversations shouldn’t stop while someone is off either, and demonstrate returners are still valued and that their career progression still remains important.
4. Offer Access to Coaching and Training Many returners report feeling rusty on legal updates or firm systems, and feel under-confident having been out of the organisation for some time. Offer targeted, structured training and coaching sessions to boost confidence and rebuild momentum. Provide access to online tools as part of that same returner package, empowering returners to upskill and re-integrate expeditiously.
5. Champion Visible Role Models Highlighting stories of women (and men) who have returned and thrived helps normalise the return journey and dispel the myth that ambition and parenting are mutually exclusive. Consider establishing informal mentorship links so returners can learn from those who have “been there, done it” and continued to rise.
Barristers’ Clerks: Pivotal Role in Chambers’ Culture Change and Talent Retention
Clerks have enormous influence over a barrister’s practice, that influence becoming even more significant when returning from a break. Done well, supportive clerking can transform a career return into a re-launch. Done poorly, it can drive experienced and talented professionals away from the Bar and negatively impact on perceptions of Chambers as diverse, accessible and inclusive.
Here are five strategies to enable clerks to provide gold-standard returner support:
1. Proactive Practice Planning
Don’t wait until the barrister is back in chambers to think about what their diary will look like. Initiate discussions before their leave, continue them whilst they are still away and discuss timelines, preferred practice areas, and what “success” might look like, in the early weeks and months. Inclusion from commencement builds trust, clarity and alignment with the capacity and needs of all in mind.
2. Communicate with Confidence and Clarity
Avoid making assumptions. Ask what success looks like for the returner, and tailor support accordingly. Consider what the returner wants to prioritise – volume of work, type of cases, travel limits – and work around the possible, and where not, explain what is and isn’t possible.
3. Prioritise Fair Briefing
The gender pay gap at the Bar is stark. Be aware of unconscious bias. Ensure rates, case types and court locations reflect experience and potential, not outdated assumptions or penalising flexibility. Returners need to feel their absence hasn’t diminished their status or earning potential. Avoid inadvertently side-lining them into less prestigious yet emotionally taxing work, simply because it is considered more flexible.
4. Build in Business Development
Help returners get back in the room (literally or virtually). Support their involvement in networking opportunities, refresh their online profiles, and reintroduce them to key instructing solicitors. A simple marketing push – done collaboratively – can rebuild momentum quickly.
5. Systemise Support
Rather than relying on goodwill or instinct, use structured frameworks and easily accessible support resources to manage returns. For example, templates for return announcements, checklists for phased diary planning, and practice development tools all provide consistency and remove the “returner roulette” sensation that many barrister returners currently experience.
Individual Returners: Taking Ownership of Your Own Comeback
No matter how supportive your firm or chambers may be, the return-to-work journey remains personal, a successful return starting with self-awareness and action. The legal profession is fast-moving, often leaving returners facing confidence dips, skills deficiencies or rustiness, shifting priorities and fear of being side-lined. Whether solicitor or barrister, mindset, resilience and self-advocacy strategies are all key to a confident and sustainable return.
Here are five strategies to take ownership of your own successful return:
1. Be Honest About Your Goals NOW
It’s easy to revert to what you did before your break, but is that still what you want? Take time to reflect on your career priorities as they are NOW, not as they once were. Whether you’re seeking stability, a new challenge, promotion or progression, being honest with yourself on your “why” now allows you to communicate more clearly with others and plan accordingly.
2. Expect and Accept the Highs and Lows
Feeling under-confident or out of place after time away is entirely normal. Even the most capable lawyers struggle with court-readiness, technological advances, a changed team, or loss of professional identity. Don’t internalise these as failure. They’re setbacks, not roadblocks. Embrace coaching, mentorship and other peer support to overcome them.
3. Build Your Boundaries
Be clear about your non-negotiables – whether that’s childcare pickups, avoiding out of area travel/ trials. Communicate these clearly and assertively to manage expectations. Articulating your boundaries professionally and positively (e.g. “This is what I can do” as opposed to a whole long list of what you can’t) helps others respect them, without castigating returners as uncooperative or inflexible.
4. Stay Visible, Pro-actively
Even before returning, consider low-key ways to stay engaged, such as LinkedIn activity, staying abreast of legal updates and online networking. Don’t wait for others to reintroduce you. Consider writing an article for your organisation’s newsletter, to re-establish your presence, perhaps announcing your return and career progression vision. Visibility breeds opportunity.
5. Be Strategic About Progression
Once you’ve found your feet, start thinking ahead. What are your future goals? Could this be your moment to apply for silk? Move in-house? Explore leadership roles? Many returners feel their career has been paused. Not so. Indeed, I’ve known returner clients promoted whilst on their breaks. Career return is just phase one – long-term career growth is still very much on the table. The timing just has to be right for YOU. Plan your next move intentionally.
Shared Responsibility AND success – Rewriting the Returner Narrative
At its worst, a return from a career break can feel lonely, demoralising, and career-limiting. At its best, it can be an opportunity to reset, reinvigorate and relaunch, with new perspective and renewed confidence.
While each group has distinct responsibilities, the returner journey is most successful when approached collaboratively. Firms are wise to invest in meaningful support systems. Clerks benefit from specific returner training and experience. Returners own their own comebacks utilising clear and confident strategies.
Online courses and coaching programmes – including those I’ve developed – offer structured, supportive frameworks to navigate this journey. But regardless of the tools used, the collective goal remains the same: helping returners to return AND thrive.
When law firms, barristers’ chambers and lawyer returners all work together, the results are powerful, not just for individual careers, but for a stronger, more inclusive legal profession, with fabulous returner talent retained within it for long term sustainability in law.
By Nikki Alderson – talent retention and women’s leadership expert, former criminal barrister, and specialist coach and trainer supporting legal professionals returning from career breaks. To learn more about coaching support or training options available for HR teams, Chambers and individuals, including Return & Rise and Clerking Through Career Breaks, feel free to get in touch.