Reverse mentoring in the legal profession: a practical toolkit

LawCare and the University of Leeds have launched a new reverse mentoring toolkit to help law firms and legal organisations become more inclusive, supportive, and fairer places to work.

What is reverse mentoring?

In reverse mentoring, junior staff or people from underrepresented backgrounds mentor more senior colleagues. It’s a way to share lived experiences, build understanding, and challenge traditional hierarchies. This approach helps organisations listen to voices that are often left out of important conversations.

Why it matters?

Progress on improving equality, inclusion and wellbeing has been too slow and junior and aspiring lawyers are often not sufficiently involved. LawCare and the University of Leeds created this toolkit to help address that.

The toolkit gives step-by-step advice for setting up a reverse mentoring programme that is safe, properly considered, and useful – not just a tick-box exercise.

The toolkit will help you:

• Understand how reverse mentoring works.
• Create a safe and respectful space for honest conversations.
• Support mentors and mentees through the process.
• Learn from real experiences to make lasting changes.
• Avoid common mistakes.

Who is the toolkit for?

This free resource is for any legal workplace – large or small, and in any part of the legal sector. Whether you’ve never tried reverse mentoring before or you’re looking to improve what you’re already doing, this toolkit can help.

More about the toolkit

👉 Read more about the toolkit, including more information about what’s in each section, on the LawCare website

👉 Download the reverse mentoring toolkit

👉 There are also more resources on the Reverse mentoring project page here

What’s really working for inclusion and wellbeing in law?

• In-person event
• Thursday 26 June 2025, 4 to 6pm
• Leeds University Business School, Maurice Keyworth Building, Room G.31

You are invited to a panel event and community discussion exploring what truly works to improve inclusion and wellbeing in law, grounded in real evidence and practical examples.

This event is part of a partnership between LawCare and the University of Leeds, which has highlighted a key gap in the sector: a lack of evaluation around equity, inclusion, and wellness initiatives – particularly when it comes to involving aspiring and junior lawyers. This led to the development of a reverse mentoring toolkit.

This event is open to anyone working in or studying law with an interest in inclusion and wellbeing. Refreshments and networking opportunities will follow the panel discussion.

👉 Book your place now

The panel welcomes questions in advance of the session. You can send them directly to Rachael O’Connor at the University of Leeds; r.e.oconnor@leeds.ac.uk