Join our In-House Survival Peer Group for Future Legal Leaders!

A Mid-Level Survival Guide for Working In-House

on 09 January 2024

We are developing a mid-level survival peer group for in-house legal professionals into a community, focused on supporting junior to mid-level professionals in their shared challenges, career growth and promotion aspirations.

Are you a mid-level in-house lawyer?
Do you feel you need more support in your role?
Would you like to be able to share your insights and strategies in a safe place?
Are you interested in joining an in-house legal community of your peers?

Heading up this initiative is Gethin Bennett, currently Assistant Legal Counsel at The Royal Mint.

After a couple of years in private practice, Gethin joined The Royal Mint (where he spent some time on secondment as a trainee) as a full-time in-house lawyer in November 2020.

"Being an advisor for the Mint is great – you get huge legal and commercial variety in your work, get to collaborate with some fantastic and different people, and get to play a key part in ensuring the success of the business’ products and services."

Before qualifying as a solicitor, Gethin studied Law and French at Cardiff University, and spent an Erasmus year abroad in Toulouse during his studies.

To contact Gethin directly, please see his LinkedIn page.

Why is this needed?

In today's fast-paced legal landscape, the role of junior in-house lawyers is evolving rapidly, and with that change comes a unique set of challenges. We’ve therefore set up this group to help with those challenges – in particular, with the aim of:

Combatting isolation: The role of an in-house lawyer can be inherently solitary, especially for those working in smaller legal departments or as the sole legal counsel in their organisation. This isolation can result in a lack of peer support, hindered professional growth, and feelings of professional loneliness.
Promoting learning and growth: Junior in-house lawyers have unique challenges, from managing internal stakeholders and corporate governance to understanding industry-specific regulations. Our peer group will provide a platform to share experiences, discuss best practices, and learn from one another's successes and setbacks.
Opening networking opportunities: Building a professional network is crucial for any legal career. Our forum will connect you with peers from diverse industries, allowing you to expand your network, exchange ideas, and potentially find mentorship or collaboration opportunities.
Improving mental health and well-being: Recognising the mental toll that being a legal counsel can take, we hope that the group will provide emotional support and a safe space for discussing the stressors and challenges of the in-house legal profession.

There will be two sessions each lasting one hour on the 13 June and 26 September, from these we are hoping to start a community group on LinkedIn to pick up anything covered in the group sessions and any future topics for discussion. Plus feedback forms will be issued to attendees to see how the sessions can be improved.

We are looking at a maximum of 16 people per session to start with and all participants should have cameras on to encourage full engagement. These groups will take place under Chatham House Rule, but they will be recorded for the purpose of writing up what is discussed so a survival guide can be created to be taken away. Once we have this the recording will be deleted. We are hoping for a mix of experience so you can all benefit from each other's knowledge.

Should this be of interest to you please contact us or visit the dedicated events pages - June/September and state your level of experience (0-5 years). As stated above spaces in the group will be limited but the up-coming LI community group will be able to accommodate everyone interested!

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