The UK’s first e-mentoring programme for female lawyers and professionals is aimed at helping women supercharge their rainmaking skills and fast track their trajectory to senior leadership.

Kate McMahon and Tamlyn Edmonds – founders and partners of private prosecution law firm Edmonds Marshall McMahon (EMM) – have formed Networking Nuance to assist women to succeed in networking and business development.

In UK law firms of all sizes, women are significantly under represented at partnership level. The SRA’s Diversity Review of 2021 found that over half of lawyers are female, yet only 35 per cent are partners and just 25 per cent of partners are equity partners.

Meanwhile, studies by Credit Suisse and McKinseys show that more gender balanced leadership creates businesses that are more financially successful, diverse, collaborative and with higher staff retention.

This flexible and affordable mentoring programme comprises a nine-week pre-recorded course featuring weekly videos of expert networkers providing top tips, weekly summaries and tasks, practical Q&A featuring star networkers and an interactive forum designed to help women expand their social networks.

Kate McMahon, co-founder of Networking Nuance, explains:

“We have over 10 years of managing both genders and noticed that women tend to prioritise their legal work at the expense of building their networks. … The art of bringing in business to a firm is not discussed nearly enough amongst women, yet this is of great significance considering women can progress through the ranks faster if they do generate work. We consider that the lack of business development training and effective advice is one of the factors that explains the UK’s relatively low numbers of female partners, and extremely low numbers of female equity partners.”

The flexible and affordable e-mentor programme costs £495 + VAT per person and includes:

• a 9-week course, featuring weekly videos of expert networkers in law providing top tips on all aspects of networking relevant to female lawyers and professionals;
• weekly summaries, reading and things to try out which relate to that week’s learning;
• a personalised dash board that allows users to track their progress through the course;
• a bespoke forum for women to share experiences and learning, seek advice and connect with other women seeking to expand their networks (which will include guest Q&A);
• weekly newsletters with personalised updates.

It is designed for busy female professionals who can choose to complete it within three months at their own pace.

For further information, please visit the website at networkingnuance.com, or contact either Clare Longhurst, cl@clarespr.co.uk or Kate McMahon katemcmahon@networkingnuance.com.