“Dealing with time pressures, dealing with clients, dealing with partners – it’s daunting. But ask any successful person and they will no doubt say that they had someone help them along the way,” he said.

“Mentoring helps junior lawyers navigate their lives and their careers, with the benefit and observations from someone who has probably been there before and seen similar things.”

Mr Hughes has mentored a number of young lawyers and takes pride in seeing them succeed – someone he first mentored as a paralegal has won awards in both the Australian Law Awards and the Women in Law Awards.

“I feel that I have become a better person as a result of my mentoring interactions. I have come to learn that people often appear happy in the same ways, but struggle and are unhappy in different ways,” he said.

“I am sure other mentors feel the same. While a junior lawyer receives guidance, a mentor receives satisfaction and pride and, hopefully, a more trusted and competent younger colleague.”

Having a good mentor will be ever-important post-pandemic, said Mr Hughes, especially as flexible working models become more popular.

“Whilst I am a proponent of the work from home model, I am aware that individuals who choose to work remotely (often caregivers, traditionally women) may be disadvantaged in the ‘post-COVID’ world,” he added.

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“As much as I reject the notion of presenteeism, I do not pretend that it does not exist, particularly amongst the more traditional practitioners. People who choose to work remotely may miss out on opportunities or be unfairly disadvantaged in the workplace. This is a frustrating, and often distressing, situation for the individual.

“A good mentor can help individuals manoeuvre their way around these issues. To ensure the WFH model is adopted fairly by the profession, affected individuals need good mentors to listen when unfair treatment is encountered, to be a sounding board for alternate approaches to client relationships and to be open to alternative means of business development.”

Moreover, Mr Hughes advised lawyers to find themselves a mentor to inspire them – and for mentors to offer real-world, honest advice.

“I firmly believe that mentoring relationships are the key to inspiring, connecting and leading others to reach their potential. Mentor relationships are about understanding obstacles and barriers and helping people to find their own approach to setbacks and challenges,” he concluded.

“I realised early on that a mentor is not meant to be the ‘knight in shining armour’ with all the answers. Rather, a mentor should be a sounding board who enables the mentee to find their own answers. This means showing humility and honesty, and often admitting to personal failures and the lessons learnt from those failures, so that the mentee has real life insights.”