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Saraya Collier-East is a law student at the University of Technology Sydney and is a part of the Law Society of NSW's 2026 Mentoring Program as a student mentor. She shares her experience on what it's like to be a mentor and how it's a "meaningful way" to give back.

This year, I have had the pleasure of beginning a mentoring relationship with two first-year university students navigating their first steps into the legal profession. This opportunity to support younger law students has felt like such a meaningful way to give back. For some students, particularly those who do not come from a legal background, the legal profession can often feel quite impenetrable. Having navigated this uncertainty myself, I am eager to share the insights, connections and understanding I have gained through my time at university and working within a large commercial law firm.

Whether it has been answering questions on recruitment and office life, mapping out how to be involved in legal skills competitions or grabbing hold of volunteering opportunities; creating a space where my mentees can ask questions that at times feel unanswerable and building confidence in themselves through developing and progressing their goals has been immensely rewarding.

Since both my mentees are located in Sydney, we have been lucky enough to meet face-to-face over coffee. Not only has this made our meetings smooth and convenient, but this laid-back approach has also given us a wonderful opportunity to get to know each other personally as well as professionally. Our catchups are always engaging and we cover countless topics from the differences in career pathways between commercial firms and working in the courts and brainstorming what life will look like after university, to planning how to develop soft and hard skills for the future and even identifying and registering for volunteering opportunities within the legal community.

This experience has fostered significant growth in my own professional and personal skills. Supporting my mentees to identify and work towards their goals has strengthened my ability to communicate effectively, practice focused leadership, and adapt my approach to suit different individuals. Watching my mentees develop confidence and achieve milestones we have set together over the past few months has been incredibly rewarding, not only because of their individual success, but also because of the knowledge that they now feel more equipped to continue developing long past the end of our mentoring relationship.

How to get involved

The Law Society’s Student Mentoring Program is a peer-to-peer program that enables final and penultimate year students to develop their leadership and interpersonal skills while giving back to their law student communities. Mentoring provides student mentors the opportunity to develop valuable and highly sought-after skills including decision-making and goal setting, probative questioning, collaborative planning, and build career long professional connections. To find out more or to join the program visit the Mentoring Program webpage here.