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What Working In Law Really Does To New Mums - 30/06/2026

zoe9757
Sep 29
0 min read

I have had the pleasure of working with a couple of different law firms since starting My Maternity Coach, and this journey has taught me a lot.


The barriers new mums face on the return to work journey are huge. The good news is there is absolutely something that can be done to create a stable and supportive environment to come back to.What the research actually shows:It is worth saying upfront that research specifically on maternity return in the legal sector is thin on the ground. But the studies that do exist are telling, and they line up with almost everything I hear directly from the women I work with.


A BlueSky survey of more than 250 fee earners found that just 10% of women felt very positive about access to career enhancing opportunities three months into their return. That rose to 15% at six months and 44% at nine months. On partnership specifically, only 25% of women on maternity leave felt confident about making partner. That confidence rose to 32% three months after returning and 77% after nine months, despite 83% of respondents saying they wanted to reach partner level. (Source: Law Society Gazette, February 2025, lawgazette.co.uk)What strikes me most about these numbers is the shape of them. Confidence does recover, but it takes the best part of a year. That is a long time to be operating below your own sense of capability, in a profession that runs on confidence. The same survey found that 62% of participants said their firms had mandated more office based working in the past year. For new mums, this matters more than it might first appear. Flexibility is not just about convenience.


The option to work from home reduces the daily pressure of commuting and time management, and it plays a real part in easing the mental load that increases so significantly for working mothers. Take that flexibility away just as women are trying to find their feet again, and you make an already difficult transition harder.Another piece of research, this time from the Solicitors Regulation Authority, surveyed 554 solicitors and found that while many firms offer good maternity benefits, approaches differed considerably from firm to firm and at different points in a woman's journey. Around a fifth of firms had no formal pregnancy and maternity policy at all. The report also noted that several women were expected to make up time or catch up on missed work following pregnancy related appointments. (Source: Solicitors Regulation Authority, sra.org.uk)The policy gap is startling on its own. But the real concern sits underneath it. Policies are one side of the story.


The other side is how women are actually feeling about their return. How are they holding up under the weight of being a mum and working in such a demanding environment at the same time? That is the question a policy document can never quite answer.So what is next for law firmsI think the starting point for any firm is to get honest about where they actually are. It is hard to know what good looks like, or what the next step should be, without first taking stock of what is happening internally. That might mean a survey for mothers, a short poll, or one to one conversations that let you gather qualitative insight rather than just numbers.Once you have that picture, you can start to think about what good support looks like. Not just the policies on paper, but the processes around the emotional transition itself. That is where the real difference gets made.This is where My Maternity Coach comes in.


I support firms at any stage of this process, whether you are right at the start and want to understand where you currently stand, or you have already done the groundwork and are looking at what comes next. Get in touch. I would love to talk to you.Written by Zoe Scorah - June 2026



 
 
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