Irwin Mitchell is a large law firm with 15 offices around the country. They asked me to join their LGBT staff network, IMEqual , in one of their regularĀ videoconference events to talk about the mentoring scheme I run for the University of Birmingham. Their members of staff have mentored students on the scheme and it was interesting to hear what they had got out of the scheme as well as feedback from students. I talked about how students reported on how important the scheme was to: improve their confidence; plan a coming out strategy and discuss how to manage coming out with clients. I also outlined some of the key attributes of a successful staff network based on my research and work with staff networks in the private and pubic sector.