Guest Q&A - Sarah and Hannah from BlueSky on motherhood in the legal profession

1. Tell us about BlueSky - what do you do, and how did you start the business?

BlueSky exists to support women lawyers through one of the most significant and often vulnerable transitions of their careers and lives: the journey into motherhood and the return to work.

Like in all fast-pace professional environments, the pressure to return without missing a beat feels enormous; and the emotional and identity shift of becoming a mother often goes unspoken.

We started BlueSky after our own poor experiences with maternity leave, which left us on a mission to empower and connect others going through the same experience.

We provide 1:1 coaching and cross-firm group coaching that addresses the realities of legal practice that impact working mothers: long hours, billable hour targets, post qualification experience (PQE), client continuity, partnership dynamics and the pressure to remain visible and “on track” at every stage.

For example, we deal head-on with law-specific challenges such as the fact that PQE keeps advancing, even as your professional experience and visibility pauses.

We bring together our own legal experience (including five maternity leaves between us) and our extensive experience coaching lawyers in our design of the BlueSky programme. We’re the only provider working exclusively with law firms, and have coached well over 300 women to-date.

The issue is not women lacking confidence, competence or ambition. The system around them has not evolved to accommodate this period of life. BlueSky was created to bring that evolution into practice.

2. What are the most common cultural or behavioural barriers women in law face when they become mothers?

One of the most significant barriers is the way value is still so closely tied to time. In many firms, commitment is often defined by availability and hours billed, which means that any need for flexibility can be misread as reduced ambition.

At the same time, PQE continues to accumulate while a lawyer is on leave, so women frequently return at a more senior level but without the same recent fee-earning experience, internal profile, or live matters as their peers. They are expected to operate confidently while simultaneously rebuilding momentum.

There is also the challenge of not having a single and consistent line manager. Work comes from multiple partners, each with their own expectations and assumptions. Without coordination, women end up managing that complexity alone at the very moment when clarity would be most helpful.  

Finally, there is the internal shift: motherhood changes how many women see themselves. When the professional environment does not acknowledge that shift, it can feel like something to hide rather than integrate.

All of this really does impact women. From analysing data exclusively from our participants, we’ve been able to identify a particularly challenging time for new mothers, three months after returning to work, which we call ‘the three-month crunch’. Across the whole maternity experience, how much women in law feel respected and valued is by far at its lowest point during this stage. It's also the time they're the least likely to see themselves at the firm in five years' time, highlighting the huge retention issue of all this for firms.

3. What are the risks to workplaces not supporting their employees who are embarking on parenthood?

The risks are both human and strategic.

The years between 5–12 PQE are where future partners are shaped, and they are also the years in which many women have children. Without proper support, firms can lose exceptional talent simply because the environment was not set up to recognise this transition. The result is a narrower partnership pipeline, and a leadership profile that does not reflect the firm’s clients or wider society.

Even when women do return, lack of support can lead to stalled progression, reduced confidence, or slower re-engagement in high-value work. This affects productivity, career momentum and ultimately retention.

There are also implications for client continuity; when a lawyer’s reintegration is not managed intentionally, client relationships can drift. And in a market where candidates and clients increasingly look to culture as a differentiator, reputational impact is real.

4. What do you find is the most effective way to encourage workplaces to get on board with parenthood coaching?

Framing the conversation in terms of outcomes is key.

Coaching is not about wellbeing or making people feel looked after, it’s a commercial investment in the leadership pipeline. Firms respond when they see the impact on retention; the speed at which returning lawyers regain confidence and billable performance; the stability of client relationships; and the effect on promotion rates over time.

When coaching is positioned as part of organisational performance and future partnership planning - rather than as a wellbeing add-on - alignment happens quickly.

The evidence is compelling, and once seen, it is difficult to ignore.

5. Something that’s true to both of our businesses is the huge importance of line managers / those above you being bought-in to the idea to create change; whether that’s supporting working parents, promoting good mental health practices, or building a truly inclusive workplace. Do you agree with that, and how do you think is best to engage them?

I do agree – and the understanding of those above you is particularly important in law. Most lawyers work across multiple partners, each of whom holds some influence over their workload, development and trajectory. That means the transition back needs to be understood collectively, not individually.

Our work with partners focuses on building confidence to have the right conversations, set aligned expectations, allocate work thoughtfully and maintain ambition for returning lawyers rather than unconsciously lowering it “to be kind.”

Partners overwhelmingly want to support their teams, they simply need clarity, shared language and a framework to help them do it well.

6. How else can organisations shift from “supporting mothers” as an individual issue, to truly embedding it into their broader culture and values?

A shift happens when parenthood is recognised as part of the leadership story, rather than a detour from it. That means talking openly about the value that caregiving can bring to professional identity: perspective, emotional intelligence, sharper prioritisation, confidence and long-term thinking.

It also means placing this type of coaching within talent development, progression planning and culture strategy; and not solely under the banner of diversity and inclusion.  

And finally, embedding it requires measurement. When firms track data like return rates, work allocation and promotion outcomes post-leave, the conversation moves from anecdotal to strategic. At that point, supporting women or parents is no longer a “programme”, and instead it becomes part of how the firm defines success.

Visit www.wearebluesky.co.uk to learn more about the parental coaching platform exclusively for the legal profession.

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