Birth of The Legal Mixer
by Jennie Siow, Founder and CEO
Post-law school reflections
When I started working as a full-time paralegal, then transitioned to a Lawyer, I did not realise I was slowly isolating myself from my friends as I became overly focused on getting to where I am today.
I caught up with some uni friends in law and realised many of them left the profession because they simply did not feel welcome or ‘fit in’ the profession. For my friends who are still lawyers today, I can’t remember the last time we saw each other.
Professional networking events are everywhere, and I’ve attended countless of them, but I realised the conversations at these events are very superficial. Everyone seems to be going off a script, to this effect:
What’s your name?
Where do you work?
What is your practice area?
How many years have you been doing this?
Just like every other networking event;
in my most formal wear, I networked;
exchanged business cards;
sent LinkedIn requests; and
walked away forgetting the people I spoke to.
April 2024, in one Networking Event, one young lawyer changed my life,
After another formal event like no other, a junior lawyer reached out to me via Linkedin and asked if I would be interested to have dinner with her and get to know each other on a social level.
“This was new”, I thought to myself. I agreed.
We had ramen together after work. We spoke about the gaps in formal networking events across all industries and how life as a lawyer can be so isolated.
One crazy idea happened
Our conversations went a little bit like…
Jen: What if I bring 5 random guests to dinner and you bring another 5, and the expectation is for everyone to mingle and get to know each other?
Anon: Let’s do it!
June 2024
I hosted the very first mixer. 15 guest showed up.
July 2024
The Legal Mixer was featured on Lawyers Weekly.
The rest is history.