Creating a Statewide Mentoring Culture at the NSW ODPP
with Adelle Hudson, Managing Solicitor, ODPP
with Adelle Hudson, Managing Solicitor, ODPP
The New South Wales Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) is Australia’s largest prosecuting agency, with over 1,100 staff across the state. In 2022, they launched a mentoring program for paralegals to support learning, confidence, and career progression.
Abby is enthusiastic. She has a solid grasp of ODPP practices and procedures, and she’s studying hard alongside her paralegal work. In her first meeting with her mentor, they didn’t just talk about casework — they talked about balance, about staying energised rather than burnt out. Within weeks, Abby’s mentor had arranged for her to assist on an upcoming trial: a chance to watch a case being prepared and run in court before a jury, before she’d even finished her studies.
It’s one mentoring relationship among 226, but it’s exactly the kind of moment Adelle Hudson, Managing Solicitor at the NSW Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, points to when she talks about what the program has grown into.
The NSW ODPP is Australia’s largest prosecuting agency — an independent authority prosecuting serious crime on behalf of the community, with more than 1,100 staff and 121 paralegals working across 10 offices, from Sydney to Sydney West and regional NSW. Its Paralegal Mentoring Program launched in 2022 with 105 participants, designed to support paralegals as they built real-world experience in a prosecution environment while completing their legal studies.
Growth quickly became its own challenge. As the program expanded, so did the administrative load — coordinating cohorts across ten offices, tracking engagement, and giving participants the structure and accountability they were asking for, all without a system built for scale.
In 2024, ODPP brought in Mentorloop to give the program the professional, branded, accessible foundation it needed to keep growing without losing quality.
“The program provides support and guidance for paralegals to gain valuable experience in a prosecution environment whilst they complete their studies.”
– Adelle Hudson, Managing Solicitor, ODPP
The program started strong with 105 participants — but rapid growth brought challenges.
"As coordinator, it was becoming tricky to meet the increasing needs of the program as it continued to expand."
In 2024, ODPP adopted Mentorloop to give the program the structure, scalability, and simplicity it needed.
With Mentorloop, ODPP can now:
“Participants wanted more structure, increased engagement and accountability, and access to resources. In 2024, we onboarded Mentorloop and it delivered all of these things.”
The difference was felt immediately — both in the numbers and in the stories that came back from participants.
“I was really pleased when a paralegal stopped me in the corridor to say they love their mentoring match.”
The program’s impact reaches well beyond individual relationships. Over the past two years, ODPP has offered solicitor roles to 68 program participants — a direct line from paralegal mentoring to career progression, and a meaningful dent in staff turnover and onboarding costs.
Word has spread: this year, ODPP received a record 972 applications to join the paralegal program.
For Adelle, the value of Mentorloop comes down to how much weight it takes off her shoulders so she can focus on people, not admin.
Mentorloop delivers impact for participants and the organisation:
“Mentorloop does the heavy lifting in relation to setup and coordination. Reporting is almost effortless, and the resources available to participants have reduced the training load for the program.”
Adelle’s ambition for the program hasn’t slowed down. The focus now is on embedding a genuine mentoring mindset among ODPP’s most junior legal staff — one they’ll carry through their entire careers in criminal law. That means goal-based matching tied to specific career aspirations, deeper investment in skills development, and expanded cross-office mentoring across the state.
This year’s biggest step: introducing whole-of-career mentoring for solicitors statewide — extending the culture ODPP built for paralegals to every stage of a legal career at the ODPP.
From its launch in 2022 with 105 participants to a statewide initiative, the ODPP’s mentoring program has gone from strength to strength.
With Mentorloop, ODPP now has the structure, scalability, and insights to keep growing — without losing the personal connections that make mentoring so impactful.
Ready to scale your mentoring program and prove its impact?
Managing Solicitor, ODPP
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"Reporting is now almost effortless, and I value being able to provide real-time updates every month. I can monitor meeting feedback, goal setting, and program sentiment... I actually enjoy updating the executive sponsor each month!"
– Adelle Hudson, Managing Solicitor, ODPP
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The right mentoring program should level the playing field to empower entire cohorts of people: workplaces, member associations, social groups and educational institutions. Equality should be a cherished value so that every individual can thrive—whoever they are, whatever their background, however they worship or whomever they love. But we can’t arrive at equality without it’s often forgotten partner, equity.
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Being a Mentoring Program Coordinator is an incredibly rewarding experience that positively impacts the lives of many. And while mentoring programs don’t fully run themselves (even though Mentorloop can do a great deal of the heavy lifting!), they do require a point of contact that can steer the program in the right direction for the organisation that is running one.
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This is Part 8 of our 10-part series on the 10 Key Qualities and Habits of a Highly Effective Mentor.
In this post, we’ll look at how mentors can successfully build quality feedback into their mentoring. Quality feedback is priceless because it clarifies expectations, helps people learn from their mistakes, and builds confidence. It also allows mentees to more effectively take what their mentors say and turn it into action.
