sqe SQE Careers & Employability Support

QWE can be obtained in either voluntary or paid work that involves providing legal services. QWE is possible, but less likely, where experience is limited to a single task. Examples of QWE include ‘training roles’ and a number of legal positions, such as paralegal, volunteering at a law centre and some university law clinics or Pro Bono projects. Work experience which meets the above criteria and provides the opportunity to develop relevant solicitor skills and competencies can then be confirmed by a Compliance Officer for Legal Practice (COLP), or a solicitor regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority of England and Wales (SRA). The COLP or solicitor should have the knowledge of the legal work that has been undertaken.

You can apply directly for legal roles, such as a paralegal position, which may subsequently count as qualifying work experience. Alternatively, you may intend to apply for the graduate trainee roles in law firms (what some will still refer to as a training contract). If you're applying for these latter positions, you'll need to understand the timetable of applications - which can be two to three years in advance of when you intend to start as a trainee. Obviously, you might obtain a position, such as a paralegal role, and use this as a springboard to apply for a trainee position rather than register the paralegal work as your qualifying work experience.

Yes. Experience gained with a former or current employer can be used as QWE, as long as it meets the criteria and can be signed off as required.

If you're intending to use historic work experience for QWE purposes, it could be useful to speak to the organisation, before submitting any details to the SRA, to find out who might be best placed to confirm your experience in case, for example, a former manager or supervisor has since left.

There is a risk that those being asked to confirm your experience may not be able to access records about your work in the future. Therefore, you should aim to keep records of your own QWE as well as reflecting on the competencies you are developing. Your organisation may have its own template for recording QWE and competency development. Where this is not available the SRA also have a template you can use.

In most cases yes, although it depends what else you would be doing with that time and how it fits with your wider career strategy. Four weeks’ work with real clients can be articulated positively in most CVs.

All Pro Bono opportunities, whether or not they are part of QWE, are invaluable for gaining practical work experience, developing skills for legal practice and understanding essential professional ethics. We know from experience how employers have viewed this as a differentiator amongst candidates in recruitment processes.

Qualifying work experience (‘QWE’) is the period of practical, work-based, experience which needs to be undertaken to qualify as a solicitor. The regulations set out by the SRA (Solicitors Regulation Authority) state that qualifying work experience is work undertaken:

• providing legal services, which, broadly speaking, means giving legal advice to a client on a specific matter.
• which provides the opportunity to develop at least two competencies.
• which is confirmed by a solicitor of England and Wales or Compliance Officer for Legal Practice.

It can be helpful to consider qualifying work experience in two ways:

1. structured training programmes lasting 2 years which meet the criteria of QWE (this will replace the period of recognised training [training contract] in many firms).
2. work undertaken in one or more organisations that can be used to meet the criteria of two years QWE, built up over time.

To have QWE confirmed you will need to submit details of the experience via the MySRA website. you will be asked to provide details of the organisation at which you worked, the type of experience gained, the length of time worked, and the name and SRA number of the solicitor who will be able to confirm this experience. The SRA have detailed information on their website along with a helpful video.

You can only register work experience that has been completed, and you only need to do this by the time you apply for admission as a solicitor. Therefore, it is not a requirement to record QWE as soon as you complete it, and it may be in your interest not to do so as you may wish to choose which experience you subsequently use as QWE.

The competencies expected are set out by the SRA and cover essential qualities required of a solicitor, such as the ability to:

• Act honestly and with integrity.
• Apply understanding, critical thinking and analysis to solve problems.
• Negotiate solutions to clients' issues.

It is important to remember that the SQE examinations assess your skills, legal knowledge and competence. The only requirement of QWE is that it provides you with the opportunity to develop two or more of these competencies. You can find detailed information about the competencies on the SRA website

You can undertake QWE anywhere that meets the criteria set out by the SRA – not just law firms, but in inhouse legal departments, charities and voluntary organisations. This can be in the UK or overseas and, as you can obtain QWE in up to four organisations, you can combine experience in a number of organisations to build up the required 2-years’ experience.

However, don’t lose sight of the fact that QWE represents your opportunity to obtain the experience, skills, insight and training you need to succeed at the start of your career, and in the area or law or type of organisation you want to specialise in. You should therefore think carefully about what portfolio of QWE will work best for you: building up a range of experience in different organisations, or qualifying via a single, structured, 2-year position with a single legal organisation.

If you intend to build up a range of QWE, you will need to consider how any opportunities, will meet your wider career objectives:

• Does it fit with your overall career plan?
• Is it focused on competencies or does it overlap with experiences you have already have?
• Does it related to areas of law you do not wish to practise in or experience you do not think you need to develop further?