Navigating QWE: strategic role selection for aspiring solicitors

How to make the best of the flexible QWE route for your future career

If you’re reading this blog, you’ll most likely know about Qualifying Work Experience (QWE) and its role in helping you to qualify as a solicitor in England and Wales. If not, have a quick look at our All about QWE section first!

The QWE element of the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s (SRA) Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE) route to becoming a solicitor of England and Wales prioritises flexibility, aiming to clear the previous qualification blocker of a shortage of ‘training contracts’, known as Periods of Recognised Training, under the Legal Practice Course (LPC) qualification route.

Now, under the SQE route, you can complete two years of work-based training in up to four different workplaces, in a range of paid or voluntary roles, in law firms, legal charities, law clinics, industry/corporate placements, during or after your studies. Any role that involves provision of legal services and develops at least two of the SRA’s solicitor competencies counts, as long as the work you do can be confirmed by a qualified solicitor of England and Wales.

For many, the QWE process is completed without the need for such flexibility. There continue to be structured two-year programmes, some still referred to as ‘Training Contracts’, within many law firms and legal departments or available as part of a graduate or school leave Solicitor Apprenticeship, all of which fulfil the two-year requirement for legal work experience. However, these remain highly competitive and demand continues to outstrip supply.

Be smart with the greater flexibility

For those of you who are not able, or don’t want, to follow a structured two-year programme within the same organisation, the flexibility available within the SQE route means you need to do some smart planning and selection of the roles that will count towards your QWE. A simple mix and match approach of taking any eligible role at up to four organisations may not be in your best interests for your longer term career as a solicitor. Ask yourself if the role you’re applying for, or currently doing, will help you to progress and develop your career once you are qualified, as well as go towards meeting QWE requirements.

The legal work you do should help you to build the essential skills you will need as a qualified lawyer, not simply tick a box to get you through the SRA’s QWE requirements as quickly as possible. Focus on quality over quantity when it comes to your QWE roles. Prioritise quality work experience with the right employer who can offer training and networking opportunities over the number of legal experiences and roles you could do.

Take the time to look for roles that will give you valuable experiences and skills that are sought after within newly qualified (NQ) roles – look now at NQ roles in organisations that you would want to apply for in a few years’ time and see what their role specifications and job descriptions list as essential requirements. Then, try to seek out QWE roles that can give you exposure to those elements. Qualifying as a solicitor takes time and should not be seen as a race – particularly if the speed with which you qualify then means you lack the breadth and depth of skills and experience needed to obtain a NQ role.

Consider tracking, in a simple spreadsheet or document, the SRA statement of solicitor competence requirements and refer to it each time you consider applying for a role. As a minimum, the role should involve provision of legal services and give you the opportunity to develop at least two of the solicitor competencies to meet the SRA requirements, but to be a fully rounded lawyer, you’ll want to be confident that you are competent in all relevant areas when it comes to applying for NQ roles. Will the role give you the chance to develop competencies you haven’t yet been able to develop through other QWE roles?

Consider whether the role will enable you to develop skills that demonstrate you:

• are legally competent
• are client-focused and able to build strong lasting client relationships
• understand business trends and business development
• have strong communication skills with clients and colleagues
• have excellent attention to detail in all aspects of your work
• can problem solve and consider creative solutions
• can handle sensitive, difficult situations well with emotional intelligence
• work well in different environments and with different teams
• are able to adapt to new situations and new technologies

Ensure roles that you choose support you to develop in these areas.

Where to look for roles

When choosing roles, while you may not initially have the luxury of being overly choosy, be systematic about the areas of law finding roles that match ones you want to work in. Curate your own bespoke ‘training contract’ through the range and type of roles you apply for. If you ultimately want to work in just one or two areas of law or sectors, make sure your work experience shows progression in those areas. If you are not yet sure of your future practice areas, ensure your roles allow you to experience a number of cohesive but varied practice areas.

For example, if you want to work in commercial law firms or in corporate legal departments in the future but cannot obtain a training contract in one of them, get your foot in the door with an entry level legal admin or legal assistant role in a commercial law firm, or in the legal department of a large employer which allows you to prove yourself and work your way into future paralegal and trainee opportunities. In-house ‘training contracts’ can be hard to find, so look out for a 6 or 12 month paid legal internships to get a foot in the door of your chosen employer.

Not interested in commercial law and want to support those most at need in society? Focus on legal assistant, legal services adviser and paralegal roles, as well as volunteering roles in the charitable and voluntary sector, including Citizens Advice, local legal aid charities, local law centres or law firms with departments operating in social justice and develop your work portfolio in that area.

If you are keen to keep your practice area options open but don’t want to work in a large national or international law firm or corporate organisation, focus your roles on smaller law firms that have a local or regional presence and offer a range of services to clients. Many firms offer client services that cover a range of family, child care, housing, education, employment, private client law and dispute resolution and working as a paralegal in these firms gives you the opportunity to experience a number of practice areas.

Remember also that local and central government legal departments are major employers of legal staff and offer legal assistant and paralegal roles that can be a stepping stone to qualification covering regulatory, planning and public law, as well as housing and employment law, criminal law and public inquiries.

Consider all QWE options

Paralegal roles provide excellent opportunities to develop your legal skills and provide legal services for your QWE, but these often come with a requirement for at least 6 months of legal work experience. To get your 'foot in the door', consider legal administrator, legal assistant, document reviewer, case handler or junior caseworker roles to get you that first professional break.

Organisations very often promote from within, so a legal assistant role can lead to a paralegal role and onto a training contract that counts the paralegal work towards your 2 years. Some firms even offer receptionist roles to aspiring trainees, so they get to know the business and clients quickly and prove themselves before being internally promoted to paralegal and trainee roles (but stay alert to firms that do not deliver on these offers, and move on if you are being undervalued!)

While permanent roles offer longevity, you may find contract or temporary roles give you quicker exposure to other areas of law, and this can help you make more informed career choices, so consider these options too.

Timing your QWE to maximise the SQE assessment benefits

The SRA doesn’t dictate when you should complete your QWE in the overall qualification process, although it suggests completion of QWE before sitting SQE2 is likely to be beneficial as practical legal skills are tested in SQE2.

Some law firms and legal employers won’t let you start a training role until you have completed SQE1 and, in some cases even SQE2, so if you have your heart set on this type of firm, you will have little choice but to do your official QWE after passing one or both SQE assessments (but that doesn't stop you getting valuable legal experience as a volunteer advisor or paralegal before sitting the assessments to give you a head start). Remember, QWE is supposed to develop your competence in legal practice, not be the end point of the qualification process. If you opt for a flexible route to gaining legal work experience, this can help you get good quality legal work experience under your belt before sitting one or both of the SQE assessments. Having practical legal experience will be beneficial for those tricky ‘single best answer’ style questions in the SQE1 and pretty essential for the some of the practical legal skills assessments in SQE2.

Also, as the SRA has previously pointed out, given everyone has only three attempts at each SQE assessment, and the assessments need to be passed within six years of the first sitting of an SQE assessment, it is vital that you attempt the SQE assessments only when you have sufficient legal knowledge and skills – otherwise it could cost you dearly. Plus, if you start off with QWE, you may even find your current employer values you enough to support you with the financial costs of the exams, or at the very least, you’ll be earning a salary to help pay for them while gaining valuable experience.

Effective supervision is key to quality QWE

When choosing your QWE roles, be sure that your employer and supervisor are aware of your wish to use the role as QWE. Start the conversation early, ideally at interview or job offer stage if it is not a training contract role, so you know that they are supportive of your longer term career goals. If they are not, consider if it is the right place for you to progress your career.

Just as importantly, make sure your supervisor is adequately qualified and experienced in the areas of law you are working on. This is essential where the work includes reserved legal activities (see Legal Services Act 2007 s.12) or is immigration work. Your supervisor will need to check your legal work to ensure the overall quality of work is satisfactory and any risks relating to the work are being managed appropriately on a day-to-day basis. You will also learn enormously from an experienced and professional supervisor and workplace mentor. The SRA has guidance for effective supervision, which is very relevant to those in QWE roles.

In most cases your immediate supervisor will be able to confirm your QWE when you're ready to submit it to the SRA, but not always. You should always check who will be confirming your QWE when you start a role. Ask who in the organisation would be willing and eligible to confirm your QWE. You can find out about confirming solicitor requirements and other QWE information on our website.

Selecting the right QWE for submission to the SRA

If you've been selective and strategic in your QWE role choices, it should be straightforward to decide which roles you will use to meet the two year requirement. However, if you've had a number of relevant roles at several organisations over more than two years, you don't necessarily have to submit the most recent two years' worth of roles - pick the ones that best demonstrate you have developed the SRA competencies and that can be confirmed, remembering to stick to the maximum four different work places rule and to cover two years of full time (or equivalent part time) work.

Still not sure about how best to manage your QWE? We have plenty of guidance on our website and are always happy to discuss all things QWE, so please do get in touch.