There has been quite some confusion for foreign qualified lawyers who were part way through qualifying as solicitors of England & Wales when the QLTS stopped when the SQE came in in September 2021. Following a request to the SRA for clarification, we are able to set out their guidance below. We hope this will be of some assistance.
The reply by the SRA to an enquiry from a foreign qualified lawyer as to how to complete the process to qualify as a solicitor of England & Wales. She had passed her MCT on the QLTS route, but not the OSCE.
“If you have completed the MCT there are 2 routes that you can consider taking:
These routes are separate and cannot be mixed. If you have passed the QLTS MCT this is not equivalent to passing the SQE1 and you will not qualify to apply for an exemption for SQE2."
QLTS Transitional Route
You can continue to qualify under the Qualified Lawyers Transfer Scheme (QLTS). If you have passed the multiple choice test (MCT). You must take and pass the SQE2. You must meet the SRA's requirements and apply for admission by 31 March 2024. [N.B. This option is now no longer available if you are not booked in for the October 2023 SQE2 exam; last date to book this was 11th September 2023]
SQE Qualified Lawyers Route
"As a qualified lawyer you will be exempt from the work experience requirement (QWE) of the SQE. We can also recognise professional qualifications and experience equivalent to the SQE1 and SQE2 in total or full components of the SQE1 and SQE2. You may wish to look at the assessment topics on the SQE website to see if they relate to your own professional and academic qualifications. This will indicate whether you may be eligible for any exemptions. Read our Application for recognition of professional qualifications and/or experience guidance. Assessment topics | SQE | Solicitors Regulation Authority SQE1 is made up of FLK1 and FLK2, SQE2 has an oral and a written assessment. Find out more about the assessment topics.
If you are already on your way to becoming a solicitor you can continue to qualify through the existing routes.”
So, in summary:
If you have passed your MCT & OSCE apply now for admission, do not delay.
If you have passed the MCT but not the OSCE
Link to the SRA page on this: https://www.sra.org.uk/become-solicitor/qualified-lawyers/qlts/started-qlts/
Link to a video about this on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rY2yOY3KuJ8&t=5s
QWE Confirmation
Foreign Qualified Lawyers are normally exempt from the QWE requirement (but see below). However, if you are not qualified as a lawyer you will need 2 years full time equivalent QWE (Qualifying Work Experience) to be confirmed to the SRA by an SRA regulated solicitor. Also if you are a foreign qualified lawyer who has passed the LPC and want to have this count instead of your SQE1, would will need to have your QWE confirmed. If you don't have an SRA regulated solicitor in your organisation to confirm your QWE - we can help: https://hunningsconsultancy.co.uk/external-qwe-certification-service-2/ We have done this now for over 40 people. We always off a free, no obligation zoom to talk things through beforehand.
Here is a link to the video in which the SRA feed back on the 1st SQE2 exam
https://www.sra.org.uk/sra/news/events/on-demand-events/sqe2-feedback-first-assessment/
There has been some confusion as to who may be a supervisor to write a letter of reference for a foreign qualified lawyer who is seeking to apply for exemption under sections 7b & 7c of the SRA form. The SRA had made reference to the need to supply 'evidence of your professional qualification, eg an admissions certificate or a Certificate of Good Standing' to the SRA for the Supervisor/Referee with the application for exemption. That would indicate that the Supervisor/Referee had to be a lawyer.
We wrote to the SRA to seek clarification. They have written back to clarify that the Supervisor/Referee. does NOT need to be a lawyer. Below is the text of their reply to our enquiry:
"Thank you for your email of 28 October 2022.
For the purposes of an SQE2 exemption we need a reference from those responsible for supervising the applicant’s work. This does not need to be a qualified lawyer or an individual we regulate. However, they must have directly supervised the applicant’s work and confirm they are suitably qualified to offer that supervision.
As we assess each case on its own merits I am not able to confirm if a reference will be accepted based on the scenario you have presented, but we can consider it. We will review this in context with the rest of the application and advise the applicant at that time if we need anything further.
I would also recommend considering the guidance on our website (under the heading ‘How to complete your application’), in particular the guidance for referees under Section 8. While the table for Section 8 is usually not required, the information for references will still be relevant.
If you have any questions please let me know.
Yours sincerely
Simon Prior
Authorisation Officer
Authorisation
Solicitors Regulation Authority"
Please see below for some other information that may be of assistance.
Guidance on what the SRA will accept as evidence of the supervisor's qualification:
General info on applying for an exemption from the SQE2 exam
Please the link below to our page on this where we have put all research on this.
https://hunningsconsultancy.co.uk/sqe2-exemption-for-foreign-lawyers-review-advice/
QWE Confirmation
Foreign Qualified Lawyers are normally exempt (but see below) from the QWE requirement. However, if you are not qualified as a lawyer you will need 2 years full time equivalent QWE (Qualifying Work Experience) to be confirmed to the SRA by an SRA regulated solicitor. If you don't have one, we can help: https://hunningsconsultancy.co.uk/external-qwe-certification-service-2/
The SRA has brought some clarity on how a foreign qualified lawyer may apply to them for exemption from the SQE1 exam if they have passed the LPC exam under the old system for qualifying as a solicitor of England & Wales.
You will first of all need to tell the SRA that you wish to use this option. You do this by completing the relevant form on their website. Here is a link to the form with some guidance: https://www.sra.org.uk/become-solicitor/legal-practice-course-route/substitute-qwe-sqe2-equivalent-training/
This means that you will now need to:
a) register for, sit and pass the SQE2 exam
b) prove that you passed your LPC (the SRA will ask for your LPC certificate when you apply to become a solicitor) and
c) have 2 years full time equivalent QWE (Qualifying Work Experience) confirmed to the SRA by an SRA regulated solicitor
Here is a link to a page on our website where we have listed the non-university training providers for the SQE exams: https://hunningsconsultancy.co.uk/sqe-training-providers/
QWE
We can help if you find yourself in a situation where you do not have someone in your organisation who is an SRA regulated solicitor who will confirm your QWE to the SRA. We have provided this service for over 40 people so far from around the world. Here is a link to the service. https://hunningsconsultancy.co.uk/external-qwe-certification-service-2/
Fill in the form below with some information if you would like us to contact you to explore how we might be able to help.
The Information Commissioners Office (ICO), which is the UK's data protection watchdog charged with enforcing laws that regulate communications, networking and data protection, has opened a consultation on draft Guidelines for employers on who monitor staff. We were asked about this very subject only this week by one of our client firms. The consultation closes on 11th January 2023.
The guidance discusses monitoring at work and data protection. It is primarily aimed at employers. The first part of this guidance explains your legal obligations if your organisation is considering or is already carrying out monitoring of workers. The second part addresses specific kinds of monitoring.
The guidance provides clarity and practical advice to help employers who are monitoring workers to comply with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA 2018). The UK GDPR and the DPA 2018 do not prevent an employer from monitoring workers, but they must do any monitoring in a way which is compliant with data protection legislation. Public authorities and all bodies performing public functions should also consider the right to respect for a private and family life enshrined in Article 8 of the Human Rights Act 1998. This is increasingly important due to the rise of homeworking. Workers’ expectation of privacy are likely to be significantly greater at home than in the workplace and the risks of capturing family and private life information are higher.
Here is a link to the draft guidelines: https://ico.org.uk/media/about-the-ico/consultations/4021868/draft-monitoring-at-work-20221011.pdf
Help
If you want to ask more about this or anything else about data protection, assistance with a subject access request or a review of your data protection policies & procedures, we can help. We have an expert in this area who will be happy to talk with you. We also hire him out by the hour as an external Data Protection Officer (DPO), saving you the cost of having to hire someone full time for that role when you don't yet need that. https://hunningsconsultancy.co.uk/gdpr-support
Hi everyone,
As promised to those who attended my webinar just now with info on the SQE & QWE route to qualifying as a solicitor of England & Wales, please find below in the comment links to resources to help.
The 4 elements to qualifying: 1 – a degree or degree equivalent; 2 – passing the SQE exams; 3 – 2 years full time equivalent QWE confirmed by an SRA regulated solicitor; 4 – completing the Certificate of Suitability.
Our ‘External QWE Confirmation service’ - click on the title for more info
Other Links below:
Validating Your Degree or Degree Equivalent
SQE Training Providers (excl universities)
Foreign Qualified Lawyers, SQE1 & 2 Exemptions & our Assistance
Foreign Qualified Lawyers - how to qualify as Solicitors - wider advice on exemptions
Link to our YouTube channel with lots of videos on about SQE & QWE – may we ask you kindly to subscribe so more may see this: https://www.youtube.com/@hunningsconsultancy999/playlists
Foreign Qualified Lawyers - passed the LPC - how to qualify
SQE2 Exemption - Example of message from SRA that the Application has been Granted: https://www.hunningsconsultancy.co.uk/sqe2-exemption-example-of-message-from-sra-that-the-application-has-been-granted/
SQE2 Exemptions & lawyers from Ex-Soviet countries : https://www.hunningsconsultancy.co.uk/sqe2-exemption-applications-ukranian-russian-belarussian-qualified-lawyers/
How to do the QWE Confirmation on the SRA website: https://www.hunningsconsultancy.co.uk/qwe-confirmation-on-the-sra-website-the-process/
TikTok channel with videos re QWE: qwehelpingemar
With the results of the first SQE2 exam now out, it's been lovely having people get in contact to thank us for our help. This has been Aspiring Solicitors whom we helped by acting as External Confirming Solicitor. They did not think they could proceed with their aim to qualify as solicitors of England & Wales because they did not have an SRA regulated solicitor in their organisation to confirm their QWE to the SRA. However, the SRA does allow people to reach outside their organisation to ask a solicitor to do the honour. We have now helped several dozen Aspiring Solicitors in this way.
See below a link to our service. Feel free to contact us by filling in the form below or emailing: [email protected]
The Law Society has issued new guidance in the light of the judgment given by the Supreme Court in Harcus Sinclair v Your Lawyers. Please see this link for more info: https://www.lawsociety.org.uk/topics/regulation/undertakings-what-you-need-to-consider-following-harcus-sinclair-v-your-lawyers
July 2022: The SRA has published new guidance about accepting instructions from vulnerable clients or third parties acting on their behalf. This following from consultation with the Law Society’s Mental Health and Disability Committee. Here’s a link to it:
https://www.sra.org.uk/solicitors/guidance/accepting-instructions-vulnerable-clients/
In case you missed it, the Law Society Gazette reported at the beginning of June 2022 that Hugh James Solicitors became the first conveyancer to complete a transaction with HM Land Registry with an electronic signature which does not require a witness. This has the potential to significantly reduce the period of time taken to convey a property (on average now 8 weeks).
It used Qualified Electronic Signatures (QES), which are a type of electronic signature based on public key infrastructure encryption. They include a digital certificate which can be issued only by an approved trust service provider (TSP) that issues such digital certification only after a face-to-face (either in-person or remote) identity verification process. A Law Commission working group found in February 2022 that these sort of electronic signatures can be at least as secure as physically witnessed ink signatures on documents such as deeds. This indicates the way things will go in the future, we think.
