The way that people qualify as solicitors is changing. Below we’ll give some information on the new route to qualify as a solicitor of England & Wales and the potential economic impact on law firms.
What is Happening?
The old LPC route has been replaced by the SQE (Solicitors Qualification Exam). The LPC was a linear route – you had to pass each stage before you could progress. The LPC pass rate was set by each training organisation. There was a separate route for foreign qualified lawyers (QLTS). If one could not find a training contract all previous investment in money, time and talent was wasted as one could not qualify.
The SQE is a unified exam that ALL sit (QLTS disappears, GDL is no longer required by the SRA). That means that all solicitors are examined to the same standard. As before everyone must have a degree or degree equivalent and everyone will need to declare that they are a fit person before being admitted. Instead of the LPC, Aspiring Solicitors will sit and pass 2 exams: The SQE1 and the SQE2. Instead of the Training Contract they need to acquire 2 years full time equivalent Qualifying Work Experience (QWE). These elements are quite different – more is explained below.
SQE
SQE1 is made up of 2 parts: FLK1 & 2 (FLK is ‘Functional Legal Knowledge’). Each exam consists of 180 multiple choice questions, 10 hours of exam time in total. The idea is to test candidates’ ability to identify legal principles and apply them to client problems and transactions. It will test core legal knowledge. The cost of the exam is £1,558. SQE1 will take place at Pearson VUE test centres in the UK and internationally. The pass mark for SQE1 will be determined by a board of experts, drawing on the level competency expected of a solicitor on their first day at work. Feedback from the candidates who sat the first exam in November 2021 is that they found it tough and very detailed. The pass rate was 53% (lower than the LPC which was 56%).
SQE2 – you cannot sit this until you have passed the SQE1 exams. There are 16 written and oral tests totalling 14 hours of exam time. They will be simulating tasks as carried out by a solicitor in practice. The exam is designed to assesses practical legal skills for working with the law in practice. The SQE2 can be taken before the completion of the Qualifying Work Experience (QWE), but the SRA expects most candidates will take it after completed their 2 years QWE. It will assess both skills & law (50:50 weighting). Again, ethical issues will be embedded and it will be up to candidates to spot and deal with them. The cost of the exam is £2,422. The written parts of the SQE2 can be taken at Pearson View venues around the world (check with the SRA). Oral parts are to be examined in London, Cardiff & Manchester.
Here is a link to further information
QWE
Put aside your understanding of a Training Contract. This is no longer relevant. QWE is different. Under the SQE route an Aspiring Solicitor must have 2 years full time equivalent (FTE) QWE. This needs to be confirmed by a solicitor regulated by the SRA or a COLP authorised by the SRA (similar to confirming the work in a training contract). It is designed to enable to Aspiring Solicitor to acquire the competencies and skills required to practice successfully as a solicitor. These are the business and operational skills (the legal knowledge and its application is tested in the SQE exams). The QWE helps the candidate prepare for the SQE2. QWE does not need to be registered before you start with the SRA. It can be acquired in voluntary work. It does not need to be done in a law firm or indeed in English & Welsh law. It needs to be the ‘provision of legal services’, but the SRA are deliberately not restrictively defining that. Nor do they define ‘Full Time’. These elements are left to the confirming solicitor to police. One is able to reach back in time for work already done to be included as QWE. One may acquire the 2 years FTE from up to 4 placements. The SRA has also allowed Aspiring Solicitors to go outside their organisation for a solicitor to confirm their QWE to the SRA, for example if there is no solicitor in the organisation (in-house legal, businesses outside the UK, will-writing company, Citizens Advice). In those circumstances the confirming solicitor will have to view the work and obtain feedback from the supervisor.
More information about the external confirmation of QWE here.
When applicable?
Anyone starting a degree from September 2021 onwards will have to take the SQE route. Those already on the path have a choice. However, if they do not have a training contract lined up, the SQE route allows them to progress.
Impact on Law Firms
This is a ‘once-in-a-generation’ change. It will have an impact. QWE in particular changes the economic balance between Aspiring Solicitors and Law Firms. If you hire paralegals, their work will count as QWE. So, they will progress towards qualification whatever. Can you refuse to confirm their QWE? Not without good reason. The SRA have even published guidance for dealing with this scenario, which ultimately concludes with a complaint to SRA Ethics about the firm or solicitor refusing. However, you will have the ability to entice the Aspiring Solicitors to stay with you for at least 2.5 years. The SQE has specifically been designed to work with the Apprenticeship Scheme. Under this, the government will pay 95% (or 100% if you pay the apprenticeship levy or can get a credit from someone who does) of the exam and training costs (the hiring firm would have to pay the rest). This works for graduate apprentices - so your traditional post-graduate intake. They would have to be released for study 1 day a week, so it would take them 2.5 years to acquire their 2 years FTE QWE. The scheme is administered by the training provider.
More information can be found here.
The SQE route can speed up the qualification process from the Aspiring solicitor’s perspective (from degree to qualification), but from the law firm’s perspective, it could take a little longer from hiring (if directly after graduation) as opposed to hiring after they had completed their LPC. Will it make much difference to the quality of the candidates? Time will tell. Certainly, the author, Ingemar Hunnings, has found that the quality has been high in candidates he has helped so far with External QWE Qualification. They have been working in a mixture of non-law firms, typically been doing work at a high level (several year’s PQE standard) and are delighted to be able now to qualify without the need to give up their position to have to spend 2 years doing a training contract. The calibre of their work and approach would be a huge asset to any law firm and they would bring experience and broader expertise than would normally be the case following the old route of degree, LPC then training contact.
So, the world of solicitor qualification is changing. This will affect law firm recruitment. There are opportunities, but it will be different.
This article is written by Ingemar Hunnings. He has been at the forefront of developing (in close consultation with the SRA) and providing a service for Aspiring Solicitors to confirm their Qualifying Work Experience as an External Solicitor. He has done this now successfully for close to a dozen Aspiring Solicitors. He has also given or guested on numerous webinars providing information about the SQE & QWE. Please feel free to contact him should you want more information or to talk through any of the issues above: [email protected]. (Or fill in the form below)
This article first appeared in the Jan/Feb 2021 issue of PLC Magazine. Below is a link to the article on the PLC Magazine homepage
http://uk.practicallaw.com/resources/uk-publications/plc-magazine
This sounds like a title of a book on management. It’s not, but could be! The article below comes from my observations in practice and since, working as a management consultant working with over 400 law firms.
You start your career as a newly qualified solicitor or other professional. You’re keen and work hard. You learn your trade – how to service your clients’ needs, how to ensure you keep up with regulatory compliance, how to earn good fees for the firm. Perhaps you develop other skills to set you apart from your colleagues of a similar level of experience. Perhaps that is the ability to generate more work, or you consistently smash billing targets, out-performing your colleagues. So, you’re offered a promotion. Well done! First of all, it might be a pay rise and the different title which moves you up the career ladder. If you continue to perform this might happen again. Well done again!
At some stage the promotion might come with the expectation that you start managing staff who are more junior to you. In days gone by, managing staff might have come much earlier on, as you managed your own support staff member or secretary. (I remember back in the 1990s starting as a trainee, then called an articled clerk, and having to dictate for and give instructions to my secretary. Terrifying, as I knew that they knew the job far better than me at that stage!) However, nowadays I think that is much less likely, as technology has enabled people to produce their own work and so having a dedicated secretary is becoming less and less common.
Now this is the crucial part – what does the firm do when they want you to start managing staff. This is a completely different skill set to legal research, advising clients, advocacy & billing. Do they train you? Do they provide a mentor? My experience is that this seldom happens. Indeed, it is not covered in the competencies for QWE for qualifying as a solicitor. Speaking with professionals in other non-legal professions and people supplying HR services, I hear the same there as well. You are just asked to manage the people and left to get on with it. Many firms do not even have a monthly 121 meeting with a supervisor. They just have an annual appraisal, which focuses lust on the hard financials.
As I have said, managing staff is a different skill set. You cannot expect that people just naturally are born with this or naturally acquire these skills. Being honest, lawyers can be quite difficult and strong characters. I would suggest that training your managers on how to manage is vitally important for the health of your organisation. Their impact is multiplied and it will be reflected in the performance in other people as well as themselves. That’s a point of opportunity, but also risk for your business. If they do well it can turbo-boost your business. If they struggle it can have a negative impact on that part of your business, depressing the performance of those they are managing and also the person who was performing so well that you promoted them into this position. I’m sure we have all experienced poor management. Not fun.
Another point on training of new managers is that one cannot assume that they know how to read and understand the reports they will need in order to manage. That may not have been a skill set required for their fee-earning role. Similarly, their understanding of the SRA Accounts Rules and of the financial ledgers may need additional training.
On a similar vein, they may need additional training on what is expected with regard to compliance, as now they might be relied upon in this aspect to assist the firm’s Compliance Officers. The same goes for handling Complaints – as they might be the first point of escalation from the fee-earner.
Can you avoid putting people in a management position? Not really if you want your business to grow. You need managers in as you, as the founder, can’t do everything. Time is a finite resource. Eventually you will inhibit the growth of your firm unless you appoint managers.
So, what should you be doing? Here are some suggestions from my experience.
I am sure that there are other bullet points that could be added. Please feel free to comment to add them and share your experience (probably without naming people!).
Ultimately, being appointed as a manager can be hugely rewarding. It can teach you skills that are transferable into other areas in life and help you grow as a person. You can have the joy of developing other people and helping them achieve their potential. I always took great joy in seeing people rise from lowly positions to qualified solicitor or even to partner and running their own businesses. It’s not always easy and can cause you sleepless nights. Sometimes you have to take tough decisions. I had to walk one solicitor out of the office for gross mis-conduct. However, for someone else I used to send over a breakfast bar each morning for a fortnight to make the point that she needed some energy to start the day – as discussed in our monthly 121 meetings the previous two months. She was junior paralegal in my team with low self-esteem. She’s now a qualified solicitor with a national law firm. Obviously, the action you take should be appropriate. The action I took was within the context of my relationship with this staff member and received in the manner it was intended.
And that’s the thing – lawyers are used to dealing with the law, which is the application of legal principles to scenarios. People are messy and unpredictable, irrational and infuriating sometimes. I know I am. However, they also can be surprising, a delight and have huge potential which can benefit the organisation and enrich your life. Ultimately how this is all done, to a large extent defines the culture of the organisation.
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Barely a month goes by without the ICO (Information Commissioners Office) in the UK issuing fines to UK businesses for beach of GDPR. Just this autumn fines have been issued ranging from £20,000 to £200,000. The businesses range from ones you may not have heard of to household names like Saga Insurance, Papa Johns & Sports Direct. Recently the Norwegian equivalent of the ICO fined the company running the toll collection points the equivalent of over £400,000. Their Data Protection Regime is similar to ours – based on GDPR.
Here are some of the stories leading to the fines.
The Norwegian company runs toll collection points and it was found was passing data on the vehicles to a data processor in China. It was found that it had failed to establish a data processing agreement, to carry out a risk assessment and also lacked a legal basis in China for the processing of personal data. These are all basic responsibilities under relevant data protection legislation, and these requirements must be met before the processing of personal data can take place.
Saga was fined for sending unsolicited direct marketing messages without the recipients’ consent.
The same for Papa Johns & Sports Direct.
Mermaids, a charity in Scotland, was fined when it was discovered that they had failed to protect an internal email group with the result that about 780 pages of confidential emails to be openly viewable online for nearly three years. This led to personal information, such as names and email addresses, of 550 people being searchable online. During the investigation the ICO discovered Mermaids had a negligent approach towards data protection with inadequate policies and a lack of training for staff. It should have revisited its policies & procedures to ensure they remained up to date and fit for purpose.
Themes we can see is the need to have the right policies and procedures in place: keeping them up to date; reviewing their application to the changes in your business; training staff and ensuring that the training is up to date; testing that your policies & procedures are actually being followed.
Most businesses are now handling a lot of personal data: of staff and or customers/clients. So much more business is done on-line. Where is this handled? If you use a software system to help you, do you know where the data is all the time? In the case of the Norwegian company it went to China. Could it be going to the USA? A lot of software is based there.
Above are just a few examples resulting in recent fines. As ordinary people, we are concerned that data about us is handled properly and the GDPR is there to protect us. As businesses it’s quite a job to keep on top of this as well as finding customers, doing the work, getting paid, managing your staff etc. You may have heard that businesses can appoint a DPO (Data Protection Officer) to help. However, that is a senior appointment and the salary would normally reflect that. For some businesses that will be a mandatory appointment due to the nature of the data they handle. Some may have their investors insisting they have DPO. But for many smaller businesses the appointment of a DPO is overkill and too expensive. However, you can just hire an expert for a limited number of hours a week or month to assist you. That makes it more affordable.
MORE INFO
If that sounds like it’s more doable, then fill in the form below and we can reach out for a free, no-obligations chat. Or you can explore a bit more here: https://hunningsconsultancy.co.uk/gdpr-support/ or call Ingemar Hunnings on 07887 524507 or email: [email protected]
At the end of November 2021 the SRA produced a useful report with a summary of what it expects from the firm it regulates and conclusions from the firms it had reviewed that year.
Here is a link to it. Below we have summarised the main points. If you have questions about AML please contact us by filling in the form below. We have a number of AML services to help firms which you will find in the Compliance services accessed from the top of this screen (menu on the mobile view) or just ask us. We will bespoke to your needs.
The main pints of the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 (the regulations) are summarised by the SRA as:
The SRA have produced guidance on some of these areas :
The principal people responsible for compliance are:
Every person in a firm has a responsibility to make sure that it is not used for money laundering, and that relevant reports are made of any suspicious activity. MLCOs and MLROs form the keystone of the firm’s efforts. The success of the firm’s AML regime as a whole is likely to depend on suitably knowledgeable, skilled and authoritative people holding these roles.
Below, the SRA set out what they consider to be the three main attributes a successful MLCO or MLRO should have:
The MLRO & MLCO should ask themselves if they have the authority, independence & resources to properly carry out their roles.
Between April & September 2021 the SRA reviewed 50 firms. It found that largely the MLRO & MLCO had sufficient authority & Independence. However with regard to adequate resources the picture was more patchy:
"Resources
The SRA recommend that a deputy be appointed. This makes a lot of sense as it adds resilience - no single point of failure.
Our own findings
We carry our reviews of firm's compliance documentation (Compliance Stress Test, AML Review etc). We find that:
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When a law firm is facing an SRA inspection, the first thing to establish is what the SRA wants to inspect, which is likely to relate to what caused the inspection. This will be the area on which the SRA will focus. Then the firm needs to consider the context, such as its practice areas, whether it operates a client account or just business accounts, anything unusual that it does, any relevant or potentially relevant past history of the firm or any of its employees. If the SRA comes across something else, outside of the reason for the inspection, while doing their work, this may also fall within the inspection. So, it is worth looking out for other potential problems (see box "Case study"). However, the cause of the inspection will be the SRA's main area of interest. Examples of why the SRA might inspect include to investigate a reported breach of the SRA's Accounts Rules, a client complaint or to check the firm’s anti-money laundering (AML) policy and practice (www.sra.org.uk/solicitors/guidance/investigations-on-site/).
Law firms may also be interested in preparing in case they face an SRA inspection at some point in the future. In some respects, this is more difficult to do, as the preparation will be unfocused as it involves checking everything. For this reason, Hunnings Consultancy has developed a compliance stress test that endeavours to cover every possible area of inspection, including the SRA Code of Conduct (the Code), SRA Accounts Rules, SRA Transparency Rules, AML policy and practice, General Data Protection Regulation (2016/679/EU) (GDPR) and information security. The next step is a gap analysis, which involves comparing the firm's actual performance with its desired performance, followed by a report on what needs to be done, with prioritisation.
Responsibility for compliance
The principal responsibility for regulatory requirements in a law firm falls on the shoulders of its compliance officers: the compliance officer for legal practice (COLP), compliance officer for finance and administration (COFA), money laundering compliance officer (MLCO), money laundering reporting officer (MLRO) and the data protection officer (DPO). This responsibility is personal to them. Compliance officers have specific responsibility for ensuring that the firm, its partners and employees comply with the SRA's regulatory requirements. They are also responsible for recording any breaches and reporting these to the SRA, where necessary (paragraphs 9.1 and 9.2, the Code).
However, the owners have ultimate responsibility for how the firm is run and its legal services are delivered. In particular, they must make sure that it complies with all legislative and regulatory requirements (paragraph 8.1, the Code). This means making sure that the firm has all the necessary systems in place in order to achieve that objective.
The owners of a law firm can also exert significant influence over the business of the firm. However, they should not do anything which causes the firm, or anyone in it, to breach their own regulatory obligations (paragraph 2.1(c), the Code).
Anti-money laundering
The SRA holds responsibility for ensuring that law firms comply with AML. The SRA has recently indicated that it expects firms to conduct independent AML reviews in order to independently assess this. Indeed, checking on a firm’s AML policy, controls and procedures is one of the main reasons for an SRA inspection. Breach of the AML regulationscould be especially onerous for the MLRO and MLCO as breach of the AML regulations could ultimately lead to imprisonment.
Therefore, the MLRO and MLCO should carry out regular reviews of the firm's AML policies and procedures to ensure that they are up to date. Regular file reviews should also be done to ensure that risk assessments are being implemented.
In addition, firms should not overlook the need for staff training. The MLRO and MLCO need to keep up to date with training so they can carry out their responsibilities. Then they need to train staff on what they expect them to do. This can seem like a huge inconvenience when trying to service client needs and meet targets. However, the firm cannot avoid it and the other partners of the firm need to allow the MLCO the ability and resource to be able to do this properly. They are doing this on behalf of the business and the consequences if not done properly can be serious. Training will, of course, count towards continuing professional development (CPD) (see Know how "The CPD hour is dead: what next?", www.practicallaw.com/1-634-8536). It is best if the MLCO trains the staff, as this will embed their own learning and also deliver the message that management regards this as serious. They will also understand the nuances of the business and the policies, controls and procedures that they have written better than an external trainer.
Other compliance roles
The COFA has principal responsibility for the firm’s compliance with the SRA Accounts Rules. The COLP must be a manager, owner or employee of the firm, and they supervise the COFA and are responsible for the rest of the firm’s compliance with the Code.
Firms may also have a DPO who is responsible for ensuring compliance with the GDPR and Data Protection Act 1998 and is the principal point of contact with the Information Commissioners Office. It is strange that so many law firms do not currently have a DPO, considering that solicitors handle and process substantial amounts of sensitive client data. There are news articles about data breaches or cyber attacks every week; it is clear why the SRA is looking to ensure that protection against the effects of cyber attack and data breach becomes a mandatory part of the professional indemnity insurance cover. It is possible to outsource the DPO role, so that a law firm can buy in just the hours that they need. Indeed, there is an argument to say that an external DPO is better as they can be more impartial and perhaps, therefore, more rigorous.
The COLP, COFA and DPO must keep up to date with their training, which qualifies as CPD. Training of staff and checking implementation through file reviews is important. Law firms should keep records and ensure that they have systems that easily allow staff to record their compliance. There may be things that the firm can do make it easier for staff to perform and record their compliance, such as establishing clear policies and procedures on conflict checking, AML, identity checks and risk assessments. If compliance is hard to do, then it is less likely that it will be done.
Policies and procedures
The office procedure manual (OPM) is normally where the firm will have all of its policies and procedures, as required by the Code and SRA Accounts Rules. It is usually huge and there is a tendency for it to be a dead document, gathering dust on the shelf. However, it is there for a reason. It needs to reflect what goes on in the business. It needs to be kept up to date and should be a really helpful resource for all staff for when they want to know how the firm does something. It will be helpful for firms to provide a staff manual or handbook that is more focused at the staff level. Obviously, it is based on the OPM, but the OPM has the firm-wide policies, whereas a staff handbook can make this more relevant to the employee and therefore more likely to be followed. The OPM is likely to be one of the first things that the SRA will want to inspect.
Checking Accounts
The SRA is much more concerned about how a law firm manages its client account than its office or business account. It is problems relating to protecting client money that lead to most SRA interventions. If a firm keeps on top of this, it is likely to avoid the SRA’s most punitive measures. Firms need to carry out regular monthly reconciliations of both client and office accounts, and run reports on residual client account balances, aged WIP, aged debt, inactivity, cashflow and reserves. If the firm does not have the resource internally to oversee this adequately then this can be outsourced to a specialist, who can be the additional eyes and ears for the compliance officers.
Case study
Recently, a law firm contacted Hunnings Consultancy, just a week before it was due to undergo an inspection by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA). Obviously, there was great urgency. The firm was unprepared and indeed, as it turned out, it was quite appropriate for the SRA to want to take a closer look at it. Within the week, Hunnings Consultancy:
* Carried out a compliance review.
* Sorted out any breaches of the SRA Transparency Rules on the firm's website.
* Completed a risk assessment across the entire firm.
* Produced breaches registers, and completed these.
* Delivered a customised, up-to-date office procedures manual.
* Organised anti-money laundering training.
* Checked the firm's accounts and brought the client accounts up to date.
* Briefed the firm's partners and employees ahead of the meeting with the SRA.
“This article first appeared in the December 2021 issue of PLC Magazine”
Here is a link: http://uk.practicallaw.com/resources/uk-publications/plc-magazine.
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or contact our lead consultant: Ingemar Hunnings: 07887 524507 or [email protected]
Let me tell you a story.
Some while ago, in a province in India, there was a problem with too many cobra snakes. Too many people were being bitten. So, the local officials decided to offer a price on the head of every cobra brought in dead to them. The policy seemed to be very successful and soon lots of dead cobras were being delivered to them. There were some clever people who looked at this and saw an opportunity. Instead of hoping they might find one of the dwindling supply of cobras, they decided to set up a business to breed cobras. They then would have a guaranteed supply of income. Smart business move. However, the local authorities were not impressed when they found out. Using tax-payers money to enrich a local business was not what they had intended. So, they shut down the scheme. Deprived of their income, the people running the cobra business also shut down – and released the cobras from their farm. Result: there were then More cobras in that province than when this all started.
I love this story and have had it earmarked for this article for some time. It so perfectly illustrates the point. I’m sure you can think of other examples from your working or home life when you’ve proceeded with the best of intentions with the aim of achieving an objective, but with less success than you’d hoped. It’s hard enough when you are dealing with inanimate objects, processes and suchlike. When you start dealing with people it moves to a completely new level.
What can you do to try to mitigate against the operation of this ‘Law’? Here are a few bullet-pointed suggestions
Here is the URL for the UK:
https://www.gov.uk/order-coronavirus-rapid-lateral-flow-tests
You need a degree or equivalent to sit the SQE exams. It can be obtained outside the UK. Either way it has to be checked by the SRA’s 3rd party validating service (they use Atlantic Data).
You will need to give Atlantic Data this information:
Atlantic Data will ask for your degree/qualification certificate or student ID number.
To start the process you log into your MySRA account and select 'Start new applications' and 'Apply to check that your qualification or work experience is equivalent to a degree'.
There is a fee (currently, 2023, £160 for UK applicants). If overseas qualifications, Atlantic Data will use UK ENIC. Here’s a link to information: https://enic.org.uk/Qualifications/SOC/Default.aspx
The SRA page giving this info may be accessed here: https://www.sra.org.uk/become-solicitor/sqe/degree-equivalent/check-validate-qualification/
Why not use the search to find other information in the blogs about the SQE & QWE.
Should you not have a solicitor who can 'Confirm' your QWE then
WE CAN HELP
Our ‘External QWE Confirmation Service’
If you are looking for help with an application for exemption from the SQE2 exam
Also lots of info on our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@hunningsconsultancy999/videos
There’s a quiet revolution happening which I think has the potential to bring about quite some change in how many solicitors firms operate and affect their economic model.
Many firms seek to drive down the cost of production and drive up profit by employing paralegals to do less complex and lower value work. I know. When I was in practice we did that. They were usually law graduates who had passed their LPC. Often people were enticed with the potential to be considered for a Training Contract after they had worked in the firm for a while. We all knew that the Aspiring Solicitors had to obtain a Training Contract in order to proceed with their career to become a solicitor. That gave the solicitors firms power and control and pick of the bunch. They held all the cards. Many firms operate now with several or indeed large numbers of paralegals. That’s their business model.
I think this will change. The SRA has changed the way that people qualify as solicitors. The LPC method is being phased out. In its place the SRA has introduced the SQE. An Aspiring Solicitor still needs a law degree. However, instead of following in a linear fashion to take their LPC and then obtain and complete a training contract, each stage dependent on completing the former, now they have 2 exams to take: SQE1 & if they pass it SQE2. Instead of the Training Contract, they have to acquire and have signed off 2 years Full Time Equivalent (FTE) Qualifying Work Experience (QWE). The idea is that this is done BEFORE they sit the SQE2, as it prepares them for this exam (which tests them for 16 hours on real life scenarios, applying law, practice, ethics & conduct). Importantly, they can reach back in time for QWE already done. QWE does not need to be done in a formal training contract. It can be acquired working as a paralegal. Indeed, it the work does not even need to have been done in a law firm, in England & Wales or even working on English & Welsh law. The QWE is all about acquiring the competencies & skills the SRA believes one needs to acquire to be a good solicitor.
This is game changing. You may employ paralegals who are paid less, but no longer may a firm hold them there dangling the possible prospect of a Training Contract. Whilst working they are gaining their QWE. They can qualify. Ah, you might say – they need me to confirm their QWE. I could refuse to do that and so there’s no change. I control their career progression. This question was raised at a webinar I attended when the SRA were speaking. The person from the SRA paused and then said “in that scenario we might be interested in speaking with the solicitor about THEIR conduct”. That is seismic. The message I took from this is that it is not acting in accordance with good conduct as a solicitor for you to hold back the progression of an Aspiring Solicitor to qualification.
This is one point. A second is that the SRA has specifically allowed Aspiring Solicitors to go to a solicitor outside their organisation to have their QWE confirmed. [I have helped several Aspiring Solicitors by acting as External Confirming Solicitor so that their QWE has been accepted by the SRA.] Thirdly, there is nothing stopping the Aspiring Solicitor going to another firm more willing to support them.
The dynamic and power balance is changing. Does that mean that paralegal will disappear? I don’t think so. All is not gloom and doom. Aspiring Solicitors will still need to get their QWE. However, they will perhaps be more discerning. They may be more willing to vote with their feet. They may well be moving on or qualifying after about 2.5 years whether you want them to or not. (I write 2.5 years because most will be studying for their SQE exams at the same time as working. If they take 1 day out a week to study that equates to about 2.5 years to get their 2 years FTE QWE.) That might be something to build into your financial planning.
Churn hurts the profitability of your firm. A colleague & I once worked out that it cost the firm in lost turnover at least £60,000 each time a fee earner left and had to be replaced. That was without the recruitment costs. So, how to reduce churn as much as possible. The SRA has been very careful to design the SQE top fit with the government’s Apprenticeship Scheme. You could put your paralegals through this as Graduate Apprentices. That would mean that 95% of their study costs and their exam costs would be paid for by the government. The other 5% you, the firm, would have to pay (by my calculation roughly £2,000). It’s 100% if your firm is large enough to pay the apprenticeship levy (few solicitors firms are).
Feel free to contact our lead consultant, Ingemar Hunnings, for more info about the SQE & QWE. There is a Contact Form below. If you search 'QWE' or 'SQE' in the blog search you will find several articles giving information about this.
