Do the SRA do spot checks on QWE? Well it appears they do.

As you may know, we act as External Solicitors to confirm QWE (Qualifying Work Experience) for aspiring solicitors who don't have someone to do this for them in their firm (see below for the service). At the time of publishing this post (March) we have done this for over 180 people from all over the world.

Ingemar was talking to an aspiring solicitor from Dubai (working inhouse) whom he was helping through this process. He had actually previously confirmed the QWE of her supervisor who was also in the process of qualifying as a solicitor of England & Wales through the SQE route. She said that the SRA had been in touch with him to ask to see redacted copies of the QWE that he had shown me during the review.

Fortunately we are rigorous in reviewing the work and matching it to the SRA competencies. So, this was no problem. We review the work through a video conference call (usually zoom) with the aspiring solicitor sharing their screen.

We think it is good that the SRA are carrying out these spot checks. They need to make sure that the confirmation of QWE is being carried out properly and fairly.

We would advise aspiring solicitors to keep a copy of the evidence reviewed - at least until they have been admitted by the SRA as a solicitor.

External QWE Confirmation Service

If you know of someone who needs an SRA regulated solicitor to confirm their QWE but have no-one in their organisation to do so - we can help. This service would apply to someone who is NOT qualified as a lawyer. Please see the link below and feel free to signpost them to us:

QWE - External Confirming Solicitor Service - for Aspiring Solicitors

YouTube Videos on SQE, SQE2 Exemptions & QWE

https://www.youtube.com/@hunningsconsultancy999/videos

SQE2 Exemption Applications - Qualified Lawyers

https://hunningsconsultancy.co.uk/sqe2-exemption-for-foreign-lawyers-review-advice/