You have finished SQE1, you are thinking about SQE2, and then someone asks a question that sounds simple but is not: “Does this count as QWE?” Perhaps you have worked in a clinic, a law centre, an in-house team, or a paralegal role with mixed duties. You know you are learning, but the record-keeping feels less clear than the exams. That is where many candidates slow down.
The good news is that QWE is meant to be practical. It is not a separate exam, and it is not reserved for one type of employer. What matters is whether your work has given you the opportunity to develop the competencies needed for solicitor practice. The challenge is showing that properly. If you are already planning your route through SQE1, FLK1, FLK2 and SQE2, it helps to understand QWE early rather than leave it to the end.
QWE and solicitor qualification: what the rule actually asks
QWE stands for Qualifying Work Experience. Under the SQE route, the focus is on whether the experience is providing the opportunity to develop some or all of the competencies needed for practice as a solicitor. It is not limited to one setting, and it does not have to be one uninterrupted placement.
That is a major shift from older training routes. A candidate might build QWE across several roles, as long as the experience is genuine and is properly confirmed. In practice, that can include work in private practice, in-house legal teams, law centres, clinics, or other legal environments. The key is the substance of the work, not the job title on your email signature.
Do not assume that a role only counts if every task is pure “lawyer work”. A paralegal may spend part of the week on client calls, drafting, file management, legal research and case progression. An in-house assistant may support contracts, compliance matters and internal legal queries. A volunteer adviser may handle supervised client work. These can all be relevant, depending on the duties and supervision.
QWE is about real legal experience, not a perfect job title. If your role gave you the chance to develop solicitor competencies, it may count.
What counts as QWE for SQE candidates?
The short answer is: a wide range of legal work can count, provided it is legal work and not just administrative support. But that does not mean every task in a legal setting qualifies. You need to look at the nature of the experience and the competencies it develops.
Examples that may count include:
- taking instructions from clients or fee earners;
- drafting correspondence, statements, applications or simple legal documents;
- reviewing documents and spotting legal issues;
- legal research and preparing summaries for a supervisor;
- attending client meetings or conferences;
- progressing cases, transactions or claims under supervision;
- supporting legal advice in a structured way, even if you are not the decision-maker.
Examples that may not count on their own include purely clerical work, reception duties, diary management, scanning, filing, or general office administration. Those tasks are useful, of course, but by themselves they usually do not show development of solicitor competencies.
This is where candidates sometimes overthink things. You do not need to prove that every minute was spent on legal analysis. You do need to show a pattern of work that reflects practice-oriented learning. Think about the whole role. What were you actually doing week after week? What skills were you building?
A useful way to test it is to ask whether the work would help you become a safer, more capable solicitor. If the answer is yes, there is a strong chance it belongs in your QWE record. If the answer is “not really, it was mostly admin”, it may still support the role, but it should not be the main basis of your claim.
How to log QWE properly: keep it simple, but precise
Logging QWE is not meant to be theatrical. You do not need a novel. You need a clear record that can be understood, checked and confirmed later. Start early, because memory fades quickly once you move on to another seat or another employer.
A sensible log should include:
- the employer or organisation name;
- the dates of the experience;
- your role or position;
- a brief description of the work you did;
- which competencies the experience helped you develop;
- the name and position of the person who will confirm it.
Write this while the experience is fresh. Keep the language factual. “Drafted client letters, prepared hearing bundles and researched limitation issues” is better than “did lots of legal work”. The more specific your record, the easier it is to confirm later.
It also helps to keep separate notes alongside your formal log. For example, you might keep a monthly list of matters worked on, supervision received, and the kind of responsibility you were given. That is useful if your supervisor changes, or if you need to explain a period of experience in future.
Good QWE records are short, accurate and dated. If you would not be comfortable explaining an entry to a future confirmer, it probably needs more detail.
Who can confirm QWE, and what should they check?
QWE must be confirmed by a solicitor or Compliance Officer for Legal Practice (COLP) at the organisation, or by a solicitor who has direct knowledge of your work. The confirmer is not there to rewrite your whole history. Their role is to confirm that the experience is genuine and that, to the best of their knowledge, it meets the requirements.
This is important. Confirmation is not a reward for being a good employee. It is a professional sign-off based on knowledge of the work. If you work in a large organisation, make sure you identify who can realistically confirm your experience before you leave the role. If you wait until the end, you may find the right person is no longer available.
A practical habit is to update your supervisor during the placement. Let them know what you are recording and why. That reduces the risk of disagreement later. It also means they are more likely to remember your contribution when confirmation time comes.
If your work is spread across several matters or teams, ask yourself whether your confirmer has enough direct knowledge. If not, you may need to speak to someone closer to your day-to-day work. The aim is not bureaucracy for its own sake; it is reliability.
QWE, SQE1 and SQE2: how the exams fit around experience
Many candidates treat QWE and the exams as separate worlds. In reality, they support each other. SQE1 tests functioning legal knowledge across FLK1 and FLK2, while SQE2 tests practical legal skills. QWE gives you the environment in which those skills become real.
If you are working while studying for SQE1, your job can make the law feel less abstract. A contract question in SQE1 is easier to remember if you have seen a real drafting issue. A property task in SQE2 lands better when you have already handled client instructions or document review. Experience gives context. That does not replace revision, but it strengthens it.
The same applies the other way around. Once you understand the SQE2 skills of client interviewing, advocacy, legal research and drafting, you will recognise more clearly which parts of your work are developing those competencies. The question is not whether your role is “exam-like”. It is whether it is helping you become a solicitor in practice.
For candidates revising the law itself, it is worth remembering that the legal context still matters. Negligence, for example, still traces back to Donoghue v Stevenson when you think about duty of care. Business structures may involve the Partnership Act 1890. Property and land work may bring you into questions of title, priority and registered interests. QWE is where those principles stop being abstract and start appearing in files, letters and meetings.
Common QWE mistakes and how to avoid them
The most common mistake is waiting too long to record the work. By the time a placement ends, the detail has already gone fuzzy. The second is confusing “worked in a legal office” with “did QWE”. Those are not the same thing. A legal environment helps, but the content of the role is what matters.
Another frequent problem is writing records that are too vague. “Assisted on cases” does not tell anyone much. Which cases? What did you do? What skills were involved? Be specific enough that a solicitor can understand the experience without needing a separate conversation every time.
Some candidates also under-record because they think only major tasks count. That is a mistake. Small but meaningful tasks can still support the picture of competence. A well-run client call, a careful note to file, or a well-structured research note may be more valuable than you think, especially when repeated over time.
If you are moving between roles, keep one master log. Do not scatter the information across emails, notebooks and old spreadsheets. You want one place where your QWE story is coherent. That makes the final confirmation far less stressful.
Ask yourself three questions: was the work legal, did it develop solicitor competencies, and can it be confirmed by someone who knows the work? If all three are yes, you are on the right track.
So, what should you do next? Start by listing every legal role, placement or clinic you have done. Then write a plain-English description of the tasks, the supervision, and the competencies developed. Compare that against the SQE skills and the type of work a solicitor actually does. If there is a gap, fill it with the next role you choose, not with guesswork later.
If you are unsure whether a placement counts, ask the organisation early and keep your records tidy from day one. A little discipline now saves a great deal of stress when you are closer to admission.
How CELE SQE can help: if you are balancing QWE with revision, CELE SQE offers structured support for both SQE1 and SQE2. Our SQE1 courses are £3,720 for the Long-term Course, £2,750 for the Mid-term Course and £1,750 for the Short-term Course, with a single FLK option at half the above prices and £150 off for the early-bird or within-3-months-of-exam discount. We also offer the SQE1 Question Bank at £575/month, SQE1 textbooks at £950 for the full set or £570 for a single FLK set, and the SQE2 Course at £1,450, which includes 61 full mock questions built 1:1 to the official SRA format. If you want to talk through the best route, contact us on WeChat SQE100, [email protected] or celebar.com.
