It is one of the most common questions on the SQE route: the work you are doing right now feels legal, useful and substantial, so does it actually count towards your Qualifying Work Experience (QWE)? For a great many candidates the answer is yes, and they are sitting on qualifying experience without realising it. This guide explains how to tell whether your current role qualifies, what the SRA requires, and how to get it confirmed without having to leave your job.
The short answer
Your current job can count as QWE if the work involves providing genuine legal services and gives you exposure to the competences set out in the SRA's Statement of Solicitor Competence. It does not have to be at a law firm, it does not have to be called a "legal" job, and you do not need a training contract. What matters is the substance of the work, not the job title on your contract.
What the SRA actually requires
To use any role as QWE, the experience needs to meet a small number of conditions:
- Genuine legal services. The work must involve real legal tasks, not purely administrative or operational duties that happen to sit near a legal team.
- At least two competences. Your experience needs to give you exposure to at least two of the competences in the Statement of Solicitor Competence. Most substantive legal roles touch several.
- Counts towards two years. QWE is a minimum of two years full-time (or the equivalent), and it can be made up of up to four placements. Your current job can be one of them.
- It can be anywhere. QWE can be gained in any legal setting and anywhere in the world. An in-house team, a charity, a company, or an overseas employer all qualify in principle.
How to tell whether your role qualifies
Ask yourself what you actually do on a normal week. If you draft or review documents, research points of law, deal with clients or stakeholders on legal matters, manage cases or files, handle disputes, advise colleagues on legal issues, or support transactions, you are very likely demonstrating qualifying competences. The competences cover things like ethics and professionalism, working with clients, applying legal knowledge, drafting, and managing your own work, so the bar is about meaningful legal involvement rather than a particular specialism.
If your role is purely administrative, or if your only connection to legal work is sitting in the same building as a legal team, it is less likely to qualify on its own. The dividing line is whether you are providing legal services or simply supporting someone else who does.
You do not have to leave your job
A frequent worry is that recording current experience as QWE means flagging your qualification plans to your employer, or even moving on. It does not. QWE can be confirmed while you remain in post, and confirmation can be carried out by an independent solicitor who did not employ you. That solicitor reviews your evidence and obtains feedback from the person who supervises your work day to day. Your supervisor does not need to be a qualified solicitor, and your employer does not need to run any formal QWE process.
A paralegal in a busy team
You draft correspondence, manage your own caseload and deal with clients directly. That is genuine legal work touching several competences, and it can be counted as QWE while you continue in the role.
An in-house legal or contracts role
You review and negotiate contracts and advise the business on legal risk. Even with no solicitor available internally to confirm it, this experience qualifies and can be confirmed independently.
A compliance or regulatory role with real legal substance
If you are interpreting law and advising on how it applies, rather than only implementing a process someone else designed, that legal substance can count. The key is genuine legal judgement, not box-ticking.
Frequently asked questions
Does my current job need to be at a law firm?
No. QWE can be gained in any legal setting, including in-house teams, companies, charities and overseas employers. What matters is that the work involves providing genuine legal services.
Can I count my current job if I have not finished two years yet?
Yes. You can begin recording experience now and continue accumulating it. QWE can be built up across up to four placements, so your current role can form part of your two years even if you are partway through.
Do I have to tell my employer I am using the role as QWE?
Not necessarily. Confirmation can be handled by an independent solicitor, who only needs feedback from your day-to-day supervisor on the work you did. There is no requirement for a formal employer process.
What if no one at my workplace is a solicitor?
That is common and not a barrier. The SRA allows an independent solicitor who did not employ you to confirm your QWE, so you do not need a solicitor on staff.
How do I find out for certain whether my role qualifies?
The quickest way is a free assessment. Tell us what your work involves and we will tell you whether it is likely to qualify and which competences it demonstrates, with no obligation.
What to do now
If you think your current role might qualify, the simplest next step is to have it assessed. Tell us about your work using our short form, and we will respond within 24 hours with whether it is likely to count as QWE, which competences apply, and how confirmation would work, free of charge and with no obligation.