If you work as a paralegal and are pursuing qualification through the SQE route, there is a good chance that your day-to-day work already counts as Qualifying Work Experience. The challenge is not usually whether your experience qualifies — it is getting it formally confirmed.

This guide covers everything paralegals need to know about QWE sign-off, including your employer’s obligations and what to do if they are reluctant to cooperate.

Does Paralegal Work Count as QWE?

In most cases, yes. The SRA does not require QWE to be completed under a training contract or in any particular type of role. What matters is that the work involves providing genuine legal services and that you have been exposed to at least two competences from the Statement of Solicitor Competence.

Typical paralegal tasks that contribute to QWE include:

If you have been doing substantive legal work for at least two years (full-time equivalent), your paralegal experience very likely qualifies.

Can Your Employer Refuse to Sign Off Your QWE?

This is unfortunately a common concern. Some firms are reluctant to confirm paralegals’ QWE because they worry about losing staff to qualification, or because they have not engaged with the SQE framework.

However, the SRA’s position on this is clear. If a candidate produces evidence of QWE that meets the required criteria, a solicitor or COLP is expected to confirm it. The SRA has stated that refusing to confirm qualifying experience simply to retain an employee in a non-qualified role would be a breach of the firm’s regulatory obligations under the SRA Principles and Code of Conduct.

In practice, though, having that conversation with your employer can be difficult. That is where external confirmation comes in.

External QWE Confirmation for Paralegals

If your employer will not confirm your QWE, or if you have left the firm and can no longer get sign-off, an independent SRA-regulated solicitor can review and confirm your experience instead.

The external confirming solicitor will:

  1. Review your evidence — a training diary, portfolio of work examples, or structured review form mapping your experience against the SRA competences.
  2. Contact your supervisor to obtain the feedback the SRA requires.
  3. Provide a formal signed confirmation of your QWE if satisfied that it meets the SRA’s criteria.

This process does not require your employer’s permission. The confirming solicitor works independently and only needs access to your supervisor for the feedback stage — most supervisors are willing to have a brief conversation even if the firm itself has not initiated the process.

What If You Have Worked at Multiple Firms?

QWE can be gained across up to four different organisations. If you have worked at two or three firms as a paralegal, you can combine that experience to meet the two-year requirement. Each period of experience would need to be confirmed separately, but this is straightforward once you have your evidence organised.

How to Prepare Your QWE Evidence as a Paralegal

The stronger your evidence, the smoother the confirmation process. Here is what to gather:

Getting Started

If you are a paralegal wondering whether your experience is enough to qualify, the simplest first step is to get an informal opinion before committing to anything. At QWE Confirmed, you can send your documentation to contact@qweconfirmed.co.uk for a free initial review — no obligation and no sign-up required.

Many paralegals are closer to qualification than they realise. The SQE pathway was specifically designed to recognise the kind of practical legal experience that paralegal work provides.