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 what paralegals need to know about QWE sign-off, what your employer is and is not expected to do, and what your options are if they will not help.

Watch: who can confirm your QWE, and what they actually do

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 it gave you the opportunity to develop at least two of the competences in the Statement of Solicitor Competence.

Typical paralegal work that contributes to QWE includes:

The test is substance rather than job title. Work that is genuinely legal in nature counts; work that is purely administrative, or that simply implements someone else's decisions, generally does not.

How Much of Your Time Counts

The requirement is two years of full-time equivalent experience, gained in no more than four organisations. The SRA treats full-time as at least 32 hours a week, and part-time work counts pro rata.

This matters more than most candidates expect, because many paralegal roles are mixed. If part of your week is legal work and part is administration, business support or case management of a non-legal kind, the honest approach is to count the legal proportion. A role that is half legal at 40 hours a week is contributing roughly 20 hours, which is about two-thirds of a full-time equivalent. Two calendar years of that is around 16 months of qualifying experience, not 24.

Estimating this honestly is not a weakness in your application. It is what makes the resulting confirmation reliable, and a candid figure supported by a simple log of your weeks is far stronger than a round number that cannot be explained.

Can Your Employer Refuse to Sign Off Your QWE?

This is a common concern, and a reasonable one. Some firms are reluctant to confirm paralegals' QWE because they are worried about losing staff to qualification, or because they have never engaged with the SQE framework and do not want to take on something unfamiliar.

The SRA's position is clear. Where a candidate's experience meets the criteria, refusing to confirm it is not a neutral act. In its guidance Meeting our standards for good qualifying work experience, the SRA states that refusing to confirm QWE that meets its criteria is a clear breach of its Principles and Code, and that it may act against a solicitor or firm who does this deliberately.

In practice, though, raising that with your own employer is an uncomfortable conversation, and one you may not want to have while you still work there. If the discussion is going nowhere, the SRA's Professional Ethics team can give you guidance on where you stand. But you do not have to resolve it with your firm at all, because the framework does not require you to.

External QWE Confirmation for Paralegals

Your QWE does not have to be confirmed by your own firm. It can be confirmed by an independent solicitor regulated by the SRA who has no connection to your employer.

That is what an external confirming solicitor does. Under the SRA's Authorisation of Individuals Regulations, the confirming solicitor must have reviewed the work you did during the relevant period, which the regulations expressly allow to be done by reviewing a training diary or portfolio of work, and must have received feedback from the person or persons who supervised your work.

In practice that means three things:

  1. Assessment. Your experience is reviewed against the Statement of Solicitor Competence, so you know before you invest any time whether it is likely to qualify and which competences it supports.
  2. Record and evidence. You complete the SRA's training record and put together supporting material covering each competence you are claiming.
  3. Confirmation. Once the record, the evidence and the supervisor's corroboration are in place, the solicitor gives the formal confirmation through mySRA.

Nothing Goes to Your Employer Without Your Say-So

This is the question paralegals ask most often, so it is worth answering plainly.

Nobody at your firm hears from us unless you want them to. We will not write to your employer, telephone your HR department, or announce to your workplace that you are seeking confirmation. By default the supervisor element is arranged through you, on your timetable, and we tell you exactly what is needed and provide the wording so that nothing is left to guesswork.

If you would prefer us to make the approach ourselves, we are happy to do that. Some candidates find it easier coming from an independent solicitor. It is simply not something we do unless you ask, because most people would rather keep control of when and how the conversation happens.

Nor is your supervisor being asked to take on any responsibility. They are not confirming your QWE and they carry no obligation to the SRA. What is required from them is short and factual: their role and how they oversaw or reviewed your work, the period covered, that you carried out the work described in your record, and that they are aware of nothing affecting your character and suitability to be admitted as a solicitor. That last point is a requirement, and it is one candidates frequently discover too late, which is why we set out the wording in full rather than leaving anyone to draft it from scratch.

Your supervisor also does not need to be a solicitor. They simply need to be someone who genuinely oversaw or reviewed your work. That can be a senior fee earner, a team leader, a manager or a senior colleague who checked your casework, whether or not they hold a legal qualification and whether or not they sit above you in a formal reporting line.

What If You Have Worked at More Than One Firm?

QWE can be gained across up to four organisations, so experience from several paralegal roles can be combined to reach the two-year requirement.

You also do not have to have finished. Placements can be confirmed one at a time as you complete them, which means you can get an earlier role confirmed now, while the people who supervised it are still contactable and still remember your work, and return for the rest later. Waiting until you have the full two years before dealing with any of it is the most common avoidable mistake, because supervisors move on.

There is no time limit on when QWE was gained, so previous roles can be confirmed retrospectively.

How to Prepare Your Evidence as a Paralegal

The stronger your evidence, the smoother the confirmation. What is needed is:

Common Paralegal Scenarios

The commercial firm paralegal whose firm has no QWE process

Three years at a mid-size commercial firm handling contract review, due diligence and corporate filings. The supervising partner is a solicitor, but the firm has never set up a QWE process and is not keen to start. The work clearly supports drafting, research and applying legal knowledge, and it can be confirmed externally on the strength of the record, the evidence and the supervisor's corroboration, without the firm needing to institute anything.

The in-house paralegal with no solicitor above them

Supporting a General Counsel or a small legal team on employment matters, compliance reviews and contract negotiation. The immediate supervisor may not be an English-qualified solicitor, or may not be a lawyer at all. That is not an obstacle, because the confirmation comes from the external solicitor and the supervisor's role is corroboration.

The advice centre or charity caseworker

Two years advising on housing, welfare benefits or immigration at a law centre or advice charity. Not a traditional firm, but the work is the provision of genuine legal services and it frequently covers a wider range of competences than a narrow commercial role, including client care, case management and, in some settings, tribunal advocacy.

The paralegal in a mixed role

Part legal, part operational. Entirely capable of qualifying, but the arithmetic needs doing honestly, and a straightforward log of the legal proportion of your weeks is what makes it defensible.

The paralegal who has already left

The role has ended and there is no prospect of the firm engaging. Provided you can describe and evidence the work, and someone who oversaw it is still contactable, it can still be confirmed.

How Long Does It Take?

The formal confirmation itself is quick. Once the record and evidence have been reviewed and the corroboration is in place, we action the confirmation on mySRA within 24 hours of payment clearing.

The parts that take time are the parts within your control: completing the record and gathering your evidence. The initial assessment is fast, and we aim to respond within 24 hours of you submitting the short form.

What It Costs

Pricing is based on the number of competences being confirmed, not the number of placements or hours:

There is no upfront payment and no consultation fee. Nothing is payable until your evidence has been reviewed and you have been told the outcome.

Frequently Asked Questions for Paralegals

My firm says paralegal work does not count as QWE. Are they right?

Almost certainly not. QWE can be gained in any role, including paralegal positions, provided the work involves genuine legal services. There is no requirement for a training contract or any particular job title.

Will you contact my employer?

Not unless you want us to. Nothing goes to your employer without your say-so, and by default the whole process is arranged through you. If you would rather we made the approach, we can.

Does my supervisor need to be a solicitor?

No. They need to be someone who genuinely oversaw or reviewed your work. Their qualification, and their seniority relative to you, are not the test.

I left my paralegal job. Can I still get that experience confirmed?

Yes. There is no time limit on when QWE was gained. If you can evidence the work and someone who oversaw it is contactable, previous roles can be confirmed retrospectively.

Do I have to wait until I have the full two years?

No. Placements can be confirmed one at a time as you complete them, and you can return for the rest later.

Do I need to send you my actual client files?

No, and you should not. Evidence should be redacted, with client identities, case references and confidential details removed before it is sent.

How much does external QWE confirmation cost for paralegals?

Pricing is based on the number of competences being confirmed, not the number of placements or hours. It starts at £250 for 2 to 3 competences, with no hidden fees and no payment until your evidence has been reviewed and you have been told the outcome.

Getting Started

If you are a paralegal wondering whether your experience is enough, the simplest first step is a personalised assessment before committing to anything. Fill in our short form with your background and a description of your work, and we will respond within 24 hours, with no obligation and no payment.

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