Law clinics and Qualifying Work Experience: A change of purpose for Clinical Legal Education in England and Wales?

One challenge legal education has recently faced in England and Wales is the introduction by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) of the Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE).2 Those who are seeking admission as a solicitor must now demonstrate that they possess any undergraduate degree (not necessarily a law degree); have passed two centralised assessments (SQE 1 and SQE 2) and have completed two years’ full-time equivalent Qualifying Work Experience (‘QWE’) with up to four organisations. Under this new qualification regime, there is no requirement for an organisation which offers QWE to be regulated, opening up the opportunity for law clinics to offer QWE to students and to become part of the ‘on the job’ aspect of the training which students undertake to become solicitors. Indeed, law clinics are specifically referred to by the SRA as approved non-regulated organisations for the purposes of delivering and signing off an applicant’s QWE.3 This therefore has the potential to be a transformative experience for students not only because it allows for the creation of new knowledge, but also as it provides them with their first step towards the experiential requirements of formal qualification.

Over two years on from the introduction of the SQE, we ask to what extent universities have taken the opportunity to develop provision for QWE. This paper will present data from a content analysis of university webpages and, outlining how many law schools in England currently offer some kind of clinical legal education and explore whether and to what extent in

light of the SQE changes universities are now offering QWE as part of their law clinic experience.