Solicitor Qualifying Work Experience (QWE): disruption for law schools, legal clinics and graduate recruitment advice?

The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) will introduce radical changes to solicitor education and training from Autumn 2021. The Solicitors Qualification Examination (SQE) has been extensively debated, but less attention has been paid to the disruptive effect of solicitor qualifying work experience (QWE) on law schools and graduate recruitment advice.1 In future, a much broader range of work experience, gained with up to four organisations (including formal training, paralegal work, placements and unpaid work in law clinics) will potentially be able to count as QWE. Prospective law students at the presenter’s institution are already raising queries about QWE and appear to have many questions about the new system. In light of recently published SRA guidance and the presenter’s insights as Chair of the Law Society’s Education and Training Committee, this paper will build on the presenter’s previous publications in the Law Teacher2 and the Clinical Legal Education Handbook3. The paper will clarify what QWE is, how it differs to the current system, and explore how it may bring disruption to law schools. The presenter will argue that such disruption will not just be limited to Law Schools that offer some form of law clinic (and need to make a decision as to whether they can offer QWE), but that most law schools will have to reconsider the information, support and guidance they provide to their students. QWE is designed to be more flexible, but such flexibility brings uncertainty and challenge for students and law schools alike.