How to Qualify as a Solicitor without a Training Contract or SQE

[@martinea199]

Love this! Thank you so much! I’m on my journey applying! It’s so tricky knowing which documents to upload especially being an in house paralegal - do you know of any groups I can join for people qualifying through this route?

[@CharlotteHannah1]

Good luck with your application - I have just submitted mine so I will definitely make another video of the type of documents etc that I’ve used, and also how the process goes now that it’s submitted! I’m sorry, I really don’t know many people that talk about qualifying this way. That’s the main reason I wanted to share, as finding information on this is so difficult. This article was helpful: www.lawcareers.net/Explore/LCNSays/Why-you-should-consider-qualifying-through-the-equivalent-means-route

[@martinea199]

@@CharlotteHannah1thank you so much for replying! I just got good news, my previous manager has agreed to give me a reference. He won’t able to cover my full two years because he didn’t supervise me for that long. I’m thinking to do some volunteering at a high street firm just to make up for some of the dispute resolution etc skills I haven’t really gained in-house. Do you know how long is a reasonable time before I can include an employer on my application, I can’t really afford to take more than 1 month off work. Really looking forward to your next video.

[@CharlotteHannah1]

Ah congratulations - one step closer! I would highly recommend the Litigation Course at the University of Law. I work in-house too with barely any litigation exposure, so I’ve done the litigation course at ULaw to hopefully satisfy that requirement. Obviously I don’t know if it is enough yet, but I’ve heard some law firms send their trainees on the course when they don’t manage to fit in a litigious seat (there were Ashurst trainees on my course). You could also maybe see if your manager would consider letting you do voluntary work on a Friday afternoon in a legal clinic or something?

[@sundusg316]

Very informative video. In terms of qualifying under the equivalent means does the experience have to come from various practice areas of law or can one area suffice?

[@CharlotteHannah1]

Thank you, I am glad it is helpful. You need to work across 3 practice areas, with one being litigious, however I believe you can satisfy the litigious component through the litigation course that ULaw provide. That is worth double checking though, so please don’t rely on what I say as my application is still under review!

[@lawroast2509]

Great video.

[@CharlotteHannah1]

Thanks!

[@lawroast2509]

3:58 in private browsing 😎