QWE - Citizens advice

[AmberLawApply]

I am hoping to find someone who has worked within citizens advice and managed to get it signed off as QWE. How did you go about doing it if so, and was it a difficult process? For context, I have worked with them for 4 years, but no one in the firm is a current solicitor, so unsure if I can just evidence my experience to another solicitor I know outside of the organisation.

Any advice would be really appreciated!!!

 

[Jessica Booker]

I would strongly recommend considering whether you want this experience signed off. If you are expecting to work in a commercial law firm or even in private client/family departments, but don’t have fee earning experience, there is a significant risk you could become over qualified but under experienced by using CAB work as QWE.

 

[AmberLawApply]

I would strongly recommend considering whether you want this experience signed off. If you are expecting to work in a commercial law firm or even in private client/family departments, but don’t have fee earning experience, there is a significant risk you could become over qualified but under experienced by using CAB work as QWE.

Thank you so much for the reply. Just for context, I don’t want to use citizens advice for all of my QWE and am still pursuing a training contract or paralegal role in order to get my legal training, but I would like to use it for at least some of the requisite 2 years. I was more curious about the actual signing off process for now

 

[Jessica Booker]

Thank you so much for the reply. Just for context, I don’t want to use citizens advice for all of my QWE and am still pursuing a training contract or paralegal role in order to get my legal training, but I would like to use it for at least some of the requisite 2 years. I was more curious about the actual signing off process for now

I'd personally not recommend getting even part of it signed off unless the work you are doing is strongly aligned to the type of work you want to qualify into.

Have you checked the SRA website for the competencies you need to demostrate and have a training log of your experiences at CAB? If not, that would be the first step as you would need to evidence the work done for anyone to sign it off.

 

[AmberLawApply]

I'd personally not recommend getting even part of it signed off unless the work you are doing is strongly aligned to the type of work you want to qualify into.

Have you checked the SRA website for the competencies you need to demostrate and have a training log of your experiences at CAB? If not, that would be the first step as you would need to evidence the work done for anyone to sign it off.

Could I ask what the drawbacks would be of getting it signed off. Why must it align to what I want to qualify into, as I don’t yet know exactly which area of law I would like to end up in?

 

[Jessica Booker]

Could I ask what the drawbacks would be of getting it signed off. Why must it align to what I want to qualify into, as I don’t yet know exactly which area of law I would like to end up in?

Because you will be competing with NQs who have got more relevant work experience. I strongly recommend submitting the strongest and most relevant QWE you can unless you have an NQ role secured.

If you have hoping to work in a leading commercial law firm, they won’t recognise the CAB as comparative QWE to what their trainees will have experienced, and that means you could be over qualified but under experienced in their eyes.