SQE Journey

What Legal Employers Really Look For in SQE Candidates

Most SQE candidates walk into interviews apologising for the wrong things. They brush past years of retail shifts and volunteering, then lean hard on a single week of shadowing a solicitor. Fiona Anthony watched this happen again and again while running the trainee programme at nplaw, where she also built a route to qualification for paralegals. So this week I asked Fiona five questions about what legal employers really look for in SQE candidates. Her answers might change how you talk about your own experience, and they open up a route into the profession that most candidates never even consider.

Question 1

When you were hiring trainees at nplaw, what separated candidates who sold their part-time work and volunteering well from those who had the same experience but couldn't?

When interviewing candidates, I would ask several competency based interview questions such as “Tell me about a time when you did [a certain task], how did you go about tackling it, what did you learn from it?”

The idea behind this was to find out the skills that candidates had, how they approached problems and whether they might be able to put these skills into practice.

There would always be candidates who clearly thought that they should focus on anything related to law rather than the amazing transferrable skills that they had acquired from other experiences. They sometimes seemed embarrassed at the lack of legal work experience they had and didn’t want to mention that they had done things that they saw as “menial” jobs.

Someone who might have shadowed a solicitor for a week would just focus on that work experience but would not tell me about their own abilities. Those who had worked part time in retail or hospitality or had done some volunteering had really useful skills such as customer care, time management and prioritisation of tasks, and the ability to work in busy and challenging environments. I was also open to hearing about hobbies and interests, such as sport, dance or music, as this demonstrated a well rounded person who perhaps had good team working skills and maybe leadership skills if they had played a role in a society. Candidates who told me about all their experiences would always do much better at interview.

I would encourage candidates to think about all the skills they have and be able to evidence these by giving examples of when they have used them. It can be a good idea for future candidates to spend 20 minutes at the end of each week thinking about what skills they had acquired that week, how they can talk about them and making sure that they record them, so that they can review their notes when preparing for an interview.

Question 2

You built a route to qualification for paralegals at nplaw. What convinced you they were ready, and what should paralegals building QWE now do to make that same case?

The paralegals had been doing a brilliant job. Most already had law degrees and their ambition was to qualify as a solicitor. They clearly understood the organisation and felt comfortable working there, so I knew that they would be likely to stay at nplaw following qualification. Which was important as we wanted to “grow our own” lawyers and retain them. We therefore looked at paralegals who had been working at nplaw for at least a year.

Skills which were particularly useful were the ability to

Work well with others in the team
Build good relationships with clients
Suggest how problems could be approached
Ask for help and guidance when needed (and not just sit worrying about something)
Be organised in their approach to planning work and meeting deadlines, including juggling urgent tasks
Accept feedback, learn from it and make changes where necessary.

Paralegals who are currently building their QWE might want to see their work as a kind of extended interview. It is really important to make themselves stand out (in a good way!) by developing multiple skills and building relationships whenever possible, so that the more senior people in the team are likely to recommend them for career progression.

Question 3

Many SQE candidates chase City firms. You ran the trainee programme at a local authority legal service. What do candidates misunderstand about that route?

Large City firms are very visible. Their sole purpose is to provide legal services, which are advertised widely. They will often have scheduled intakes of quite large numbers of trainees and pay exceptionally high salaries.

Most lawyers working in local government didn’t plan to do so, mainly because they didn’t know that the opportunity existed. It is not very well known that most councils have their own legal departments, which vary in size according to how large the local authority is. Trainees and paralegals are often recruited as and when needed rather than a couple of years in advance.

When I started my career, I had no idea that councils had legal departments, and I only found out when I came across a job vacancy that was of interest to me.

Local authority lawyers are involved in a very wide range of legal work and many areas are not taught at university or as part of the SQE, such as adult social care law, planning law and local government governance, as well as lots of others. This means that, whilst prior knowledge of these areas is desirable, it is accepted that learning will need to take place on the job and it will be taught in a very practical way.

It really is worth looking at vacancies within local authorities. Much of the work they do is of value to the local community and it can be very rewarding to know that you have made a difference. For example, whilst I was at nplaw, I was involved in preparations for a large new highway and a major bridge development, amongst many other things. It still makes me smile when I drive along that highway or pass over the bridge and remember that I played a part in delivering these projects.

Generally, local government legal departments offer a good work-life balance, don’t require long working hours and usually offer flexible and hybrid working. There is also a nice feeling of community with lawyers working in other councils. They are not in competition with each other and often come together to talk about best practice within their own areas of specialism.

“Lawyers in Local Government” (LLG) is a membership organisation for such lawyers and they offer a week’s work experience programme each summer aimed at final year law students, recent graduates and current SQE students.

Question 4

Looking back at your own route from private practice to child protection to training others, which skill mattered most that no course ever taught you?

For me, the most important thing is the ability to make good relationships with others. It is often known as networking, but I think that can sound a bit formal and scary, and it is best to see it simply as talking to people in a friendly way without any expectations. These people might offer you advice, mentoring and even friendship. Unexpected opportunities can also come from these connections.

Whilst in person networking can be a great thing to do, it can be difficult to find events where this can be done. I would strongly suggest using LinkedIn, which is a very effective way of connecting with others and spotlights so many opportunities which are often not obviously available elsewhere.

For younger people, these relationships may help you to develop your future career prospects. For people who have been in the profession for a little while, it is good to be able to give something back and to support others.

Question 5

From the employer side, where is the biggest gap between what qualification tests and what a newly qualified solicitor needs on day one?

Anyone who has been through the qualification process will have sufficient knowledge of the law and will be so used to learning the law that they can continue to do so if necessary.

In my view, it is therefore far more important to have the skills needed to work in a legal department. These are often known as “soft skills” but I think that they really are critical skills. It is helpful to be good at communicating with others, paying attention to detail and managing your time effectively. You can take an extra step by being empathetic, curious and kind, and acting ethically and with integrity.

Dealing with your own wellbeing is vital but I think that newly qualified solicitors often push that to one side because they want to push themselves hard instead. It is important to set boundaries between your work life and home life, energise yourself outside of work by doing things that you enjoy and always take time to recharge your batteries so that you can face any challenges at work in a positive way.