Why Do You Want To Be A Solicitor?
SQE 2 results were released earlier this week. Some of you opened the email and read the word pass. Some of you did not. Both groups are about to find out the same thing, which is that the exam was never the hard part of this route. The hard part is staying in it. So here is the question I want you to sit with: Why do you want to be a solicitor? The question that gets you through the SQE is the one most candidates only rehearse for interviews, and it deserves a better answer than that.
𝗜𝗳 Y𝗼𝘂 P𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗲𝗱
Congratulations. You have cleared the assessment the SRA designed to prepare you to practise as a solicitor on day one.
𝗜𝗳 Y𝗼𝘂 D𝗶𝗱 N𝗼𝘁
You need to know this is a hard exam, and not in the way people say that to be kind. Work out which topics dragged you down. Take some time to relax and determine when you want to restart studying.
𝗧𝗵𝗲 R𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗲 I𝘀 L𝗼𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿 T𝗵𝗮𝗻 T𝗵𝗲 E𝘅𝗮𝗺𝘀
Last week we went through the cost of the SQE. Money is one kind of cost. Time is the other, and it is the one candidates underestimate.
You need to pass SQE 1 and SQE 2. Plus two years of qualifying work experience, which can overlap with your studies but still has to be done in full. Most candidates will spend two years plus on this route from start to qualifying, and some spend longer once work, family and resits are factored in.
The reason the content feels endless is that it is meant to.
𝗞𝗻𝗼𝘄 Y𝗼𝘂𝗿 W𝗵𝘆
Motivation is not a personality trait you either have or lack. It runs out. It will run out in the third month of revision when you are on land law for the second time. It will run out when a friend who went into a different career posts about their promotion. It will run out at 10pm on a Tuesday when the flashcards are winning.
When it does, the only thing that puts you back in the chair is a reason you actually believe. Not "I want to be a solicitor." That is a job title, and a job title does not get anyone through a resit. The why has to be specific enough that you can picture it.
It might be you are the first person in your family to qualify. It might be a client you once watched get bad advice. It might be the kind of work you want to spend the next thirty years doing.
Whatever it is, do this today:
Write it down in one sentence. Be specific. Then put it somewhere you will see it when you are not in the mood, which is the only time it matters. The lock screen on your phone. The first page of your revision notes. A sticky note on the monitor.
When the content feels too vast, that sentence is the answer to why you are bothering.
If you passed this week, you already know this works. If you did not, the exam is hard, the route is long, and the reason you started is still true. Go and find it again.
What is your why? Let me know in the comments.
