The evening included tips and reflections from people who have completed the SQE (Solicitors Qualifying Examination) and those doing QWE (Qualifying Work Experience) in this new world of legal qualification. The event was hosted by Darren Weir, Senior Lecturer at Kent Law School.
Joshua, who embarked on a training contract with CooperBurnett LLP last year, transferred from the LLB onto Kent Law School’s MLaw Integrated Solicitors Practice Masters Course which offers a QWE paralegal scheme alongside studies.
Joshua told students: “QWE is great as it teaches you certain skills a textbook can’t from even very basic things like how to set out a letter. Working within a law firm also emphasises that everything has to be client focused as, after all, building and maintaining client relationships is at the heart of what we do. The scheme is useful in that it gives you a foot in the door at a law firm and enables you, as a student, the opportunity to really show the firm what your skills are.”
Added Victoria: “As a firm, we are embracing the new pathways to qualification and currently have three trainees at CooperBurnett, all of whom are following different routes. With the M-Law trainees, we always say ‘studies first’ and I am proud of how hard Joshua has worked. We saw opportunity and potential in him and, in return, we expected consistently, the desire to learn and a sense of humour.”
She continued: “My advice to any law student is do not rush to qualify. Instead, seize every moment and take every opportunity of meaningful training from your firm.”
Her advice to students looking for a placement for their M-Law year was: “Prepare for the interview but don’t recite the firm’s website. Instead, make your research much wider than that – look at LinkedIn and ask around. Be candid in your interview and come with three questions. Be yourself and be different, so we will remember you.”
Darren Weir, Senior Lecturer at Kent Law School, says: “Kent Law School is grateful to firms like CooperBurnett LLP that support our QWE Paralegal scheme. It means students who are studying those final stages get to do hands-on work in the office and accumulate QWE to enable them to become a solicitor.”
As a trainee, Joshua has worked in our Private Client and Corporate and Commercial teams to date, before recently moving into Residential Property (with Commercial Property after that).
Victoria’s final words of wisdom to the students were: “Work intelligently; actively listen; and pursue your passion.”
