BPP offers paid QWE through Pro Bono Centre
From Spring 2023, students who have worked in BPP’s Pro Bono Centre, will have the opportunity to apply for a paid, six-month Qualifying Work Experience (‘QWE’) placement with BPP’s award winning Pro Bono Centre.
From Spring 2023, students who have worked in BPP’s Pro Bono Centre, or can demonstrate a pro bono ethic while studying at BPP, will have the opportunity to apply for a paid, six-month Qualifying Work Experience (‘QWE’) placement with BPP’s award winning Pro Bono Centre.
Last September, the SRA introduced a new way of qualifying as a solicitor: the Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE). Part of the qualification process for the SQE includes the completion of two years QWE at up to four different employers. To be ‘qualifying’, the experience must be grounded in legal work and allow an individual to develop at least two of the SRA prescribed competencies for solicitors.
Winner of the Best Contribution by a Law School Award in the 2022 LawWorks and Attorney General Student Pro Bono Awards, the BPP Pro Bono Centre boasts multiple projects, including six distinct legal advice clinics, where students support clients on a range of legal issues.
Emma Blackstone and Lucy Wildig, joint Heads of Pro Bono at BPP, see this as a unique opportunity for a law school clinic:
“With such an established, extensive legal advice provision, BPP Pro Bono Centre is in the ideal position to be able to offer QWE placements. We wanted these placements to be accessible and to be meaningful, which is why they are paid and why each placement is for six months.”
Students who volunteer with the BPP Pro Bono Centre’s legal advice clinics during their studies may also undertake work which constitutes QWE, but this is the first time the University has been able to offer paid, full-time placements.
In addition, BPP are also offering a ‘Career Guarantee’ as part of their SQE offering. That means if students don’t secure a relevant legal role within six months of passing their SQE2 assessments, as well as having the opportunity to apply for one of the QWE placements, they receive access to BPP’s Career Boost package. This includes a suite of courses to help students influence, negotiate and network their way towards a legal career.
Applications for the new QWE placements will open early Spring 2023. Applicants must be current or former students of BPP University and must be able to demonstrate active engagement in pro bono work.
