A new careers portal has been launched aiming to guide aspiring solicitors to find the work experience they need to qualify.

Legal consultancy Hook Tangaza has gone live with LawQWE today and the product is being backed by firms and legal businesses of varying sizes.

The firm’s own survey of almost 200 individuals looking to take the Solicitors Qualifying Examination route to the profession found that 90% do not know how they will obtain the qualifying work experience (QWE) they need to complete the course.

LawQWE is designed to help unlock opportunities for candidates – particularly those from non-legal backgrounds – who struggle to access traditional training contract-type arrangements.

Those people are connected with the firms and businesses who have signed up to offer qualifying work experience. Aspiring solicitors can find training opportunities as well as access tools to promote self-reflection, resilience and career planning. Courses to support skills development, mentoring and a QWE recording tool are all being developed by the portal, so that entrants who are building their own portfolio of work experience can gain the kind of support that they would enjoy if they had a two-year training contract with a single employer.

LawQWE and Hook Tangaza co-founder Alison Hook says: ‘The SQE has opened up a lot of opportunities for both aspiring solicitors and employers but it is early days and there is still a lot of uncertainty about how things will evolve.

Alison Hook of Hook Tangaza

Hook: 'Mission to demystify the new training regime'

Photograph: Alice Mutasa 

‘Our ambition is to demystify the new training regime and create a marketplace which supports a profession of more diverse individuals in a wider range of careers.’

Among those to get involved with the development of the site so far are Macfarlanes, Sintons, Scott-Moncrieff & Associates, Sherrards, Virtuoso, Law by Design, Cambridge University Press, Needle & Partners and Citizens Advice (Bath and North-East Somerset).

The SQE route to the solicitor profession is being taken by around 6,500 people this year and they need two years’ of relevant work experience to complete it. But there are concerns that many candidates are unaware of the training opportunities and career paths open to them, while only a limited number of firms have adapted their approach to recruiting talent through this emerging route.

The LawQWE portal is funded through firms paying to be part of the scheme, as well as job advertising on the site.