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Part of the process of qualifying as a solicitor includes building up two years of legal qualifying work experience (QWE). For many aspiring solicitors interested in the world of commercial law, our assumed trajectory is a two-year training contract with a City firm – where, rotating through several seats, we'll get to grips with the foundations of being a solicitor and explore the various practice areas available to us (alongside doing some inescapable admin work).

But working as a trainee isn’t the only route to qualifying as a solicitor. In this article, we'll  look at one of the alternative routes to building up your QWE – the paralegal way – and what this role demands of you (I'd insert a Suits reference here, but I fear you may have heard enough about it at this point…).

So, let's get into it.

What’s a paralegal?

With my background being in English, there's no way I can start an article without a little etymology. The prefix ‘para’ means ‘beside’ or ‘alongside’ – succinctly summarising the role of a paralegal. They work ‘para’ – beside, alongside, assisting – the ‘legal’. Paralegals, then, are legal assistants, who help solicitors and barristers with routine legal work. However, unlike solicitors and barristers they’re not considered qualified lawyers under the Legal Services Act 2007.

Because they’re not qualified lawyers, there’s a limit to the work they can legally perform. Unlike barristers, for instance, they don’t have the right to appear in and address a court on their client's behalf – nor can they administer oaths. Moreover, the work that paralegals carry out is hard to summarise. As I'm sure you've probably heard about the legal sphere, every day is different (and, as always, dependent on their respective clients).

There are, however, some staple tasks that you can expect to perform as a paralegal. As the title suggests – ‘beside’ legal, seated on the threshold of the legal and non-legal commercial world – they carry out both legal and non-legal work, including:

• admin tasks;
• legal research and data analysis;
• drafting documents; and
• preparing and briefing notes.

If you're a paralegal working with a barrister, your workload may include attending court inquests, tribunals, interviewing clients and transcribing those interviews, filing court documents and writing case reports. As a whole, the role involves and necessitates variation. As such, as a paralegal, there are a range of specialisations available for you to take up such as dispute resolution, crime, family and personal injury.

As for the skills you'll need, it may come as no shock that time management is a coveted one for a paralegal. Of course, a certain standard of legal education and knowledge is also required, as well as solid administration, organisation, communication and research skills. Like a trainee or qualified solicitor, there's no guarantee that you’ll always finish at 5.30pm – but with the potential long hours, interesting cases can be on the cards.

All in all, how you choose to qualify is up to you. Whether you're a paralegal, a trainee solicitor or an apprentice (more on that in this post), the aim of the two years’ QWE is to gain hands-on practical legal understanding. As long as you're making the most of your time and your surroundings, you're on the right track.