Can overseas Lawyer who is also an English solicitor provide experience to other Lawyers who wish to qualify as a solicitor?

Yes, overseas dual qualified lawyer can give experience to other lawyers who wish to qualify as a solicitor. As per SRA guidelines the experience must have been gained either in a firm or other organisation regulated by the SRA or under the direct supervision of a solicitor who had been admitted as a solicitor in England and Wales. The Solicitor must have held a current practising certificate when he is supervising you and have previously held at least four such practising certificates.

How to apply for internships or work experience?

All law firm regulated by SRA offers training contracts and/or internships to the law students. It is recommended that the overseas Lawyers should visit their website on regular basis to find out suitable places in the firm.

To find out the contact details of the SRA regulated law firms, please visit the Law Society’s website

http://www.lawsociety.org.uk/choosingandusing/findasolicitor.law

Which experience would be considered while working in a Solicitor’s office?

According to the SRA regulations, Overseas Lawyers are required to gain at least two years’ work experience in legal practice in a common law jurisdiction of which at least one year must have been gained by practising the law of England and Wales. This experience must have been gained either in a firm or other organisation regulated by the SRA or under the direct supervision of a solicitor (must have held a current practising certificate when they were supervising you and have previously held at least four such practising certificates) who had been admitted as a solicitor in England and Wales.

Further, it is required that the experience should be gained in three distinct areas of law and experience of both contentious and non contentious practice. The length and nature of this experience must have been sufficient to give you a reasonable insight into the practice of law in those areas. You may have gained this experience either in England or Wales or your common law jurisdiction

Newly qualified advocates can also apply for a certificate of eligibility before they meet the above experience requirement. Overseas Lawyers are required to provide the SRA complete evidence of their experience till date. The SRA may consider your experience and issue a conditional Certificate of Eligibility with details of any further experience you will need to gain prior to making an application for admission to the Roll of Solicitors of England & Wales.

The following explains what can be considered by the SRA as sufficient proof of your work experience:

POST QUALIFICATION/ADMISSION

• Legal employment in the office of a solicitor or lawyer in private practice.
• Any period spent in practice at the Bar i.e. tenancy or squatting.
• In house legal employment in a legal department headed by a solicitor or barrister qualified in England & Wales of at least 5 years standing with
  
  o Crown Prosecution Service
  o Her Majesty’s Court Service,
  o The Civil Service,
  o Local Government,
  o a Public Authority or Commerce or Industry
  
• Time spent in the UK based law firms as paralegal, legal executive or legal clerk under the supervision of a qualified solicitor.
• Experience gained overseas may count if this has been gained in a common law jurisdiction.
  

PRE QUALIFICATION/ADMISSION

Pre qualification/ admission experience is usually counted only where it is normal practice for a trainee to complete a period of practical training, ‘articles’ or a training contract as part of the training scheme in certain jurisdictions.

The SRA will also consider as standard, any experience gained after you have taken the relevant qualifying examinations (e.g. Bar Exams) in your home jurisdiction. Consideration of experience not falling into one of the above categories will need to be referred to an adjudicator once an application has been made.

How can an overseas lawyer gain work experience on English law?

According to the SRA regulations, overseas lawyers are required to gain at least two years’ work experience in legal practice in a common law jurisdiction of which at least one year must have been gained by practising the law of England and Wales. This experience must have been gained either in a firm or other organisation regulated by the SRA or under the direct supervision of a solicitor (must have held a current practising certificate when they were supervising you and have previously held at least four such practising certificates) who had been admitted as a solicitor in England and Wales.

There is no restriction on the jurisdiction to get this experience. Overseas Lawyers can get experience by working as an intern, paralegal and/or legal executive etc. in any law firm or organization regulated by the SRA, which could be in England and Wales, or India, or Singapore, or Dubai, or Australia etc.

What is the Home office Training and Work Experience Scheme (TWES)?

The Training and Work Experience Scheme (TWES) arrangements enable companies (employer) to take employees from outside the European Economic Area to undertake work-based training for a professional or specialist qualification, or a period of work experience.

The TWES is to enable people to gain skills and experience through work-based learning which they can then use back in their own country. Home office UK issue TWES permits if a person needs to do:

1. work-based training for a professional or specialist qualification;
2. or a period of work experience

What is the Law Society migrant lawyer’s scheme?

The Law Society is helping law firms to run internship and secondment programmes that were threatened by new immigration rules by launching a scheme for migrant lawyers under Tier 5 (T5) of the points-based system.

As the overarching body for this T5 scheme, the Society will authorise eligible firms to issue certificates of sponsorship to prospective short-term migrants. The firm will be responsible for the day-to-day management of the migrants, including all reporting and record-keeping obligations required by the PBS.