QWE and Training Contract Interview Questions: How to Prepare

QWE facts checked against the SRA's website on 5 November 2026

What QWE is, and why the interview matters

To qualify as a solicitor through the SQE route, you need two years' full-time (or equivalent) qualifying work experience. It can be gained in up to four organisations, paid or voluntary, in England and Wales or overseas, and each period must be confirmed by a solicitor of England and Wales or a Compliance Officer for Legal Practice (SRA, qualifying work experience).

Many firms still call their two-year programme a training contract, and it usually counts as QWE. Others hire paralegals or apprentices whose work can be confirmed later. Either way, the interview is the gate. Firms receive far more applications than they have places, so they use structured interviews to compare candidates fairly.

The questions you are likely to face

Motivation

• Why do you want to be a solicitor?
• Why this firm, and why this practice area?
• Where do you see yourself after qualifying?

Generic answers fail here. Name something specific: a deal or case the firm worked on, a seat you want and why, a conversation you had at an open day.

Competency and behavioural questions

• Tell me about a time you worked to a tight deadline.
• Describe a time you disagreed with someone senior. What did you do?
• Give an example of a mistake you made and how you put it right.
• Tell me about a time you had to explain something complex to a non-expert.

These are the questions most candidates underprepare, and the ones panels mark most consistently.

Commercial awareness

• Tell me about a business story you have followed recently.
• How might a change in interest rates affect our clients?
• What challenges is the legal sector facing?

You don't need to be an economist. Pick two or three stories, understand who wins and who loses, and connect them to the kind of clients the firm advises.

Case studies and written exercises

Many assessment centres include a short case study: read a client file, spot the issues, and present a recommendation. Accuracy matters, but so does structure. Say what the client wants, list the issues in order of importance, and finish with a clear recommendation.

How to answer competency questions

Competency interviews work the same way across professions. Panels mark each answer against set criteria, not on general impression. This guide on how to answer behavioural interview questions is written for NHS interviews, but its structure maps directly onto a law-firm panel.

The most common structure is STAR:

• Situation: one or two sentences of context.
• Task: what you were responsible for.
• Action: what you did, in specific steps. This should be most of the answer.
• Result: what happened, with a number if you have one, and what you learned.

Three habits separate strong answers from average ones:

1. Say "I", not "we". The panel is scoring you, not your team.
2. Choose real stakes. A story where something could have gone wrong is more convincing than one where everything went smoothly.
3. Finish with the lesson. One sentence on what you would do the same or differently shows reflection, which most marking schemes reward.

Using your SQE1 study as evidence

If you are preparing for SQE1 alongside applications, that preparation is itself evidence. Two papers of 170 questions each, across the full SQE1 syllabus, take months of planned work. That gives you honest answers to several common questions:

• Time management: how you built and kept to a revision timetable around work or study.
• Resilience: how you handled a weak mock score and what you changed.
• Attention to detail: how you learned to spot the single fact that changes the answer in a long question.

Keep it brief and concrete. "I sat a full timed mock every fortnight and logged every wrong answer by subject" is stronger than "I am very organised". If you want material for those examples, our free SQE1 practice questions come with worked solutions and a note on every wrong option.

A one-week preparation plan

• Days 1 to 2: research the firm. Read its website, recent news and the practice areas you would sit in. Write three reasons you want to join that only apply to this firm.
• Days 3 to 4: write six to eight STAR stories covering teamwork, leadership, a mistake, a disagreement, a deadline and a time you persuaded someone.
• Day 5: prepare two commercial stories and practise explaining each in under two minutes.
• Day 6: do a timed case study and present it out loud.
• Day 7: run a full mock interview with someone who will interrupt and push back.

FAQ

Is a training contract the same as QWE?

Not exactly. QWE is the SRA's requirement of two years' full-time (or equivalent) work experience, confirmed by a solicitor or COLP. A training contract is one way of getting it, usually as a structured two-year programme at a single firm. You can also build QWE across up to four organisations.

Do law firms ask about the SQE at interview?

Some do, especially if you are paying for it yourself or sitting it during the programme. Be ready to say when you plan to sit SQE1 and SQE2 and how you are preparing.

How long should a competency answer be?

About two minutes when spoken. Spend most of it on the actions you took, and keep the situation short.

Solon Prep is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. QWE facts on this page come from the SRA's website and were checked on 5 November 2026.