Aptitude test route

23 January 2025

To be eligible for admission as a solicitor of England and Wales through the aptitude test route, you must be:

• be a Swiss lawyer (Avocat, Advokat, Rechtsanwalt, Anwalt, Fürsprecher, Fürsprech or Avvocato)
• have successfully passed the aptitude test (the SQE1 and SQE2 assessments).

You also have other options for becoming a solicitor. Find out more about your options as a Swiss lawyer.

Applying for recognition of your experience

If you have at least 24 months' legal work experience (as part of your qualification or post qualification), we will recognise this, and you will not need to take SQE2.

You will be eligible for this recognition of your experience where:

• your qualification required you to undertake two years of professional legal work experience as part of the qualification process, or
• where your qualification required less than two years of professional legal work experience, that experience plus time spent practising as a Swiss lawyer post-qualification total at least two years

You cannot apply for admission through the aptitude test route if you have failed SQE2 or are still waiting for your results from having sat it. If you fail an assessment, you must retake it and pass to be eligible to qualify as a solicitor in England and Wales.

If you are eligible for recognition of your experience, you can apply to us, providing the necessary evidence. There is no fee for this application.

References

If your application relies on post-qualification work experience as part of the two years, you will need to provide a reference(s) to evidence that work experience from your employer, line manager or senior colleague. The reference(s) must:

• be provided for each period of experience claimed
• be written for the purposes of this application and be dated within the last three months, and
• be submitted on letterheaded paper.

Referees must:

• Confirm the dates you worked for them and the total hours worked per week.
• Confirm that your role required you to practise in your professional capacity as a qualified Swiss lawyer.

Other requirements of the reference

Wherever possible, your referee should be another qualified lawyer:

• If the referee is regulated by us, we will need their SRA number.
• If the referee is not regulated by us, we will need one of the following:
  • a copy of their certificate of good standing
  • admissions certificate
  • a letter from a law society/bar confirming they are qualified in their jurisdiction.

If you cannot provide a reference from a qualified lawyer:

• It is accepted that the nature of your post-qualification work may mean you were the only practising qualified lawyer in your employment, such as in-house counsel. In this situation, the reference should make this clear.
• You, or the referee, will need to provide information or evidence that will allow us to verify the information provided. Specifically, we need to be able to satisfy ourselves that the details of the referee, and facts about your employment contained in the reference, are true.

Where your experience cannot be recognised

We will not be able to recognise your experience where:

• you have less than two years of legal work experience
• you are unable to evidence all of your two years of legal work experience, or we cannot verify it from the evidence provided
• you have already sat SQE2 and either failed it or are awaiting your results.

Instead, you will need to pass the SQE2 assessment.

Alternatively, you may wish to apply for an SQE2 exemption. Please be aware these are rarely granted in these circumstances. This is because the exemption application requires detailed evidence showing you have the each of the skills assessed through exam to the same standard as candidates taking the SQE2.

We also have more information on becoming a solicitor and other requirements, along with help and guidance.