Tilly Twite, SQE student at The College of Legal Practice, reflects on her experience of balancing work and study and offers some advice for fellow future lawyers
“I’ve always wanted to be a solicitor,” says Tilly Twite, trainee solicitor and SQE student at The College of Legal Practice. Tilly achieved A*A*A in her A Levels, including law, at Leeds City College before being awarded a scholarship to study Law at the University of Leeds. After a short break from the law, Tilly joined the Proceeds of Crime team at a Yorkshire firm where she has worked full-time while preparing for the SQE.
“When I graduated from my undergraduate degree, I took a year out completely and worked in Pizza Express,” Tilly tells me, “I just needed a bit of a brain-break from it all and going straight into the LPC or SQE wouldn’t have worked for me.” She then went on to work at a law firm for two years before going back to the books – “I had a quite significant break in study between the undergrad and postgrad,” she says.
Tilly embarked on further study after receiving a scholarship with The College of Legal Practice to study their SQE preparation course. “I am very grateful to The College of Legal Practice for giving me the opportunity to study there,” she says. “I come from a very working-class background and would have struggled to get into law at all without this support – the costs involved can be ridiculous!”
With many law students taking a few years out before taking on the SQE, I am curious to know how Tilly found her transition back to education. “It can be quite hard to get back into studying when you’ve had such a break,” she acknowledges, “but I wouldn’t say it affected my performance in any way.” She found her course at The College of Legal Practice instrumental in bridging the gap: “They provided me with all the material I needed to pass the exams so it didn’t hold me back,” she explains.
Studying for these demanding exams while working full-time as a trainee solicitor is no mean feat and I am keen to hear how Tilly has found this balancing act. “It’s difficult – I’m not going to pretend that it’s easy because it’s not,” she replies. However, she is keen to emphasise that “it is also possible” and she is the proof, having passed SQE1 on her first attempt. With five years’ legal experience already behind her, Tilly will be a fully qualified lawyer once she has passed her SQE2, which she sat in April. “My qualifying work experience is already banked, so I literally just need to pass these exams and I’ll be qualified,” she tells me excitedly.
So how did she do it? “The biggest help for me was The College of Legal Practice’s timetabling,” she responds. “If you stick to the timetable and what they tell you to read every day and complete the mock multiple-choice questions (MCQs) that they set, that will set you up for good results.” Sticking diligently to the course was a core part of Tilly’s approach: “I didn’t lapse on the timetable, I followed it routinely,” she tells me. “If you get behind on a part of your course, it’s so hard to catch up because of the volume of content. It’s really important to structure your week and follow those timetables.”
This wasn’t always easy for Tilly, who works in the Proceeds of Crime team at Yorkshire firm Ison Harrison and often completes long hours and early starts. “Working in criminal law, the hours and working days can be extremely long”, she tells me. “Most days I felt exhausted after a full day at work, but I needed to turn my attention to my studies. These were equally as important. If you want to qualify, you’ll have to be really dedicated and put the work in.”
Luckily, Tilly’s colleagues and employer were accommodating and understood that she had a lot on her plate. “My employer would let me attend online seminars live during the working day, so I wouldn’t have to catch up with these after work,” she says. She would advise other future solicitors who are working while studying to “be open and honest with your employer so they can consider and give you the same sort of flexibility.”
While Tilly is clear about the challenges involved, she is also positive about her SQE experience. “I love studying, for me it’s not a chore so I really enjoyed the course as a whole,” she enthuses. I am curious to know what the highlights of the course were for her. “Criminal law is what I do on a day-to-day basis, so I particularly enjoyed that topic,” she responds. She goes on to tell me, “Interestingly, though, criminal isn’t where I scored the highest – I scored higher in property and dispute resolution which are not my areas of interest at all!”
This may be encouraging news for SQE students who worry about their lack of work experience. As Tilly puts it: “Just because you may not have the experience, it doesn’t mean you’ll be disadvantage.” She explains that her own legal experience hasn’t necessarily given her a head start on the legal knowledge that she needed for the SQE, although it has been useful for SQE2’s skills-based assessments. “Skills-wise, the fact that I’ve worked in a law firm for five years does put me ahead because I am practising drafting, legal writing and client interviews every day,” she says.
Tilly found that the provided course materials set her up well for the exams. “I would read all the materials The College of Legal Practice provided, all the information you need to know is in those materials – I didn’t need to look at anything additional because it was very detailed,” she assures me. “The practice MCQs that they provide are really good as well.” She is also full of praise for her tutors who “couldn’t have been more helpful.” She explains, “Tax was an area I struggled with initially but whenever I had questions I could just email my tutors and they would respond promptly – I’ve never had a query they couldn’t resolve.”
In the run up to her exams, practising mock MCQs was the backbone of Tilly’s revision strategy. “When preparing for SQE1, every practice question available to me I did,” she reveals. “I used a bank of questions that The College of Legal Practice recommended to me, I also used the mock questions on the SRA’s website – anything I could find!”
As we wrap up our discussion, I ask Tilly for any advice that she would give to those embarking on a similar journey to qualification. “Stay driven and be resilient. Keep the end goal always in sight” is her response. “If you want to qualify, you will, but it isn’t an easy journey. Think of it as short-term sacrifice for long-term satisfaction.
Tilly Twite will be on the panel at ‘SQE Success: Your route to qualification — with The College of Legal Practice and Reed Smith’, a virtual student event taking place Tuesday 29 July. Apply now to attend.
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