Dear KazBar members,

We have a great news for you!
Previously, as you may know, our Kazakh lawyers, which were KazBar members could pass QLTS exam in order to receive the status of solicitor of England and Wales. Please see the news on this agreement between KazBar, SIGNUM law firm and SRA: Kazakhstan legal practitioners will now be eligible for the Qualified Lawyer Transfer Scheme (QLTS) to become a Solicitor in England and Wales.
However, we had found out that from September 2021 the rules of qualification in England and Wales for lawyers has been changed and this QLTS scheme was changed into SQE exams. Unfortunately, we saw that there was no Kazakhstan in the list of recognized foreign qualification of lawyers https://www.sra.org.uk/become-solicitor/qualified-lawyers/sqe-exemptions/.
Therefore, we would like SRA to return Kazakhstan into this list as our members, who have foreign education on English common law and the status of the legal consultants according to the law of the Republic of Kazakhstan “On advocacy and legal aid”, have an opportunity to receive also the status of solicitor of England and Wales.
Moreover, we found out that we could apply for the exemption from the SQE2 assessment of practical legal skills for lawyers of Kazakhstan.
We worked for one year with such KazBar members as Elena Lee, Gaukhar Kudaibergenova, Yerkin Budenov and Aigerim Koishibayeva to achieve these 2 goals and we have succeeded!
We have received official confirmation from Solicitors Regulation Authority below:
“This is to thank you again for the information you gave us some months ago on behalf of the Kazakhstan Bar Association, and to let you know that, following agreement by our committee, the exemption from the SQE2 assessment of practical legal skills for all Legal Consultants of Kazakhstan is now listed on our website, at https://www.sra.org.uk/become-solicitor/qualified-lawyers/sqe-exemptions/.
To see the list of SQE2 exemptions for jurisdictions and professional titles, click Yes, and then click Yes again at the foot of the jurisdiction list.
(You may wish to note that the exemption only applies to Legal Consultants of Kazakhstan who have followed the full route to qualification as a Legal Consultant in Kazakhstan. Lawyers who first qualified in another jurisdiction, and subsequently cross-qualified as a Legal Consultant of Kazakhstan, will still need to apply to us for an individual SQE2 exemption, at https://www.sra.org.uk/become-solicitor/qualified-lawyers/individual-sqe-assessment-exemption/.)
Applications for the agreed SQE2 exemption by Legal Consultants of Kazakhstan will now be handled by our auto grant system, which will ensure the faster processing and grant of the exemption.
I hope this will assist Legal Consultants of Kazakhstan seeking to qualify as solicitors of England and Wales, supporting legal services in both our countries.”.
Hope you will use this great opportunity for your work and professional growth!