Pathways Spotlight: Edwira Tientcheu's Equivalent Means Journey

What if you've spent years gaining legal experience, but the training contract still feels like the barrier standing between you and qualification?

That was the position Edwira found herself in after around seven years working in law. Tired of the training contract process and the rejections that came with it, she began looking more closely at the Solicitors Regulation Authority's (SRA) Equivalent Means route — and realised that she met the requirements.

Edwira has now submitted her portfolio. For this written edition of Pathways Spotlight, she shares what prompted her to pursue a different route, what she found difficult and what she wishes she'd known when she started.

Edwira's pathway at a glance

Legal experience

Approximately 7 years

Why Equivalent Means?

Frustration with the training contract process and rejections

Current stage

Portfolio submitted

Employer support

Successfully secured professional funding

Biggest challenge

Drafting the portfolio and collating supporting evidence

Support network

Colleagues, mentors and online guidance

Biggest lesson

Recognising her own resilience and hard work

Advice to others

Don't rush

Connect with Edwira on LinkedIn.

Realising there was another route

For Edwira, Equivalent Means offered an alternative after becoming tired of the training contract process and the rejections that came with it.

After reviewing what the route involved, she reached an important realisation: she met the requirements.

For someone who had already accumulated around seven years of legal experience, it opened up another possibility for progressing towards qualification.

Don't assume you have to fund the journey alone

One of the first things Edwira did after deciding to pursue Equivalent Means was speak to her employer.

She told her firm about her plans and applied for professional funding. Importantly, she didn't simply ask for the funding — she submitted a business plan to support her request.

She was successful.

The portfolio can feel overwhelming

Realising that Equivalent Means was an option was one thing.

Actually building the portfolio was another.

At the beginning of the process, Edwira found two things particularly difficult:

• Understanding how to draft the portfolio and whether she was approaching it correctly
• Collating all of the supporting evidence she needed

Asked what she wishes she'd known before she started gathering her evidence, her answer was simple:

"That it would take so long."

It's an important insight for anyone approaching Equivalent Means while already balancing work and other commitments.

You don't have to navigate it alone

When asked what resources, people or communities helped her most, Edwira identified three:

Colleagues. Online guidance. Mentors.

That support can be particularly valuable when you're navigating a route that may be less familiar than the traditional training contract pathway.

More than an application

There was another lesson Edwira took from the process — one that had less to do with forms or evidence.

When we asked her what the biggest lesson from her Equivalent Means journey had been, she said:

"That I am resilient and hard working."

For applicants who have spent years building their experience while trying to find a route to qualification, that reflection may feel familiar.

An Equivalent Means portfolio asks you to look back over your professional experience and demonstrate what you've learned and what you're capable of.

Sometimes, that process can also remind you just how much you've already done.

If you're just starting...

We asked Edwira to imagine she could leave one note in the backpack of someone beginning their Equivalent Means journey today. Her message was:

"Do not rush. Please take your time."

Perhaps that's one of the most useful places to start.

You don't have to understand the entire process on day one.

You don't have to find every piece of evidence this weekend.

And you don't have to compare the speed of your journey with somebody else's.

Take the time to understand the route, look carefully at the experience you've already built and approach your application in manageable stages.

Edwira's portfolio has now been submitted and her journey isn't finished yet — and that's precisely why we wanted to share it.

Pathways Spotlight isn't only about hearing from people once they've reached the end.

We want to document what this route really looks like at different stages: discovering Equivalent Means, deciding whether it's right for you, building the portfolio, submitting it and, eventually, what comes next.

For Edwira, the ultimate reason for pursuing the route remains very simple:

"I know the Equivalent Means route is worth it because it will make me qualify as a solicitor."

We wish Edwira the very best for the next stage of her journey, and thank her for sharing her experience so that someone coming behind her can start theirs with a little more insight.

Thinking about Equivalent Means?

The Legal Pathways Collective exists to make the solicitor qualification journey more transparent, accessible and less isolating by sharing real experiences, practical resources and lessons from people navigating the SRA Equivalent Means route.

Explore our resources, follow the experiences shared through Pathways Spotlight, or share your own journey with the community.

Because one path was never the only path.