Portfolio / Work-Based Evidence of Competence
What the portfolio must prove
The portfolio is evidence that you have performed competently across the required domains, not a description of what your firm does. Each piece of evidence should be linked to a competence statement, dated, attributable to you, and accompanied by a short reflective commentary explaining the legal or procedural rule applied, the decisions you took, and what you would do differently.
Building the evidence
Use a spread of sources: file notes, attendance notes, letters and emails you drafted, checklists, research memoranda, court or registry documents, accounts records, and witness testimony from a supervisor. Where a single matter proves several competences, cross-refer to it rather than duplicating material. Keep a log mapping each competence to at least one piece of evidence so gaps are visible early.
Authenticity, confidentiality and currency
Redact third-party personal data and privileged material; never submit unredacted client documents. Evidence must be your own work - describe what you did, using active verbs, not 'I observed' or 'I assisted with'. Ensure dates fall within the accepted period and obtain the supervisor's signature and counter-signature on the sign-off sheet.
Traps
- Submitting a description of the department's work rather than your own actions.
- Missing dates, missing supervisor sign-off, or unsigned witness testimony.
- Quoting a legal rule without showing how you applied it to the facts.
- Recycling identical evidence for every competence without reflection.
Rule of thumb: for each item use STAR - Situation, Task, Action, Reflection - and make the Action section the longest, because that is where competence is shown.