Education
YOUR SQE QUESTIONS ANSWERED Part 1 (the SQE assessments) • What is the new SQE route to qualification as a solicitor? The route to qualification as a solicitor in England and Wales is changing, with the introduction of the Solicitors Qualifying Examination (‘SQE’). After a transitional period, SQE will replace the LPC as the main route to qualification. Unlike the LPC, the SQE is not a prescribed programme of study; instead it is two sets of centralised assessments, set by the SRA and its appointed assessment body, Kaplan. SQE 1 is two days of single best answer multiple choice tests, designed to test candidates’ functioning legal knowledge in a broad range of practice areas. Candidates who pass SQE1 can then register for SQE2, which are practical legal skills tests. SQE is open to graduates of any discipline, law or non-law. It also replaces the Qualified Lawyers Transfer Test (QLTT) as the means by which overseas qualified lawyers can gain a licence to practice in this jurisdiction. In theory, aspiring solicitors can prepare for the SQE assessments with self-study alone; however there is now a general assumption, even seemingly on the part of the SRA itself, that almost all candidates will want to undertake some form of preparation course, and a wide variety of such courses are becoming available. These are not regulated by the SRA, although institutions must register with the SRA in order to be able to use the descriptor ‘SQE’. In order to complete their qualification, aspiring solicitors must also demonstrate two years’ Qualifying Work Experience, (‘QWE’). This will be the subject of part 2 of this article. The SRA’s character and suitability requirements for solicitors continue to apply. Comment: The breadth of the SQE assessment specification is not dissimilar to the LPC. The practice areas tested in the SQE1 assessment incorporate the core modules of a traditional undergraduate law degree or GDL, together with topics traditionally studied on the LPC [(see Box 1)].
BOX 1 - Areas tested in SQE1:
Business Law and Practice; Dispute Resolution; Contract; Tort; Legal System of England and Wales; Constitutional and Administrative Law and EU Law; Legal Services; Property Practice; Wills and the Administration of Estates; Solicitors Accounts; Land Law; Trusts; Criminal Law and Practice. Ethics and professional conduct is pervasive throughout and taxation examined within certain practice areas. The skills assessed in SQE2 are again similar to the skills assessed in the LPC (Client Interviewing, Advocacy, Drafting, Legal Research and Legal Writing), with the addition of a new skill, Case and Matter Analysis. These are tested on SQE 2 assessment days, in various legal contexts: Business, Property, Criminal, Dispute Resolution, and Wills. Interestingly, and unlike the LPC, in the SQE2 skills assessments candidates are marked on not only the skill demonstrated, but also on their understanding of the relevant law. In terms of rigour, the SQE1 assessments are closed book, in contrast to the LPC assessments where institutions could choose between open- and closed- book assessment methods. The timing of the SQE1 assessments is challenging, with 100 seconds allowed to candidates per question (excluding those with extra time under reasonable
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adjustments). The SQE 2 skills assessment days sound like a kind of legal bootcamp, with candidates assessed on up to four different legal skills each day over more than a week of tests (each skill is assessed more than once, in differing contexts). According to the SRA, the pass standard for both SQE1 and SQE2 is the level of a Day 1 Solicitor, whereas the LPC pass standard was that of a Day 1 Trainee. Concerns have been expressed over the depth of understanding it is possible to demonstrate in the SQE1, multiple choice style assessment, in contrast to the longer written answers required in the core LPC assessments. Whilst it is emphasised that the SQE 1 assessment questions are (i) designed to test functioning legal knowledge (i.e. legal knowledge applied to hypothetical client scenarios) and (ii) are ‘single best answer’ questions (i.e. more than one option might be technically correct, but candidates are required to select the ‘best’ option for their hypothetical client), nonetheless it is undeniably difficult, if not impossible, to give a nuanced answer to this type of question, or to demonstrate an understanding of counterargument. It is hard to respond to these concerns; to an extent we will have to wait and see what type of candidates the new regime produces. It is however worth remembering that SQE candidates must have an undergraduate degree (or equivalent), which hopefully will have given them the opportunity to explore and develop these important critical and analytical skills before undertaking the SQE. This might be an area to explore with potential employees during the recruitment process.
Timing and transitional arrangements
The first SQE1 assessments took place in November 2021. If you are interested in the SRA’s analysis of the results of these, we would recommend listening to the highly informative SRA Webinar, ‘SQE1 – How the first assessment went.’ The first SQE 2 assessments are to follow in April 2022. Some aspiring solicitors can still qualify under the established LPC / training contract route, under the SRA’s transitional arrangements. In order to do so, a candidate must generally have begun studying a qualifying law degree (broadly, a LLB from a university in this jurisdiction), or GDL, in 2021 or earlier. Note that it is not the date of completion of studies which counts, but the date of commencement. There is a useful eligibility checker, for determining whether a candidate may still qualify via the LPC route, here: https: //www.lawcabs.ac.uk/eligibility-checker . Comment: Again, when interviewing potential employees who may wish to qualify in the future, their options and plans could be explored. Importantly, an aspiring solicitor whose undergraduate studies are in a subject other than law (or in the law of another jurisdiction), cannot now qualify under the old GDL / LPC / training contract route, unless they have already begun their GDL studies (e.g. in September 2021). Firms which traditionally recruit non-law students in the 3rd year of their degree, should now prepare to support them through qualification via the SQE route. For law undergraduates on a traditional, three-year degree programme, the last cohort of students who can be expected to have the choice to qualify via the LPC route, is likely to graduate in summer 2024. Students of this cohort will then presumably begin their LPC in September 2024 and their training contract in summer 2025. Where a firm traditionally recruits law undergraduates in the 2nd year of their law degree, this recruitment will be in academic year 2022/23. In the not-to-distant future, law graduates too will be expected to qualify via the SQE route. Although the SRA’s transitional arrangements give a a long runout period for the LPC, bear in mind that commercially, institutions
Hertfordshire Law Society Gazette
