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Writer's picturePhil Steventon

Solicitors Qualification Exam - the update (10/8/2020)

Updated: Aug 12, 2020

I first published this article earlier in June when the SRA released further updates on the upcoming SQE. Now, following a webinar I attended by BPP Uni Law School, there have been further updates and clarity enhancements that I can include here. I shall note the updates in blue so that you can tell what is news.


We now have some further updated regarding the SQE. The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has outlined the final design of the course here - https://www.sra.org.uk/sra/policy/sqe/sqe-final-design/

I'll try to cover the important parts of this as best I can, along with my opinions and views, and facts referenced throughout.



(1) The layout of the exam has been confirmed that:

SQE Stage 1 will comprise 2 online-only exams both containing 180 multiple choice questions and will cover "functioning legal knowledge" only. There won't be any skills assessments; this is purely the theoretical and practical knowledge half of the exam. Each question will have 5 options where 1 option is the correct (and not the "nearest to correct possible") answer and the other 4 are incorrect answers. You'll have on average around 90 seconds to answer each question if you are to complete the paper bang on time. You MUST pass SQE Stage 1 before being able to register to take SQE Stage 2.

There will be 2 papers to sit here. According to BPP, paper 1 will contain questions relating to:

  • Business Law & Practice (plus relevant tax principles),

  • Dispute Resolution,

  • Contract & Tort Law,

  • Legal System of England & Wales,

  • Constitutional & Administrative Law,

  • EU Law & Legal Services

Paper 2 will contain questions relating to:

  • Property Practice & Land Law (plus relevant tax principles)

  • Wills & Administration of Estates (plus relevant tax principles)

  • Trusts

  • Criminal Law & Practice

  • Solicitors' Accounts (from Property & Wills contexts)

Professional Conduct will be a pervasive topic across all modules in SQE1

These 2 exam papers will be 5 hours each. For each paper, the first part will be 90 questions, then there will be a break afterwards, and the 2nd paper will be 90 questions.

Each paper is a separate assessment and will have separate pass marks.


SQE Stage 2 will comprise 15-18 practical exercises covering 5 practice areas. This is the skill element of the exam. SQE 2 will be a "uniform" assessment, as opposed to an "optional" assessment.

There will be oral assessments (advocacy, and a client interview + attendance note/legal analysis) and online written assessments (Case and Matter Analysis, Legal Research, Legal Writing and Legal Drafting).


According to BPP, the 5 practice areas will be:

  • Criminal Litigation (advocacy exam + 2 written assessments)

  • Dispute Resolution (advocacy exam + 2 written assessments)

  • Property Practice (client interview + 2 written assessments)

  • Wills and Intestacy, Probate Administration & Practice (client interview + 2 written assessments)

  • Business Organisations, Rules & Procedures (including Money Laundering and Financial Services) (4 written assessments)


There will be 2 sittings for each exam per year.

Bookings for SQE1 exams open in September for a November sitting, and March for a May sitting, with results published 6 weeks later.

Bookings for SQE2 exams open in February for an April sitting, and August for an October sitting, with results published 14 weeks later.


The exams will be closed-book which means you can't take anything into the exam room with you. This is a change on the LPC which is open-book where you can take notes and materials into the exam room with you as a way to try and simulate a real-life work environment


Uniform v Optional

The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) took the decision to make SQE2 a uniform assessment as opposed to an optional assessment.

A uniform assessment means that all candidates are expected to pass the exact same series of exams that cover multiple practice areas. By doing this, it offers the fairest form of assessment, but the downside is that it is totally inflexible. Essentially, this is the exam that you do, the same as everyone else, no ifs, no buts.

An optional approach, on the other hand, would mean candidates are assessed on skills they may have gained through work experience and will be using as qualified lawyers. However this may be less fair to all candidates because different groups who may have gained experience in these skills would be expected to take different exams.


Think of it this way:

You have 2 candidates - one has gained 6 months of experience in interviewing new clients, the other has none. You would assess them the same because you want to be sure that both can show the minimum required competency at the skill. It just so happens that the more experienced candidate has been doing this for 6 months so they've had the chance, whether by design or by coincidence, to have gained a level of competency at the task. But that means that they'll still likely be able to show the minimum required competency at the skill. It might be a more difficult assessment for the inexperienced candidate if they haven't gained that experience, but that doesn't change the fact that they need to show the minimum required competency or them to be signed off.

That's the upside of the uniform approach, despite its inflexibility. Same criteria for all involved means that every candidate, whether experienced or not, is assessed fairly and to the same criteria.


Cost

The combined cost of the exams on their own will be between £3,000 and £4,500, not including any preparation courses, making the exams-only approach much more financially attractive than the current LPC. (2)


Resits?

Like the LPC, you'll have a maximum of 3 attempts to pass each assessment and these must be done within 6 years of starting. (3) If you don't pass on the 3rd time of asking, you'll have to resit the entire course again and front the cost of the course again after that 6 year period.


Exams

The exams will be held at Pearson centres - the same centres where you go to take driving theory tests. Kaplan has partnered with Pearson to use their network of test centres across England and Wales (4). There will be 2 sittings per year likely around June and December, though this will need to be confirmed. (5)



Ok, so so far so good, right?


Well, ...........


The SQE was designed to be a much more accessible route into legal practice than the route that so many of us are following or have followed, which is completing the LPC. However according to an article by LawCareers.net (6), the results of the 2 pilot tests have shown that the new system will do little to reverse the trend of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) candidates receiving lower marks than their white classmates.


The pilots showed that "there was differential performance by binary ethnicity (white/BAME)”, with the SQE2 pilot noting that the gap in attainment between white and BAME candidates is consistent with the current experience in assessment in the industry and more widely.

Though there were no differences in results by gender or disability.


For a disabled candidate like me this is encouraging, but that shouldn't mean that candidates with disabilities that can impact their ability to learn and excel should not seek reasonable adjustments and support measure during their educational journey. It is important to make your education provider/university aware if you need any further support to help you succeed.


The SRA and Kaplan, who is the appointed exam adjudicator and assessor, say they will commission research to understand what is causing the attainment gap and introduce measures to ensure the SQE is as fair as possible.


This is still troubling that the course designed to make entering the profession more accessible has done very little, if anything, to address accessibility for candidates of different backgrounds and ethnicities.

The SRA reports (7) that in 2019, last year, 21% of all qualified lawyers and legal professionals (Partners, Solicitors, Barristers, Legal Execs, Chartered Conveyancers, Notary Public, Patent/Trademark Attorney, Costs Lawyers, or those in another fee earning role) are BAME:

- 15% Asian

- 3% Black

- 2% Multiple/Mixed ethnicities

- 1% Other


If we were to forecast that the profession moving forward will still have this makeup of lawyers and their respective backgrounds (it may, it may not, we'll have to see, but this is the figure that we currently have), that is a very large portion of the upcoming workforce who will be at a detriment by the attainment gap that has remained consistent but for their heritage and ethnicity.


This is unacceptable. It should not be acceptable in any way shape or form that BAME candidate and future lawyers who are BAME should miss out because of the same attainment gap that has carried over from old route to new route. Going solely on this and the numbers above, I view this as that the SQE has currently failed in its attempt to make the profession more accessible especially to BAME candidates and future lawyers who are BAME.


I welcome that the SRA and Kaplan are commissioning this research, but what will be more important to see is the steps that will put in place to close this attainment gap between BAME candidates and their white classmates. It is said that the measures that will be introduced to understand the causes of this gap will include:

  • recruitment of a diverse group of assessors;

  • unconscious bias training for assessors; and

  • appointing independent external expertise.


Further updates have filtered through:


The proposed introduction date for the SQE has not changed and the SRA still intends to roll out the course in September 2021 and confirms that if you have started along the LPC route pre-September 2021 then you can still continue down this path up until 2032 - so no change here.

The Legal Services Board (LSB), the SRA's regulator, still need to approve the changes that have been made to the course following the pilots, testing, consultations (including with the Junior Lawyers Division) and stakeholder engagement. This will happen over the next few months or so, but it isn't expected that the LSB will reject the changes made. Upon approval, the course will roll out in September 2021 for education providers to offer to students.


There doesn't appear to be any change regarding whether you will still be able to complete the LPC if you have already started down that path pre-September 2021. So if you've already started a law undergrad degree or the GDL or LPC before September 2021, you'll still be able to continue and complete this journey and will have until 2032 to do so. But that's not to say whether universities and education providers will still offer the LPC with the rollout of the SQE just around the corner - it is very likely that once the SQE rolls out, universities will consider the LPC obsolete and will look to phase the LPC out in due course.

UPDATE - if you have accepted an offer to study an LLB degree or GDL before September 2021, or if you have already started the LLB or GDL before 1st September 2021, you are free to choose to study either the LPC of SQE upon passing that degree. If you accept an offer to study or begin studying a degree (doesn't have to be a law degree) on or after 1st September 2021, then you must follow the SQE route.


One thing I have learned is that for overseas students and aspiring solicitors, under the current system you will have to complete the Qualified Lawyer Transfer Scheme if you want to practice in the UK. When September 2021 rolls around, the SQE will replace the QLTS. So overseas students with an undergrad degree (doesn't need to be law) or an equivalent qualification that is recognised by the UK National Recognition Information Centre (UK NARIC) and therefore translates to an undergrad degree, then you will proceed the same way as every other candidate coming in with a non-law undergrad degree. (8)


If you have gained qualifying work experience (QWE) period to September 2021, no matter how much (could even be the whole 2 years), then so long as you then begin the SQE journey in September 2021, you can count that work as part of your QWE, subject to be being approved. (9)

The QWE doesn't need to be in a law firm - it can be in, say, an in-house legal department, an insurance firm, or volunteering at an advice centre, eg a branch of Citizens Advice or a University's Law Clinic.

The SRA predicts that candidates will complete SQE1 before obtaining the 2 years of QWE, but this is not an explicit direction. It will be up to you how much you gain before or during the SQE journey. In theory, you could get the 2 years work experience before September 2021 and then complete SQE1 in September 2021.

Personally, it certainly would not hurt to get at least some working experience before starting the SQE, either as a Paralegal, Legal Assistant or in a similar role where you can gain exposure to skills and knowledge needed to become an effective lawyer. Even better if it can be signed off as part or even all of the QWE requirement.


I've already completed the LPC. If I don't qualify before September 2021, will I have to complete the SQE?

Short answer, no. Since you've already started down the "old" route pre-September 2021, you don't need to do the SQE and you can continue down the "old" route..

But if you have been struggling to get a TC or to qualify for a while now, notwithstanding the other routes to qualification such as CILEx or Equivalent Means, there is the option to complete SQE2 and gain the 2 years QWE.

Some may argue that this is a quicker and easier option compared to the slog of seeking out a TC which may take people years to be offered one, adding on the 2-year wait and the 2-year contract. Though the upside to a TC is that it is a tried and tested way of preparing the next generation of lawyers for life as a newly qualified solicitor, and the upside to CILEx is that candidates have to satisfy 2 regulatory bodies (CILEx Regulation + SRA) before cross-qualifying this way, and the qualifying employment gained must meet the workplace outcomes for it to be accepted. We are still to hear about what objectives need to be met through the QWE on the SQE route


Don't forget also that even though you can get the theoretical knowledge during SQE1, you'll still need to learn how to be able to complete the examination. Revision for an exam is like a separate skill altogether as you will need to learn how to apply the theoretical knowledge to the facts of the question. This will still be the case for MCQs.

It might be worth looking around for extracurricular revision skills sessions either in your university or from another education provider. This will be helpful if you are a law graduate or a non-law graduate, I reckon.


There will be preparation courses for SQE1 and the SRA expects most candidates to do a course such as this before taking SQE1 exams. These courses are still in development so not a huge amount is known about what the courses will contain or how much they will cost, but I imagine it will be somewhat similar to the GDL. The SQE1 preparation course should be especially important for non-law graduates so that they can have that extra preparation to complete the course.

Some universities are working to incorporate SQE1 prep into the 3-year undergrad law degree which will mean graduates will be able to take the SQE1 exams straight after undergrad (10).

My opinion on SQE2 preparation courses, given that this part of the exam is the skills section, is that if you have prior knowledge or experience of these skills, maybe you only need to do a quick top-up course to get you ready for this half of the exam.


So the skills that SQE2 will assess are:

  • Client interviewing

  • Advocacy/Persuasive Oral Communication

  • Cases and Matter Analysis

  • Legal Research and Written Advice

  • Legal Drafting

Perhaps if you already have a lot of experience in research or drafting, you may feel confident that you don't need to cover these in an SQE preparation course, but that you will need to cover the other 3.

But as of right now, this is just my opinion.


We do know that Kaplan is not authorised to provide preparation courses.

Having read further around this, the organisation QLTS will begin offering SQE preparation courses from January 2021. At the time of writing this, fees haven't been set yet, though. (11)

Also BARBRI Altior, the professional course provider that recently acquired Kaplan, will be offering SQE preparation courses and are predicting that the entire cost of qualifying this way (SQE + preparation courses) will be between £10,000 and £11,500 - that works out as £3-4.5k for the exams + £7,000 for the preparation courses - hardly affordable, and not a huge amount cheaper than the total cost of the LPC! (12) Though this is only a prediction so we'll have to wait for further details of this.

I imagine that once the LSB has approved the changes to the SQE, there will likely be a huge influx of organisations offering preparation courses because it will have been set in stone and there is a much clearer idea of what will be needed to adequately prepare candidates for the course.

Definitely keep your ear to the ground about further information about preparation courses over the latter half of this year.


Speaking of TCs, the QWE is designed to replace the TC in terms of the work-based training requirement. This means under the SQE system, you don't need a TC in order to qualify. But it appears as though a lot of law firms are continuing to recruit trainees in the same manner that we are accustomed to - typically this means application form, any tasks such as video interviews or suitability tests (think Watson Glaser), and the assessment centre. This means that TC should still be offered under the SQE system. But do keep an eye on your choices of employers because it may be that some change their model to recruit only those who are completing the SQE.

It definitely makes sense to have a real set idea of where you want to work and qualify into and then research those employers to see how they are recruiting and when you need to start applying for TCs/QWE. They might look to:

  • continue to recruit only trainees for now and not consider SQE candidates,

  • continue to recruit trainees as well as take on SQE candidates, or

  • change their recruitment strategy and look to recruit only SQE candidates and phase out the TC as a way of qualifying when September 2021 rolls around


PS - the term SQE candidates is the name I'm currently using in the absence of a label that is used to denote the status of a lawyer, ie trainee, who is to qualify after gaining the requisite QWE. I might be wrong, it may change, but hopefully you get the idea!


It can tend to be that firms/legal businesses require incoming candidates to choose certain electives on the LPC if they are to train at that particular firm/business - I can name a handful that require their future trainees to study at a particular university/educational provider and choose specific elective modules in the 2nd stage. So perhaps they will have an equivalent requirement in that they will want their next cohort of aspiring lawyers to study the SQE instead of the LPC. I don't know, I guess it will depend on the firm.

But in thinking that, whether firms will require their next cohort to be SQE trained or not, is that the end result of both the LPC and the SQE are the same.

There are also a large number of aspiring lawyers, me included, who have already completed the LPC and so have finished the educational journey and just need the required work experience. So I would hope that people like me are not put at a detriment just because I have already obtained the LPC and a firm wants me to obtain the SQE.


So should I do the LPC or SQE?

Well when did you start/are you going to start your degree? If you accept your offer after 1st September 2021, then you won't have the choice to do LPC. You'll have to do the SQE.

If you started your journey before 1st September 2021, then let's have a look:


The LPC is the tried and tested practical skills course that is developed in consultation with, and input from, the profession itself. It is a rigorous, known quantity, understood and respected training course. The depth and range of assessing a candidate's legal and practical knowledge goes far beyond that of simple multiple-choice assessments as LPC exams require long answers to questions asked, giving candidates ample chance to showcase what they have learned and how they can answer the question, all things considered.


An SQE candidate can potentially bring a range of skills learned "on the job" to the profession and their employer, along with potentially greater exposure to work-based learning and potentially greater contexualisation of knowledge if that learning has been obtained whilst on the job, say in a law firm or business with a legal department. Also, if candidates have studied with a reputable provider, they will have completed a new course of study developed in collaboration with legal employers.


Where the LPC is consistent study, the SQE appears to allow for candidates completing SQE1, gaining the 2 years QWE, and then completing SQE2. That is potentially a 2 year gap in education. Will that be seen in a negative light by employers? Will they take positively to the chopping and changing between study, work experience, and back to study again before qualifying? We'll have to see.


The QWE requirement of the SQE is a lot more flexible than the TC/period of recognised training requirement, though will that mean a lack of clarity as to what can count towards QWE? It feels like the SRA are taking inspiration from CILEx for the QWE element, which I think is what is attractive about CILEx as a way of qualifying. I am hopeful that the QWE comes with a framework of what the work-based outcomes are that need to be met so that the work can be signed off.


My personal opinion is that if you're able to accept an offer to start your degree before September 2021, then do the LPC route. The SQE is still an unknown quantity and none of us will know exactly how SQE graduates will perform in the workplace until a few years after completion of the course - around 2024/25 - whereas the LPC is tried, tested, universities know how to deliver it, and employers recognise and respect the content of the course as well as the efforts of the graduates who complete it. Also, the exams on the LPC are a better way for candidates to apply what they have learned, rather than potentially playing the game of chance with MCQs where there is a 4 in 5 chance of getting a question wrong based only on the answers that you are given instead of what you are able to write to showcase your learning journey.

Also, firms appear to be fairly set on continuing the TC and so there may not be any guarantee that they will be willing to accept paralegal work as recognised training by their own standards. I think the SRA will need to clarify what firms should look for in the QWE requirement so as to avoid any potential elitism or snobbery with the sign-off process.


But that's only because I did the LPC and I can speak about the course and the teachings and how it is delivered, and because that is what I grew up with.

Ultimately it is up to candidates as to what they feel is the best route for them, all things considered.



Be safe and be well!


P



Credit: cover image photo by Ben Mullins on Unsplash



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