The biggest shake-up in 30 years to the way aspiring solicitors are trained is set to be introduced next September. Instead of having to complete a law degree or law conversion course, then the legal practice course (LPC) and finally a training contract, students will have to pass the solicitors qualifying exam (SQE) and complete two years of “qualifying work experience”.
Qualifying as a solicitor is expensive and competitive. The LPC can cost up to £17,000, which means that after paying for university (and if you haven’t done a law degree, for the graduate diploma in law (GDL) conversion course, too), you can end up in debt, with no guarantee of getting a training contract.
According to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), some 10,000 candidates take the LPC every year, but there are fewer than 6,000 training contract placements – so one in four hopefuls spend thousands on training for a profession that they will not enter.
The SRA’s new approach is intended to reduce the cost and make the way people train more flexible. Introducing a single assessment taken by all trainees, no matter what route they take, should also ensure everyone meets the same standard at the point of admission.
Julie Brannan, the SRA’s director of education and training, says: “The real advantage is that it gives students cheaper and more flexible ways to train – they don’t have to do full or even part-time education – and avoids the contract training bottleneck and the LPC gamble.”
To qualify as a solicitor through the SQE, you will need four things: a degree (law or non-law) or an equivalent qualification, or equivalent experience; to pass the two stages of the SQE assessment; to complete a period of at least two years’ qualifying legal work experience; and to meet the usual character and suitability requirements.
The SQE is a series of exams divided into two stages. The first stage, SQE1, is made up of two 180-question multiple-choice papers, lasting 10 hours in total. It assesses “functioning legal knowledge” and tests the ability to identify legal principles and apply them to client problems and transactions, as well as professional ethics.
The second stage, SQE2, assesses candidates’ practical legal skills. Candidates are assessed through a series of 16 oral and written tasks, lasting a total of 14 hours, reflecting the type of work that a newly qualified solicitor would carry out in practice. Students must pass SQE1 before going on to take SQE2.
The total cost of taking the two parts of the exams will be between £3,000-£4,500, with the SQE1 costing £1,100-£1,650 and SQE2 costing £1,900-£2,850. But these sums don’t include the cost of any preparation courses. Most universities and law schools developing courses have not yet disclosed the cost – but they are likely to be several thousand pounds. Student loan funding is not currently available for any of these assessments.
In theory, it is not necessary to complete any preparation course before taking the exams, but unless you’re a legal genius, you’ll probably need to. Around 34 universities and law schools are developing courses to prepare students (a list of some can be found on the SRA website).
As now, both non-graduates and non-law graduates will be able to qualify as a solicitor – about 6% of solicitors qualify through the CILEX route and do not have a degree.
At present solicitors must complete a two-year training contract. Under the new system, you will still have to complete two years’ qualifying work experience, but there is more flexibility. The work experience can be done during or after completing SQE1 and 2, and must be signed off by a solicitor.
Some firms will still want to train their own solicitors during a two-year training contract, but the work experience can be completed in other ways, such as by working as a paralegal in a law firm, in a student law clinic or volunteering at a law centre. Placements can be split over four firms or organisations.
Students will complete both parts of the super-exam before starting their training contracts. Non-law graduates will also have to complete a tailored conversion course.
Everyone starting their training after September 2021 will have to take the SQE. But when it is introduced, transitional arrangements will apply for students who are part-way through the existing system.
Students who have already started a law degree, GDL or LPC will have a choice to qualify under the old route or do the SQE. If they continue on the traditional path, they will have until 31 December 2032 to qualify as a solicitor. Importantly, anyone who has started a non-law degree this year will have to go down the SQE route.
