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SQE 1 tests functioning legal knowledge (FLK) and consists of two closed book assessments, FLK 1 and FLK 2.  FLK1 and FLK2 are each made up of 180 single best answer multiple-choice questions which must be taken in the same assessment window (unless an exemption applies).

Each assessment day is split into two sessions of 2 hours 33 minutes with 90 questions in each session. There is a 60 minute break between the sessions

FLK 1 and 2 include the subject areas listed below and also assess knowledge of the foundation law subjects.  Each assessment will consist of a combination of questions on any of those subject areas which might be encountered in practice.

Ethics and Professional Conduct will be examined pervasively across the two assessments above.

Principles of taxation will be examined only in the context of:

• Business Law and Practice
• Property Law and Practice
• Wills and the Administration of Estates

FLK1

• Business Law and Practice
• Dispute Resolution
• Contract
• Tort
• Legal System of England and Wales
• Constitutional and Administrative Law and EU Law and Legal Services

FLK2

• Property Practice
• Wills and the Administration of Estates
• Solicitors Accounts
• Land Law
• Trusts
• Criminal Law and Practice

In order to pass SQE 1, you must achieve the overall pass mark for both FLK1 and FLK2. You will not pass SQE 1 if you fail either FLK1 or FLK2.

All aspects of the SQE 1 assessment are compulsory.

SRA SQE 1 assessments take place in January and July each year. Please refer to the SRA SQE website for details of the current SQE 1 assessment fees. The fees to sit the centralised SQE 1 assessments are not included in any NTU SQE Preparation course fee.

SQE 2 assesses practical legal skills over five days and involves a combination of written (online assessments) and oral based (face to face assessments) tasks. Ethics and professional conduct are assessed throughout. Each SQE 2 assessment window contains at least one assessment involving negotiation.

You are assessed on the following six skills:

• Client interview and attendance note/legal analysis
• Advocacy
• Case and matter analysis
• Legal research
• Legal writing
• Legal drafting

The practice areas in which these legal skills are assessed are:

• Criminal Litigation (including advising clients at the police station)
• Dispute Resolution
• Property Practice
• Wills and Intestacy, Probate Administration and Practice
• Business organisations rules and procedures (including money laundering and financial services).

All aspects of the SQE 2 assessment are compulsory.

In 2023 SRA SQE 2 assessments will take place in April, July and October. In 2024 and beyond in addition to the sittings mentioned above a January sitting will be introduced. Please refer to the SRA SQE website for details of the current SQE 2 assessment fees. The fees to sit the centralised SQE 2 assessments are not included in any NTU SQE Preparation course fee.

You will need to complete at least two years’ full-time (or equivalent) Qualifying Work Experience (QWE) (unless you are already a qualified lawyer). QWE is any experience of providing legal services that offers you the opportunity to develop some or all of the competencies needed to practice as a solicitor.

You have the flexibility to take your QWE before, during and/or after completing SQE 1 and SQE 2, at up to four different organisations that comply with the SRA rules. This could be law firms, university pro bono clinics or law centres like our in-house teaching law firm - NLS Legal.

You’ll no longer need to work in specific areas of law, like a training contract, so you’ll develop a broad range of skills needed to practise as a solicitor. It won’t be assessed like SQE 1 and SQE 2. You will qualify by showing skills in engaging with clients and how ethics can be applied to real situations. The idea is that it will give you a better range of skills to practise as solicitor.

You must register your QWE with the SRA. You must have completed your QWE before you apply for admission to the roll of solicitors. QWE must be signed-off in accordance with the SRA’s requirements.

A key difference to qualifying as a solicitor under the SQE route is that a qualifying law degree, Graduate Diploma or Legal Practice Course (LPC) are no longer compulsory.

Under the SQE route to qualification the steps are:

1. University degree
2. Pass SQE Stage 1 and 2
3. Two years’ full time (or equivalent) qualifying work experience (QWE) with up to four different organisations (unless you are already a qualified lawyer)
4. Pass the character and suitability requirements set out by the SRA and qualify.

There is a transitional period where both systems will run until the closure of the Legal Practice Course. . The Solicitors Regulatory Authority will continue to recognise the Legal Practice Course until 2032.

Nottingham Law School will continue to offer the full-time LLM LPC and part-time LLM LPC in September 2023.

The current steps are:

1. Qualifying Law Degree (QLD), or a non-law degree and a Common Professional Examination (CPE) or Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL) conversion course
2. Legal Practice Course (LPC)
3. Work as a trainee solicitor, known as a ‘training contract’
4. Apply to the SRA to be admitted as solicitor.

Are you a non-law student?

If you are a non-law student who started or completed a GDL before 1 September 2021 you can choose to complete the LPC or SQE.

Although there is no requirement to sit the PGDL ahead of sitting the SQE, the reality is that you will need to obtain the relevant legal knowledge to enable you to sit the SQE. At NLS, we believe that successfully completing the PGDL is likely to be the best way to achieve this.

The PGDL provides you with the foundations of legal knowledge that are deemed necessary to enable you to progress to the vocational stage of training as either a solicitor or barrister. The PGDL is equivalent to an LLB that is also a “qualifying law degree”.

Are you currently studying on either the PGDL or the LLB?

If you are a current law student on either an LLB (which is also a qualifying law degree) or the PGDL, your next step is to apply for the vocational stage of training for qualification as a solicitor. This means that you will need to complete either the LPC or the SQE.

The main difference between the LPC and the SQE is that the SQE is an assessment, not a course. NTU offers SQE preparation courses to prepare you to sit the SQE assessment.

The NLS LPC is a one-year LLM course which may also be studied over two years part-time.

• The LPC consists of three elements: the compulsory subjects (Business Law, Property Law and Litigation); the elective subjects (students pick three electives from a choice of subjects); plus skills, solicitors’ accounts, wills and administration of estates, conduct and regulation.
• The main assessment points are in the spring (when the compulsory subjects are assessed) and the summer (when the electives are assessed). Other assessments are taken throughout the academic year.
• The LPC assessments are set by the providers.
• The LLM element (a dissertation or project) is completed after the compulsory subjects are assessed.
• The fee for the LLM LPC includes the costs of the assessments and the dissertation/project.

The SQE is a centralised assessment. There are two parts to the SQE.

• SQE 1 tests applied legal knowledge through two multiple-choice examination papers of 180 questions each.
• SQE 2 assesses legal skills in five distinct subject areas.
• SQE 1 will be assessed in January and July each year.
• SQE 2 will be assessed in April, July and October. In 2024 and beyond a January sitting will also be introduced.
• The fee for the SQE assessments does not include the costs of any SQE preparation courses.
• The SQE assessments will be set by Kaplan on behalf of the SRA.

Not necessarily. There are transitional arrangements in place. They are available on the.

Essentially,

• if you started or completed a qualifying law degree by 21 September 2021 inclusive or GDL before 1 September 2021

OR

• if you accepted an offer of a place on a qualifying law degree by 21 September 2021 inclusive or GDL before 1 September 2021 (in most cases, for the QLD and GDL the relevant course must have started at the latest on or before 31 December 2021)

you have two ways to qualify – that is, you can choose whether to do the SQE or the LPC.

The LPC route will remain open until 2032, so long as Providers are offering it. Nottingham Law School will continue to offer the full time LLM LPC and part time LLM LPC in September 2023.

If you are considering doing the LPC or SQE and you are a LLB or a GDL graduate who graduated in the summer of 2022, we recommend that you seek advice as to the best course of action (LPC or SQE) for your particular circumstances. We will continue to run the established LPC in 2023, which will remain valid for several years to come, in addition to running the SQE preparation course.

Technically, the SRA does not require you to undertake a SQE preparation course. However, most people would not sit any other kind of professional examination without ensuring that they have undertaken the necessary study over a sufficient period of time to gain the requisite knowledge and skills.

At NLS, we recommend that you undertake our SQE 1 and SQE 2 preparation courses before you sit the SQE assessments. We make this recommendation for four main reasons:

• First, the SRA only allows three attempts at the SQE. The assessments are rightly designed to be rigorous and therefore you will need to work hard to maximise your chances of passing first time. Should you need to re-sit, this will incur further assessment costs which could be substantial.
• Second, most law degrees are assessed by way of essays, problem questions and dissertations. This means that the SQE 1 skill of answering 180, wide-ranging, multiple-choice single best answer questions as part of a timed assessment will be a new one for many students.  Practising these skills and obtaining feedback on your performance will be vital to your success.
• Third, although you may have excellent subject knowledge in one area, you may be weaker in another. Having access to expert tuition to support you in your weaker areas in order to raise your grades will be a key component to your success.
• Fourth, SQE 2 will require you – amongst other things – to demonstrate your competence as an advocate.  In order to succeed, you will need to show that you have a high level of subject knowledge, an ability to apply that knowledge to a practical problem, and the self-awareness and confidence to hold your own in the court room. Before putting yourself forward for such a serious assessment, you would be well advised to develop and refine your grasp of these skills.

But doesn’t this mean that doing a SQE preparation course is an additional expense when combined with the costs of the SQE itself?

Yes, it is. The NLS SQE preparation courses are an additional cost to the SQE itself. However, for the reasons given above, we think students are best advised to undertake a period of preparation before taking the SQE. If you are going to spend this money, you need to make sure that you pay for a course that is delivered by an institution with a track record of excellence in legal education, such as Nottingham Law School, where quality and expertise are our watchwords.

There is some financial help available for students:

• Some NLS SQE courses are eligible for the UK Government postgraduate loan.
• As with the LPC, we are also offering a range of NLS Scholarships for outstanding students.
• Students can benefit from discounts. Please refer to the NTU website for further details.

Nottingham Law School will continue to offer the full-time LLM LPC and part-time LLM LPC in September 2023.

We will also be running the following postgraduate courses:

For non-law graduates

• The Postgraduate Diploma in Law
• An LLM that includes the Postgraduate Diploma in Law + SQE 1 preparation

For law graduates (including GDL)

• SQE 1 preparation
• SQE 2 preparation
• An LLM that includes SQE 1 preparation with the flexibility to personalise the course to also include SQE 2 preparation

For law undergraduates

Our undergraduate students currently also have the option to complete SQE 1 preparation as part of their third year LLB studies.

NLS also has an apprenticeship route.

That looks a bit complicated – which one shall I do?

We understand just how important it is to provide our students with courses that suit their personal circumstances. We know that each student who joins us will be at a different stage in their legal education, and we have reflected this in the range of courses we will be offering.

We have designed our courses for law graduates so that you have the flexibility to complete all three elements (SQE 1, SQE 2 plus the Masters element) in one go, or to select and study individual components to suit your circumstances.

The introduction of the SQE provides greater flexibility for both students and employers when it comes to routes into training.  At NLS, we know this because we spend a lot of time talking to employers from all over the country, including the City of London, Nottingham, and the East Midlands.

There is no “one size fits all” when it comes to the SQE.  For example:

• Some employers may want you to have completed and passed SQE 1 and SQE 2 before you start your qualifying work experience (QWE).
• Some employers may want you to have completed and passed SQE 1 before you start your QWE.  These employers will expect you to complete your SQE 2 while undertaking your QWE.

But how do I find out what employers want me to do?

We recommend that you begin to undertake your own research. You can do this by identifying the employers that you are interested in and finding out from them what their expectations are around the SQE.

Good ways of finding out what an employer wants include:

• Attending law fairs (in person or virtually) and making a point of visiting that employer’s stand and speaking to their representatives.  This is a great opportunity to ask questions.
• Â鶹ÊÓƵing their website to see what information they have posted about training at their firm.
• Reading up about the firm in the Legal 500 or similar publications.
• Talking to the NLS Employability team.
• Attending NLS and Employability events run by employers.

Our NLS course fees are competitive and provide good value for money.  There is also some additional financial assistance available for students:

• Some NLS SQE courses are eligible for the UK Government postgraduate loan.
• As with the LPC, we are also offering a range of NLS Scholarships for outstanding students.
• Students can benefit from discounts.

Please refer to the NTU website for further details.

Details of our course fees can be found on our course pages.

The  for sitting the SQE assessment will be £1,622 (SQE 1) and £2,493 (SQE 2). Please note that the NTU SQE preparation course fee does not include the SRA assessment fees.

In addition to the guidance on this page and the useful links below, for further advice and guidance about which course is right for you, please complete the Ask NTU form.