Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE)

The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has introduced a new route to qualifying as a solicitor: the Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE). What do you need to do to qualify with the SQE?

Read our SQE guidance explaining what you can expect from this route to qualification:

Background

The Legal Services Board (LSB) approved the introduction of the SQE on 28 October 2020. See the SRA's announcement and our briefing on the LSB's decision and its assessment of the issues and risks.

The SQE has been introduced as part of the SRA’s Training for Tomorrow programme. The programme is in response to the report on the legal education and training review in 2013. 

The report called for regulators to focus on the standards required of solicitors at the point of qualification and on an ongoing basis.

The SRA published a suite of resources ahead of the SQE's introduction.

To the level set by the SRA’s threshold standard, the SQE is designed to test:

Next section: requirements and cost

Preparing for the SQE

The SQE is substantially modelled on the qualified lawyers transfer scheme (QLTS), which was the previous fast track route for foreign lawyers seeking admission as solicitors in England and Wales.

Our commercial sponsor QLTS School offers SQE preparation courses, which are based on textbooks, summary notes, practice questions, digital flash cards, videos and mock tests.

To get an idea as to what to expect when taking the exam, you can also access free SQE mock tests.

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