The old & tested route to becoming a solicitor in the UK is changing. There's been a long stream of facts, opinions and protests postulated about it, you know… the usual bunch. Some say it will benefit all and provide better social diversity, mobility and inclusion. Others swear that it's a rater big hole into the decades-long sieve which proved efficient in straining the bad apples from ever gorging themselves on clients.
I wanted to share my journey into becoming a solicitor and understand how it may have differed with the SQE in effect at the time. But first, we need to answer a few questions:
The super exam officially called Solicitors Qualifying Examination was approved by The Legal Services Board (LSB) on 28 October 2020 as official and de-facto route to qualification.
The SQE is designed to test, to the level set by the SRA's Threshold Standard:
Following a lengthy review of legal education and training which culminated in a Report published in 2013, the SRA kicked off the Training for Tomorrow programme in 2019 with a consultation.
The SQE is the result of all the above and sold as the modern assessment approach focused on capturing whether or not a candidate aligns with the standards required of solicitors at the point of qualification and on an ongoing basis - that's a mouthful 🙂.
This autumn - 2021. However, if you're already en-route to qualification, you can continue that journey on the old - training contract - model for up to 10 years from now. How's that for a transition phase?
There are 4 steps every talent must take to hit the jackpot:
The best part is that aside from step 1, the order of the others is irrelevant. You must sit SQE1 before SQE2 - which makes sense.
SQE will determine whether a talent meets the required standard for entry to the profession.
Best part is that there's no need to rotate 4 different seats in various legal areas and no requirement to do contentious and non-contentious work.
QWE will not be assessed by the SRA and can be done at a maximum of four separate places, including:
Universities may begin incorporating prep for SQE1 assessments into existing undergraduate or post-grad law programmes. Many current providers of legal education may offer courses which prepare law & non-law grads for SQE1 / SQE2 assessments.
As regards QWE, the best part is that talent can mix and match as they please and their summer internships counts towards QWE ::applause:: Remember, they need to add up 2 years worth though, but the SRA swears that it is a more flexible approach than the current dreadful training contract.
NO - the silly old Partner of Yore will not sign-off the talent's QWE placement. Instead, it can be done by any of the below (presumably in this order):
To become a solicitor, talent must also have a degree level qualification (not legal) or equivalent, say:
Talent must also be somewhat loaded, as the total cost of the SQE will be £3,980 for 2021 (not including courses or other resources to prepare for assessments):
It is a nudge cheaper than the cost talent incurs with GDL + LPC but I can see how SQE adjusted for inflation and other criteria reaching par in near future.
So, back to the reason for this post, how my journey would have differed, if only?
Let's do the math:
That's 4 years to Practice Certificate…
Well, for one, my previous paralegal work would have counted towards the QWE. Then, no need for GDL + LPC. Just prep for SQE which I could've done during the first 2 years of my paralegal work.
To conclude, the SQE would've seen me a solicitor in 2 years. That's 2 years earlier than in the old route which is being replaced. I would've been 6 years PQE now, making the big bucks. I'm all in favour of the SQE and hopeful many others like myself feel the same.
If you're the talent who decided the Law is the way, then happy to share some tips - just hit that Twitter . Hit it if you're undecided as well - 2 brains are always better than one.