The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) will introduce its planned super-exam, the Solicitors Qualification Examination, despite opposition from the profession.

The SRA spoke to almost 9,000 people and analysed the results of responses from over 500 people from two different consultations.

It received criticism from various quarters, including a number of academic representative groups, the University of Law and BPP.

In response to the consultation question To what extent do you agree or disagree that the proposed SQE is a robust and effective measure of competence?’‘, 60 per cent of respondents disagreed, including over 80 per cent of academics and 70 per cent of law firms.

However SRA Executive Director Crispin Passmore said that “popularity has never been the objective of a regulator” and that the consultation had been useful in that it had helped the organisation look at all the issues.

The SRA has now proposed “consultative and transparent approach” to the testing and development phase of the SQE to establish credibility.

It said: “The purpose of this testing phase will be to consider and amend, if necessary, the design and content of the SQE, but will not reopen the question of whether or not the introduction of a common assessment is the right solution.”

How will it work?

The new way of qualifying as a solicitor will be in place by 2020, instead of 2019 as originally planned, and will have two stages of skills and legal knowledge assessments.

In order to qualify as a solicitor, candidates will need to:

  • Have passed SQE stages 1 and 2 to demonstrate they have the right knowledge and skills
  • Have been awarded a degree or an equivalent qualification, or have gained equivalent experience
  • Have completed at least two years of qualifying legal work experience
  • Be of satisfactory character and suitability

As a result, the SRA will drop the requirements for all aspiring solicitors to study the Legal Practice Course (LPC) and for non-law graduates to take the Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL). This, says the SRA, eliminates the current problem of many would-be solicitors having to pay large up-front costs of up to £15,000 without a guarantee of a training contract or becoming a solicitor.

The first stage of the SQE will involve six functioning legal knowledge assessments and one practical legal skills assessment. The SRA anticipates this will be the cheaper part of the exam, and can be taken before the required period of work experience. It also anticipates that some universities will reshape their law degrees to incorporate teaching that will enable students to pass part one.

The second part of the SQE would be taken on the point of qualification and will involve two sessions of five practical legal skills assessments, which include client interviewing, advocacy and persuasive oral communication, case and matter analysis and legal research.

A period of work experience will also be required. This must total at least two years and could take the form of a traditional training contract, but could also take other forms. Work experience from up to four different organisations will be allowed to count towards the qualification requirement.

The current requirement for students to experience both a contentious and a non-contentious area of law during their period of work experience will also vanish, though the exam will test them on both.

Candidates that have already started a law degree, GDL or LPC by the time the super-exam is implemented in 2020 will have a choice of whether to follow the old route or to take the new SQE.

An independent organisation will be responsible for the delivery of the exam itself, and the SRA expects to put the contract out to tender before the summer.

SRA chief executive Paul Philip said: “We all need to be able to trust that those who enter the profession are fit to practise. The current system cannot provide that confidence. The new SQE will provide assurance that all those who qualify, regardless of pathway or background, meet the consistent high standards we set on behalf of the public.”

The organisation first put forward its proposed shake-up to the legal education system in England and Wales in December 2015, with the concept of a final super-exam taken at the point of qualification central to its thinking.