SQE2 Preparation Course - Full-time

This course is for those who wish to qualify as a solicitor in England and Wales with the SQE pathway. It is designed for those who’ve completed SQE1 training, such as our SQE1 Preparation Course. This course will prepare you for the SRA’s centralised SQE2 skills assessments, which will test the practical legal skills of client interviewing, advocacy, legal writing, drafting and research, and case and matter analysis. It is part of our new suite of SQE courses.

This course is designed for those who’ve completed SQE1 training, such as our SQE1 Preparation Course.

Introductory offers: save £1,000. Free SQE2 Exam Preparation Course.

Course Requirements

None required. However, the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) requires a degree (or equivalent) to qualify as a solicitor.

Course Details

You will develop the legal skills of interviewing, advocacy, case and matter analysis, legal research, legal writing and drafting in order to sit SQE2 and be ready for Qualifying Work Experience (QWE) and practice.

This course will prepare you for the SRA’s centralised SQE2 assessments.

Why choose the SQE2 Preparation Course?

• Adaptive and personalised learner journey, using our dynamic learning model: Prepare, Engage, Consolidate (PEC), covering all skills assessed by the SRA in SQE2.
• Confidence for the assessments, with plenty of practice in the exact type of oral and written skills assessments you’ll face. Our intelligent revision app, ULawSQE, will help you consolidate and revise the practice contexts within which the SQE2 assessments are based, so you’ll feel fully prepared and know exactly what to expect.
• Benefit from our extensive experience in helping students develop the skills that will be assessed in SQE2.
• In-depth tutor guidance and support from our experienced tutors, who are all practitioners. Your tutor will monitor your progress and give you weekly individual feedback, so you’ll know where to focus.
• Brand new resources, developed specifically for SQE2 by our expert tutors. You’ll be provided with all course materials, including practice questions, our intelligent revision app to revise the practice areas in which the SQE2 assessments are set, and bespoke online study manuals specifically written for SQE2.
• Experience of working in practice. You’ll learn in the context of our virtual law firm, ULaw LLP. ULaw LLP replicates the working environment of a law firm and students perform real-world tasks on simulated cases, deals and transactions as if they were in the office.
• Support for your career. You’ll have access to ULaw’s award-winning Employability Service, for information, advice, practical experience and links to the profession to help you to succeed in your career. Available at all of our campuses, the Employability Team will help you achieve your career and work experience goals.
• We also work with over 90 of the top 100 law firms.

Introductory offer

When you book this course, you’ll get our SQE2 Exam Preparation Course for free. This short, intensive revision course provides assessment technique workshops, revision activities and mock tests to ensure you’re confident and fully prepared for the SQE2 assessments.

Course Structure

Modules

You will develop the six SQE2 practical legal skills of interviewing, advocacy, case and matter analysis, legal research, legal writing and drafting in order to sit SQE2 and be ready for practice.

• Interviewing. Planning for and conducting an interview with a client, producing an attendance note recording a client interview and initial legal analysis.
• Advocacy/Persuasive Oral Communication. Planning for and conducting a piece of advocacy before a judge.
• Case and matter analysis. Producing a written report to a partner giving a legal analysis of a case and providing client-focused advice.
• Practical Legal Research. Conducting legal research from a variety of resources, and producing a written report.
• Legal Writing. Producing a letter or email as the solicitor acting in a matter, which clearly and correctly applies the law and is appropriate to the recipient.
• Legal Drafting. Producing a piece of drafting using a precedent, or amending a document.

Functioning Legal Knowledge (FLK) is a significant part of the SQE2 exam and this course is designed for those who have already studied FLK by completing SQE1 training, such as on our SQE1 Preparation Course or as a result of studying on the LPC, and will not be taught on this course.

There are six units per week throughout the course (two units per week in the part-time courses). Each unit follows our unique dynamic learning model: Prepare, Engage, Consolidate (PEC).

Prepare. You will spend approximately six hours per unit preparing using the University’s virtual learning environment (VLE) where all the resources will be accessible. The Prepare stage includes a rich mixture of learning activities including manual reading, demonstrations, multi-media, preparatory tasks and test your knowledge quizzes.

Engage. The Engage stage involves six, 90-minute classroom-based and tutor facilitated face to face workshops where you will be asked to practice and apply the skills you have started to acquire in the Prepare stage. You will have nine contact hours per week with tutors (three hours per week on the part-time course).

Consolidate. You will complete the Consolidate stage using our VLE. This stage will involve short consolidation learning activities focusing on practising the SQE2 skills and regular practice context and foundation law revision tests using our intelligent revision app to refresh the knowledge required for the SQE2 assessments.

The course will also help you prepare for Qualifying Work Experience (QWE) as a trainee solicitor, by helping you to develop the practical legal skills required for practice.

Throughout the course, there are regular practice assessments with feedback to help you prepare for the requirements of the real assessments.

Assessment

There are no formal ULaw exams. There are regular practice assessments with feedback to help you prepare for the requirements of the real assessments.

This course does not lead to an academic award. However, students who successfully pass the SQE2 assessments will accumulate 30 credits, which can be applied towards an award under the University’s Recognition of External Assessments Policy.

You will sit your SQE assessments at Pearson VUE test centres in the UK and internationally. For details on how to book, pay and receive your results for your SQE assessments, as well as request any reasonable adjustments, please visit the SRA website.

SQE2 involves approximately 14 hours of skills assessments over five half days. There are 16 written and oral tasks covering the six legal skills:

• Client interviewing including a linked attendance note/legal analysis
• Advocacy
• Case and matter analysis, including negotiation planning
• Legal research
• Legal writing
• Legal drafting

The assessments are set in the practice areas of:

• Criminal practice (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)

The SQE Explained

From September 2021, the Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE) will be phased in to become the new centralised way to qualify as a solicitor in England and Wales. It will eventually replace the current route to practice – the Legal Practice Course (LPC).

94% Employed

94% of postgraduate students in employment were in Highly Skilled Occupations 15 months after graduating (2017/18 Graduate Outcomes data).

Choice of Courses

With a range of SQE courses, locations and flexible study options, we will prepare you for your career as a solicitor, as well as SQE exam success.

More than SQE

Alongside our careers support, you’ll work in our virtual law firm, with our expert tutors, and develop knowledge and skills beyond the SQE.

Your Route to Becoming a Solicitor

You can continue with the current Legal Practice Course (LPC) route if, before 1 September 2021, you complete, start, accept an offer, or pay a non-refundable deposit for one of the following:

• A Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL) / the Common Professional Examination
• Our MA Law
• The Legal Practice Course (LPC)
• A period of recognised training (also known as a training contract)

For a qualifying law degree (QLD) and exempting law degree (ELD), such as our LLB, you must complete, start, accept an offer or pay a non-refundable deposit by 21 September 2021.

In most cases, for the qualifying law degree (QLD), exempting law degree (ELD) and CPE, the relevant course must start at the latest on or before 31 December 2021.

If you have already started a qualifying law degree, Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL) or training contract there are transition arrangements in place until 31 December 2032 to qualify as a solicitor under the current routes, as long as courses still remain available.

Alternatively, we’ve developed a range of new courses that will prepare you for a career as a solicitor, as well as SQE success.

Frequently Asked Questions

We understand you may be uncertain about how the SQE could affect you. Don’t worry, we’re here to ensure you have all the information you need to make an informed decision about your future.

What is the SQE?

The SQE will be the centralised assessment for anyone who wants to qualify as a solicitor in England and Wales. It will be part of a new, four-stage route to becoming a solicitor:

• A degree (or equivalent) in any subject
• Pass SQE1 and SQE2 assessments
• A minimum of two years of Qualifying Work Experience (QWE)
• Show you are of satisfactory character and suitability

What does the SQE involve?

The SQE has been divided into two parts – SQE1 and SQE2.

In SQE1 you will be tested on ‘functioning legal knowledge’ which tests your application of law based on realistic client-based scenarios in multiple-choice questions. The assessments will cover subjects you will have studied on a law degree or a conversion course, as well as the vocational practice areas in stage 1 of the LPC. There will be two lengthy multiple-choice papers of 180 questions each, covering all aspects of the SQE1 syllabus. You must pass SQE1 before being eligible to sit the SQE2 assessments.

In SQE2 you will be tested on the practical legal skills required for practice, including:

• Interviewing (with written attendance note/legal analysis)
• Advocacy
• Legal research
• Legal drafting
• Legal writing
• Case and matter analysis

What is the Qualifying Work Experience (QWE)?

Under the new route, you will need to complete a minimum of two years’ Qualifying Work Experience before you can qualify as a solicitor.

Qualifying Work Experience is similar to a training contract and can be completed at any point during the qualification process (although it is anticipated that most students will complete this after SQE1).

Qualifying Work Experience may be completed with up to four different legal employers. The type of work which qualifies as Qualifying Work Experience includes placements while studying for your degree, time spent as a paralegal or working in a law clinic, as well as working for a two year period with a single law firm.

All Qualifying Work Experience is signed off by the legal employer, who must be a solicitor, and is usually also the compliance officer.

If you have already completed part of the required Qualifying Work Experience, such as through a Pro Bono placement, it will be up to individual law firms to decide how they accept your previous work experience. On obtaining Qualifying Work Experience at a law firm, you might be required to complete the entire two year period of Qualifying Work Experience with them, if that is what they require for practice at that firm.

Will I have to complete a training contract?

No, if you do the SQE, you will not be required to complete a training contract. In order to qualify with the SQE route, you will need to complete two years of Qualifying Work Experience instead.

How much will the SQE assessments cost?

In addition to tuition fees, students will pay exam fees directly to the SRA. The total cost for taking both SQE assessments will be £3,980.

• SQE1: £1,558 for the two examinations, consisting of 180 questions each, testing functioning legal knowledge.
• SQE2: £2,422 for the written and oral tasks, testing both practical legal knowledge and skills, including advocacy, client interviewing (with written attendance note/legal analysis), legal research, legal writing, legal drafting, and case and matter analysis.

The SRA has not confirmed a cost to re-sit the SQE. It is likely that the re-sit will cost the same as a first attempt.

If I start a course can I switch to the SQE later?

Yes. If you have chosen to study the LPC during the transitional period, you will be able to sit the SQE exams in the future if you wish. Although this is unlikely to be necessary if you pass the LPC as you can continue to qualify under the current route.

If you have chosen to study the GDL or MA Law, you will be able to select either route on completion of your programme.

Do I have to do the SQE?

If you’re already studying or training you can continue to qualify through the existing routes. For example:

I’ve started a qualifying law degree.

• Current route: if you’re currently studying for an LLB or other qualifying law degree, or you plan to start in September 2021, you’ll be able to continue on to the LPC, whether or not you have a training contract. Our LPC will run until at least 2026.
• SQE route: you could do the new LLM Legal Practice (SQE1&2), which starts in August 2021, or you could do our new SQE preparation courses.

I’m doing a non-law degree and I’ll graduate in Summer 2021.

• Current route: if you’re planning to start a GDL or MA Law conversion course in September 2021, you can continue to the LPC, which will run until at least 2026.
• SQE route: you also have the choice of our new PGDL or MA Law (SQE1) conversion courses. Both will give you access to the new LLM Legal Practice (SQE1&2). Or you could do our new SQE preparation courses.

I’m doing a non-law degree and I’ll graduate in Summer 2022 or later.

• You’ll qualify on the SQE route. We recommend that you apply for one of our new law conversion courses – PGDL or MA Law (SQE1) or MA Law (Conversion) – and then the new LLM Legal Practice (SQE1&2). Or you could do our new SQE preparation courses.

Webinar: SQE or LPC

In this webinar, you’ll find out about the different routes available to qualify as a solicitor and how to decide which route is best for you and your career.

This is the transcript of the webinar that was recorded in October 2020.

Our SQE Courses

Whether you’re a law or non-law graduate, want to study full-time, part-time, on-campus or online, we have the right course for you. We offer a wide range of SQE courses from Master’s with SQE1 and SQE2 included, to short revision courses to help you get ready for your SQE exams.

Our SQE Support

We’re committed to your legal career, as well as SQE success. From our award-winning Employability and Careers Service, to help to fund your studies, we’ll support you every step of the way.