To delay or to reject: lawyers and academics call for rejection of SQE

The future of the Solicitor’s Qualifying Exam (SQE) hangs in the balance once again, with leading professional bodies calling upon the Legal Services Board (LSB) to delay or reject the introduction of the “super exam”.

As it stands, the SQE is due to replace the GDL and the LPC as the means of qualification for solicitors. The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) is the body introducing the exam, and has done so, amongst other reasons, to centralise the system of qualification, and to give students the opportunity to qualify via “equivalent means”.  

The SQE can only be introduced if the Legal Services Board (LSB) approves of it, but the regulator has already postponed its decision twice, once in February, and once in March. 

Not everyone agrees that the SQE will be positive for the sector. Lawyers and academics across the country have called upon the LSB to serve the SQE with an outright rejection. Other leading figures, such as MPs, have requested a six-month postponement of the decision. 

A lot of concern surrounds the SQE’S “equivalent means” component, which will allow legal professionals who have worked in the sector, such as paralegals, to qualify as solicitors. Bob Neill, who is an MP and the chair of the Justice Committee, wrote to the LSB. He expressed concern that the SQE “would lead to England and Wales becoming the only jurisdiction that does not require substantive academic study of law as a precursor to qualifying as a lawyer”. 

The Association of Law Teachers, Committee of Heads of University Law Schools, Society of Legal Scholars and Socio-Legal Studies Association all agreed, jointly stating that the SQE wouldn’t come close to providing “assurance of the knowledge of the foundation subjects and analytical legal skills”. 

The City of London Law Society has also expressed disapproval of the SQE in its current proposed format. Meanwhile, Welsh speakers have expressed concern as it has not been confirmed if they will be able to take the SQE in the Welsh language. 

With the SQE currently due to be rolled out in 2020, it remains to be seen whether this current setback will delay proceedings.  

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