SQE Explained: The Solicitors Qualifying Examination Route to Becoming a Solicitor

Since September 2021, almost everyone qualifying as a solicitor of England and Wales has done so through the Solicitors Qualifying Examination, or SQE, rather than the Legal Practice Course route it replaced. Understanding how the SQE actually works matters not just for aspiring solicitors, but for firms designing training programmes and for professionals following other legal routes, such as the CILEX CPQ pathway, considering how their own qualification compares.

Why the SQE replaced the LPC

The previous route to qualification — a qualifying law degree or the Graduate Diploma in Law, followed by the Legal Practice Course and a two-year training contract — varied significantly in rigour between providers, and the Solicitors Regulation Authority wanted a single, centrally set standard that every solicitor met regardless of which university or course provider they studied with. The SQE was designed against a defined "Threshold Standard" setting out exactly what a competent newly qualified solicitor should know and be able to do, tested the same way for every candidate rather than through a patchwork of individually accredited courses.

SQE1: Functioning Legal Knowledge

SQE1 tests legal knowledge through two exam papers, each made up of 180 multiple-choice-style questions (technically single-best-answer questions from five options), sat across two days for a combined total of around ten hours. The two papers, commonly called FLK1 and FLK2, cover different areas of legal knowledge, and candidates who fail one paper only need to resit that specific paper rather than the whole assessment, which reduces the cost and disruption of a single weak area compared to having to retake everything.

SQE2: Practical Legal Skills

SQE2 shifts from knowledge recall to practical skills, assessed across five practice areas — business law, dispute resolution, criminal litigation, property practice, and wills and estate administration. Candidates are tested on six core skills through a combination of oral assessments (client interviewing and advocacy) and written assessments (case and matter analysis, legal research, legal drafting and legal writing), delivered through realistic simulated scenarios, including trained actors playing clients, across roughly sixteen separate "stations" over about five days of assessment.

Qualifying Work Experience

Alongside passing both stages of the SQE, candidates need to complete two years of qualifying work experience (QWE). Unlike the old training contract model, QWE can be built up across as many as four different organisations, doesn't have to be continuous, and can include relevant experience gained before starting the SQE itself — a law student who worked at a law centre or did a placement at a firm may be able to count that time, provided it meets the SRA's criteria for the kind of experience that develops the competencies solicitors need.

Degree requirement

Unlike the old route, the SQE doesn't require a qualifying law degree, or indeed any degree in a specific subject — candidates need a degree in any discipline, or equivalent experience, plus a character and suitability assessment, alongside passing both stages of the SQE and completing QWE. This deliberately widens access to the profession beyond the traditional law-degree pipeline.

How this compares to other routes into legal practice

The SQE sits alongside, rather than replaces, other established routes into legal practice — the CILEX CPQ route remains a distinct path to becoming a Chartered Legal Executive, and other specialist professions, including licensed conveyancers, costs lawyers, and patent and trade mark attorneys, retain their own separate qualification frameworks entirely outside the SQE system, reflecting how fragmented UK legal profession entry routes remain even after the SQE's introduction.

Preparing for the SQE

Because the SQE is centrally set and marked, preparation courses vary enormously in format and price, ranging from intensive full-time courses to part-time and self-study options built around candidates continuing to work while they prepare. Many candidates combine SQE1 preparation with the early part of their qualifying work experience, sitting the knowledge-based assessment before or alongside starting a QWE placement, then moving on to SQE2's practical skills assessment once they have more hands-on experience to draw on. Firms designing training programmes around the SQE also need to think carefully about how QWE is structured and evidenced, since candidates and their supervisors both need to be able to demonstrate, retrospectively if necessary, that the experience gained genuinely developed the competencies the SRA expects of a newly qualified solicitor.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a law degree to sit the SQE? No — the SQE can be taken with a degree in any subject, or equivalent qualifying experience, unlike the old qualifying law degree requirement.

Can I complete qualifying work experience with more than one employer? Yes, QWE can be built up across up to four different organisations and doesn't need to be continuous.

What happens if I fail one SQE1 paper but pass the other? You only need to resit the paper you failed, not both.

Is the LPC still available? The SQE is now the primary route for new candidates; anyone already partway through the old LPC/training contract route before the transition typically had the option to complete qualification under the previous system within a set transitional period.