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Developing your career in law

Law is a popular and increasingly competitive area, so a good class of degree is essential if you want to train as a solicitor or barrister.

The training you’re required to complete will vary depending on whether you intend to become a solicitor or barrister. This is summarised below and shows how the OU can help you reach your career goal. Important changes to the route to qualifying as a solicitor came into effect from September 2021.

Becoming a Solicitor in England and Wales

You’ll need to complete the following four stages of training:

  1. have a degree in any subject (or equivalent qualification or work experience)
  2. pass both stages of the national Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE) – SQE1 focuses on legal knowledge and SQE2 on practical legal skills
  3. have two years' Qualifying Work Experience (QWE)
  4. meet the Solicitors Regulation Authority character and suitability requirements.

Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE) – your questions answered

It’s a centralised assessment you’ll need to pass if you want to qualify as a solicitor in England and Wales. It’s part of a new, four-stage route to becoming a solicitor.

The SQE consists of two assessments – SQE1 and SQE2.

SQE1 tests your ‘functioning legal knowledge’ to assess your application of law based on realistic client-based scenarios. There are two papers, each with 180 multiple-choice questions, covering a range of legal aspects.

You must pass SQE1 before being eligible to sit the SQE2 assessments. You are expected to complete SQE2 after your qualifying work experience, but it is not a requirement to do it in this order.

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

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

You will pay examination fees directly to the Solicitors Regulation Authority. The total cost for taking both SQE assessments will be £4,564.

  • SQE1: £1,798 for the two examinations, consisting of 180 questions each, testing functioning legal knowledge.
  • SQE2: £2,766 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.

If you’re in the UK, or coming to the UK, on a dependants’ visa, we advise you to apply for a visa for yourself, to ensure you retain the right to remain in the UK for the duration of your study.

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

If you’ve completed, started, accepted an offer of a place or paid a non-refundable deposit by 21 September 2021 (inclusive) for a qualifying law degree, and start the degree before 31 December 2021, you have the choice of how to qualify as a solicitor. You can qualify by either taking the SQE and carrying out qualifying work experience, or take the one-year vocational Legal Practice Course and complete a two-year training contract before 31 December 2032.

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

You will have the choice of how to qualify as a solicitor if you completed, started, accepted an offer of a place or paid a non-refundable deposit before 1 September 2021 (inclusive) for one of the following:

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

As long as any course started before 31 December 2021, you will be able to qualify either through taking the one-year vocational LPC and completing a two-year training contract before 31 December 2032, or through taking the SQE.

If you have not already made arrangements to complete the CPE, LPC or training contract as described above, you will qualify as a solicitor through completing the SQE and two years' qualifying work experience, as described above.

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

You will qualify as a solicitor through completing the SQE and two years' qualifying work experience, as described above.