Posts Tagged ‘solicitors regulation authority’
Solicitors’ Qualifying Examination – starting 2021
After many years of gestation, at the end of October 2020 the Legal Services Board gave its approval to proposals for the new Solicitors’ Qualifying Examination, due to come into force in September. It will only apply to students starting their legal studies after that date. Those currently reading law or in legal training will have 11 years to complete their route to qualification – using the existing channels.
In outline, the Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE) is a single, national licensing examination that all aspiring solicitors will take before qualifying. From 1 September 2021 to qualify you will need to:
- have a degree in any subject (or equivalent qualification or work experience – for exampe through an apprenticeship);
- pass both stages of the SQE assessment – SQE1 which focuses on legal knowledge and SQE2 on practical legal skills;
- have two years’ qualifying work experience (which can be undertaken in up to 4 different locations and at different times); and
- pass the SRA’s character and suitability requirements.
The SRA’s two stated objectives for the new framework are:
• greater assurance of consistent, high standards at the point of admission
• the development of new and diverse pathways to qualification, which are responsive to the changing legal services market and promote a diverse profession by removing artificial and unjustifiable barriers.
All new entrants – even those with law degrees – will have to pass both the SQE1 and SQE2. Current arrangements – whereby students who read law at university gain exemption from Part 1 of the Law Society Finals – are abolished.
The SRA will not regulate, accredit or endorse training providers or organisations. Nor will it have any role in approving, endorsing or overseeing the training courses or materials, or their quality. It merely provides a list of providers which is intended to help potential SQE candidates to find training. By encouraging competition between providers, the SRA hopes that the costs of such courses will be reduced.
SQE1 involves a test on the application of Functioning Legal Knowledge by answering two 180 question multiple choice assessments papers.
SQE2 involves assessment of practical legal skills listed as: client interviewing with linked attendance note/legal analysis; attendance note/legal analysis; advocacy; case and matter analysis; legal research and written advice; legal drafting and legal writing.
In granting its approval, the Legal Services Board recognises that this will be a new scheme that will not be entirely risk free. Thus the LSB has drawn attention to a range of issues that the SRA will need to manage carefully to realise the full benefits of the changes. The SRA has undertaken to:
- Monitor and evaluate the impact of the SQE and conduct an initial review within two years of implementation.
- Commission independent research in 2021 to investigate the underlying reasons that candidates from some protected minority groups did not perform as well as other groups in the SQE pilots. The results of the first cohort of the SQE will inform this research.
- Publish comprehensive guidance on qualifying work experience for candidates and firms.
- Continue to demonstrate openness and transparency as it implements the SQE. This includes publishing guidance for students on the different choices of SQE training available and data on performance in SQE assessments, as well as pass rates for candidates by the SQE training provider that they attended.
The hoped-for benefits for the new scheme are that:
- costs will be less than existing routes to qualification;
- a more diverse range of people will enter the profession;
- those coming new to the profession will be better prepared for work as a solicitor.
What is unknown is whether law firms will recruit from those with different educational backgrounds or practical experience and therefore whether these new requirements will increase diversity in the solicitors’ profession.
Details of the scheme are at https://www.sra.org.uk/students/sqe/
The LSB decision is at https://www.legalservicesboard.org.uk/news/legal-services-board-approves-significant-changes-to-how-solicitors-qualify
Written by lwtmp
November 3, 2020 at 1:35 pm
Posted in Chapter 9
Tagged with legal profession, legal services board, qualifying as a lawyer, qualifying examination, solicitors regulation authority
Re-thinking legal services regulation
I have reposted this excellent blog by Stephen Mayson, who is undertaking very important work on the need to further reform the regulatory structures for the legal professions.
My interim report for the Independent Review of Legal Services Regulation in England & Wales is published today (available here). This post is extracted from it.
While the reforms of the Legal Services Act 2007 have been mainly beneficial overall, that legislation might best be characterised as an incomplete step towards restructuring legal services regulation.
For reasons that are understandable, it did not fully follow through on some key elements of the regulatory structure. These include: review and reform of the reserved legal activities (those few activities that must be provided by lawyers); the known regulatory gap (as a consequence of which the non-reserved activities of lawyers are regulated, but those of non-lawyers can legally be provided but cannot be regulated – to the potential detriment of consumers); and the separation of regulation from professional representative interests.
This lack of follow-through has led to increasing challenges to the integrity…
View original post 1,603 more words
Written by lwtmp
September 19, 2019 at 11:19 am
Posted in Chapter 4, Chapter 9
Tagged with barristers, legal profession, regulation of the legal profession, solicitors regulation authority
Changing the routes to professional qualification
The Solicitors’ Regulation Authority has been looking at the routes to qualification for some time. It has now decided that new scheme will be introduced in 2021. This will involved the creation of a common assessment for all would-be solicitors from autumn 2021.
The basic elements of the new scheme are that those wishing to qualify as a solicitor will be:
- Pass stages 1 and 2 of the Solicitors Qualifying Examination – the first stage will focus on legal knowledge and be assessed on the basis of a centralised multiple choice examination; and the second will focus on practical legal skills, such as undertaking legal research.
- Have a degree (in any subject) or equivalent qualification.
- Pass the character and suitability requirements.
- Have a substantial period of work experience.
The SRA have appointed Kaplans to be the assessors for the new assessment.
This will mean that law students who are exempt from Part 1 of the current Law Society Finals if they pass a ‘qualifying degree’ will no longer have this exemption. There are currently no details about the curriculum for the new Stage 1 SQE, nor how or where it will be taught.
These proposals raise important questions, particularly for universities who have invested heavily in the provision of law degrees. One unknown is whether those who currently study for a law degree as part of the process of obtaining a professional legal qualification will in future sign up for university law degrees in the same numbers. Why would they want to study law if they still have to do an assessment after they have finished their degree studies? Much will depend on what the teaching methods for the new, unspecified, curriculum will be – will law graduates be treated differently from non-law graduates?
At the same time, universities may relish the fact that they will no longer have half of their degree courses effectively determined by external forces. They may use this freedom to devise new ways of teaching and news types of course. It does seem that the experience component of the new qualifying process could include work done for example in a University Law clinic or other legal context.
For further detail see https://www.sra.org.uk/solicitorexam/.
See also https://www.law.ac.uk/blog/understanding-the-sqe-and-what-it-means-for-me/
For a critique of the proposals see https://www.legalfutures.co.uk/latest-news/training-review-professors-criticise-rudimentary-sqe
Written by lwtmp
November 29, 2018 at 1:04 pm
Posted in Chapter 9
Tagged with qualifying as a lawyer, qualifying examination, solicitors regulation authority, students
‘Looking to the future’ – proposals for regulatory changes from the Solicitors’ Regulation Authority
In June 2018, the Solicitors Regulation Authority published its Looking to the Future reforms which include a range of changes to how it regulates solicitors. In outline, they are
Shorter, simpler rules and standards
- A shorter, more accessible Handbook – focussing on the behaviours and principles that support high professional standards.
- A separate Code of conduct for solicitors and one for firms.
Greater flexibility for solicitors and firms
- Opportunities for solicitors to provide ‘reserved legal activities’ on a freelance basis, in certain circumstances. They will need to have at least three years’ experience, appropriate indemnity insurance, and will not be able to hold client money.
- Opportunities for solicitors to do non-reserved legal work in a business not regulated by us or another legal services regulator. They will be bound by our solicitors’ Code.
- In both instances, solicitors will need to be clear with prospective clients about the protections they bring.
- Our new, simpler rules will also give firms greater flexibility to make decisions about how they work, helping to make doing business easier.
Simpler Accounts Rules more focused on keeping client money safe
- Less prescriptive Accounts Rules which focus less on technicalities, and more on issues directly linked to keeping client money safe.
- Providing a definition of ‘client money’ which maximises the need to protect the public while not placing unnecessary burdens on firms.
Improving clarity on when we take action
- Our new enforcement strategy will provide greater clarity for the public and profession about when and how we would – or would not – take action against a solicitor or law firm.
- It will also help us focus on the most serious matters.
Better information on price
- All regulated firms will need to publish price information for the public and small businesses for seven types of legal services.
- This includes conveyancing, employment tribunals and probate.
Better information about protections
- SRA-regulated firms will be expected to display an SRA digital badge on their websites, which will provide a direct link to information on the protections their regulated status gives customers.
- A modern digital register that will help people more easily find core information about who we regulate.
The proposals are currently with the Legal Services Board. The SRA hopes that the proposals on the publication of price information will come into effect in the autumn of 2018; the rest during 2019. They are at least in part a response to the Competition and Markets Authority Report on competition in legal services published at the end of 2016.
One of the most interesting proposals is that solicitors should be able to work in contexts other than solicitors’ offices, which may create opportunities for the development of new types of legal service work.
For further information see https://www.sra.org.uk/sra/policy/future/looking-future-reforms-summary.page from which this entry has been adapted.
Written by lwtmp
October 14, 2018 at 2:47 pm
Posted in Chapter 9
Tagged with competition in legal services, legal services board, solicitors, solicitors regulation authority
How diverse are law firms?
One of the challenges facing the legal profession is trying to ensure that it offers opportunity to all. For the last four years, the Solicitors’ Regulation Authority has conducted surveys which seek to measure diversity in law firms. The most recent report was published in February 2018. While data for any one survey year may not reveal very much, the creation of comparable datasets over a period of years can reveal trends.
The survey looks at a number of characteristics to assess the extent to which law firms offer diversity in employment. This note reproduces and highlights some of the primary factors identified in the survey.
- Gender
Women make up 48% of all lawyers in law firms compared with 47% on the overall UK workforce.
Looking at seniority, in 2017 women make up 59% of non-partner solicitors compared to just 33% of partners (though this is up from 31% in 2014).
In the largest firms (50 plus partners) 29% of partners are female. The proportion of female partners has risen steadily from 25% in 2014 to 29% in 2017.
There is a greater proportion of female lawyers in mid-size firms – women make up 54% of all lawyers in firms with six to nine partners and those with 10 to 50 partners. The highest proportion of female solicitors is in firms which have six to nine partners. In these firms, two thirds (66%) of solicitors are female and this has grown over the past four years (from 60% in 2014). Over a third of the partners in these mid-size firms are female (37%) and this has also grown from 31% in 2014.
There are variations by the type of legal work undertaken by firms. While overall women make up 48% of all lawyers, 52% of lawyers in firms mainly doing private client work are female, whereas 40% of lawyer in firms mainly doing criminal work are female.
- Ethnicity
There has been an increase in the proportion of black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) lawyers working in law firms, now one in five lawyers. This is up 6%, from 14% in 2014 to 21% in 2017.
This increase is largely due to the rise in Asian lawyers in the profession, up from 9% in 2014 to 14% in 2017. Asian lawyers make up two thirds of all BAME lawyers.
Black lawyers make up 3%, which has risen by 1% since 2014 and now reflects those in employment in the UK (3%).
Unlike the profile for women, there is very little difference by seniority among BAME lawyers, 21% of solicitors are BAME compared to 20% of partners.
However, differences become apparent when the breakdown of partners in firms by size is considered. The largest firms (50 plus partners) have the lowest proportion of BAME partners – only 8% which has risen by 1% since 2014. This contrasts with one partner firms, where just over a third (34%) of partners are from a BAME background.
There are differences in the proportion of BAME lawyers according to the type of legal work undertaken by firms. Firms mainly doing criminal work and those mainly doing private client work both have a higher proportion of BAME lawyers, 33 and 37% respectively. Firms doing a mixed range of work and firms doing mainly corporate work both have the lowest proportion of BAME lawyers, 12 and 19% respectively.
- Social Mobility
The survey used attendance at a fee paying school and whether someone was the first in their generation to attend university, as a proxy for social mobility in this survey.
- Attendance at fee paying schools
There is a significant gap between lawyers and the general population. 22% of all lawyers attended fee paying schools, compared with 7% in the general population. There has been no change since 2015, though the proportion of lawyers attending fee paying school fell by 4% between 2014 and 2015.
There is a difference between partners (24%) and solicitors (20%) who went to fee paying schools. The proportion of partners from fee paying schools in the largest firms (with 50 plus partners) has fallen from 43% to 36% since 2014
The firms which mainly do corporate law have the lowest proportion of state educated solicitors at 56%. Three quarters of solicitors in firms doing mainly criminal and litigation work are state educated (77 and 76% respectively) compared to just over half in corporate firms (56%).
- First generation in the family to attend university
In contrast, there is a higher proportion of partners who were the first generation in their family to attend university (59%), compared to 49% of solicitors.
The proportion of partners who were the first generation to attend university is highest within the smallest firms and this decreases with size of firm. This ranges from 63% of partners in one partner firms, to 52% in firms with 50 plus partners.
Only 5% of lawyers did not attend university at all. This has fallen since 2014, when 7% did not attend university.
The principal conclusion to be drawn from these data is that while some increase in diversity can be seen, the legal profession can and should still do more.
Full details of the survey and its findings are at https://www.sra.org.uk/sra/equality-diversity/key-findings/law-firms-2017.page#
Written by lwtmp
March 3, 2018 at 12:41 pm
Posted in Chapter 9
Tagged with diversity in the legal profession, legal profession, solicitors, solicitors regulation authority
Martin Partington: Introduction to the English Legal System 15th ed 2021
Oxford University Press Learning Link Resources
Martin Partington: Spotlight on the Justice System 