The million dollar question… Do you need a law degree to become a lawyer?
The short answer is no.
The longer answer on the other hand….
Problem questions will present you with a factual scenario and typically require you to assess the situation from a legal perspective or advise a fictional client.
The best way to answer problem questions is to learn the technique. Examiners will expect you to answer problem questions in a particular way. It’s also useful to learn how to assess problem scenarios as you might come across similar situations in your professional future.
SQE results are here…. and they make for rather grim reading. The overall pass percentage was 53%, not so far off the average for the LPC but the pass rate for white candidates was 65% and for BAME candidates 44%. How can that possibly have happened?
Great news for all SQE students - you can now book for the first SQE1 sittings. Here is how…
New information on the SQE is trickling out all the time. The SRA have recently posted a series of webinars on this with more information on dates, costs and venues. We thought we would save you the effort of sifting through it all – so we’ve summarised it in a quick 2-minute read below.
The SQE’s multiple choice questions (MCQs) can be tricky to answer. Answering MCQs requires you to learn a particular exam technique, in which you slow down and look out for the details. We’ve talked about that in our blog here, but there’s one point we really need to make again!
Love them or hate them, the fact is that MCQs – multiple choice questions – are going to be a key part of your legal exams. The new Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE) will test a broad range of legal knowledge through MCQs, which means that course providers are adapting their preparatory courses. BPP’s PGDL course includes a mix of MCQs alongside more traditional long-form questions.
One of the SRA’s stated aims in shaking up legal education was to improve diversity in the solicitors’ profession. The logic was that, by removing the need to take and pass the LPC before a getting a training contract and qualifying as a solicitor, students would not have to take the “LPC gamble” of spending around £15,000 on the LPC without knowing they had a job at the end of it (excluding those lucky few who were granted a training contract while on the LLB or GDL of course).
The Solicitors Qualifying Exam (SQE) might shake that all up. Rather than prescribing a course that students need to take, the SQE sets a new centralised, standardised exam. This is what you’ll need to pass to become a solicitor in future.