What SQE2 is
SQE2 is the second stage of the Solicitors Qualifying Examination and it assesses practical legal skills. Where SQE1 asks whether you know the law well enough to choose the best answer, SQE2 asks whether you can interview a client, research a problem, draft a document and stand up and argue a point.
It is sat after SQE1 has been passed, across a series of written and oral assessments spread over several half-days, and it is marked by solicitor assessors rather than by a machine.
The skills assessed
- Client interviewing, together with the attendance note or legal analysis that follows it.
- Advocacy — presenting a case orally.
- Case and matter analysis — working out where a matter stands and what to advise.
- Legal research, and reporting the answer usefully.
- Legal writing — a letter or email that a client or another solicitor can act on.
- Legal drafting — producing or amending a legal document.
Both the skill and the application of law are assessed, and professional conduct runs through the assessments as pervasively as it does through SQE1.
The practice areas
The skills are assessed in the contexts a newly qualified solicitor is likely to meet:
- Criminal litigation, including advice at the police station
- Dispute resolution
- Property practice
- Wills and intestacy, probate administration and practice
- Business organisations, rules and procedures
The overlap with SQE1 is obvious and useful: the substantive law you learn for FLK1 and FLK2 is the law you apply in SQE2. Little of it is wasted.
How it differs from SQE1
| SQE1 | SQE2 | |
|---|---|---|
| Format | Single best answer multiple choice | Written and oral skills assessments |
| Marking | Machine marked, scaled to a fixed standard | Assessed by solicitors against published criteria |
| What is tested | Breadth of legal knowledge, applied under time | Skills, with the law applied to a live task |
| Preparation | Question banks, mocks, spaced review | Practising the tasks, ideally with feedback |
The practical consequence is that preparation looks completely different. Thousands of multiple-choice questions will not teach you to conduct an interview; doing interviews and being critiqued will.
When to think about it
Not yet, if you are preparing for SQE1 — the stages are sat in order and the first one is demanding enough. Two things are worth doing early, though. Budget for both fees rather than one, because the combined cost is substantial. And notice that qualifying work experience can be gathered before, during or after the assessments: time spent in practice while preparing for SQE1 is also time counting towards qualification, and it makes SQE2 markedly easier when you get there.
Exemption for qualified lawyers
If you are already qualified as a lawyer in another jurisdiction, you can apply to the SRA for an exemption from one of the two SQE assessments. The SRA does not grant exemption from both, so you will always sit at least one of the exams. It decides each application on its own evidence of your qualification and experience. SQE2 exemptions are a realistic route for lawyers with full practice rights and experience, while the SRA describes SQE1 exemptions as very rare — so most qualified lawyers still prepare for SQE1.
The application turns on how well your evidence maps to what SQE2 assesses. Hunnings Consultancy offers review and advice on SQE2 exemption applications for foreign-qualified lawyers. The SRA’s own guidance on SQE exemptions is the version that governs.