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Professor Richard Moorhead comments on new Solicitors Qualifying Exam (SQE) for Legal Futures
7 August 2019
Professor Moorhead has criticised the pilot test of the first stage of the Solicitors Qualifying Exam (SQE), which will be introduced by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) in autumn 2021.
Professor Richard Moorhead, Chair of Law and Professional Ethics and UCL Laws, has been quoted in a Legal Futures article entitled ‘Moorhead savages SQE pilot’.
The Solicitors Qualifying Exam (SQE) is a new system of exams replacing the GDL and LPC in 2021, which all solicitors will have to pass in order to qualify. The pilot aims to test students on functioning legal knowledge through multiple choice questions and on basic writing and research skills through written answers.
Professor Moorhead commented that the pilot stage “obscures as much as it reveals” and did not meet “the basic reporting standards of the kind of testing it engages in”.
He called for a more open report on the pilot to be published, which should include an analysis of the reliability level the test was set at, and example questions with pass and fail rates – which would help improve understanding.