Follows summer pilot
Aspiring lawyers will soon have the option to sit part one of the Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE) in Welsh, the regulator has confirmed.
The move follows a successful pilot last summer which explored the practicalities of running SQE1 in the Welsh language, including the presentation of the questions and the process for translation.
SQE1 will be available in Welsh from 1 September 2024 with the first assessment taking place in January 2025.
The SQE was formally introduced in September 2021 as the new route to solicitor qualification. SQE1 focuses on functioning legal knowledge (FLK) whilst SQE2 focuses on legal skills. Students already have the option to select Welsh as the language for taking SQE2.
In an update last week, the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) said efforts have been undertaken to improve the process of translating questions. A selection of SQE1 questions, translated using a modified method, were evaluated by 15 candidates involved in the pilot. The results of this review were “positive, the SRA said, with 93% of candidates acknowledging an improvement in question translation as a result of the revised process.
Join us on the afternoon of Tuesday 13 February for a virtual student event, ‘SQE myths and half-truths — with BPP University Law School’. Apply now.
