Cheaper courses announced following ‘super-exam’ approval

By Jemma Slingo  >>

An organisation that prepares foreign lawyers for the Qualified Lawyers Transfer Scheme (QLTS) has created a ‘super-exam’ course, costing less than £5,000.

QLTS School has announced a range of courses to prepare students, paralegals, apprentices and foreign qualified lawyers for both parts of the Solicitors Qualifying Exam (SQE). Prices will range from £1,500 – £2,400 for SQE1, and from £1,500 – £2,500 for SQE2.

Together with the price of the centralised assessments – which will cost £3,980 in total – students will spend under £9,000 on qualification. The SQE will replace the QLTS next autumn.

Meanwhile, US legal education giant Barbri has partnered with the University of Sussex to offer graduates discounted fees for its SQE1 prep course.

The full price of Barbri’s two-part course is £6,000. Students will have the option to take courses of varying length depending on their situation, with the first  programme beginning next month.

Barbri’s collaboration with the University of Sussex is one of several deals that law schools have struck with universities. The University of Law has partnered with the University of Southampton, the University of Surrey, the University of Leicester, and Birkbeck, University of London, guaranteeing students places on its SQE course after graduation.

The SQE was approved by the Legal Services Board in December and will be introduced on 1 September 2021. The super-regulator said the new pathway is likely to cost less than the current route to qualification. However, it warned that student loans are unlikely to be available for graduates taking the assessment.

(Courtesy: The Law Society Gazette)