City firms may require candidates to complete an additional course on top of the Solicitors Qualifying Exam

City law firms are considering an additional requirement that candidates will need to gain some “City-specific” training on top of passing the Solicitors Qualifying Exam (SQE) when the new ‘super exam’ comes into effect.

As the Law Gazette reports, the idea – still in its early stages – is included in a new toolkit designed by the City of London Law Society’s (CLLS) training committee to help prepare its member firms for the introduction of the SQE.

Much like how some City firms have grouped together under the current system of qualification to require candidates to complete electives on a bespoke LPC that prepare them for trainee life at a corporate firm, the CLLS is now asking those same firms if they would like future trainees to complete a GDL or LPC “electives equivalent” when the SQE replaces the old courses.

City firms are also being asked if they want their future hires to complete a SQE prep course – and whether trainees will have to pay for it.

The plans will fuel concerns that the SQE will create a two-tier system where some candidates complete only the SQE (which is a series of exams, not a course in itself) and others undergo expensive SQE-preparation courses preferred by top firms.

Meanwhile, the CLLS has restated its member firms’ need for flexibility in relation to when trainees take SQE stage two. In a letter to the Solicitors Regulation Authority it said: “Limiting that flexibility will cause very practical business difficulties for us and could negatively impact the experience of our trainees. We understand that a decision has already been made that students will have to pass SQE stage one before they can sit SQE stage two. However, we think it is important that, beyond this requirement, flexibility is maintained.”