Functioning Legal Knowledge

Candidates are expected to have a comprehensive understanding of the English and Welsh law, known as functioning legal knowledge. This suggests that candidates should be able to apply their legal knowledge to demonstrate the competencies expected of a newly certified solicitor in England and Wales.

The basic legal principles and rules that a candidate will need to utilize are detailed by subject area. A candidate should be capable of employing these basic legal principles and rules efficiently and appropriately, similar to a competent newly certified solicitor, to resolve realistic, client-based, and ethical issues. Each question will have five potential answers, and candidates should select only one answer per question.

The SQE1 FLK evaluations are conducted without the use of reference materials. The questions are designed to examine the application of basic legal principles expected of a newly qualified solicitor in England and Wales, without the use of books or notes. They are not intended to assess intricate details which a newly certified solicitor would typically refer to reference materials for.

The law upon which candidates will be evaluated in the SQE will be based on the status of the law four months prior to the first assessment date in an assessment window. Candidates will be assessed based on the law as it stands at that time, not on subsequent legal developments.

The Statement of Solicitor Competence (SoSC) illustrates the connection between the legal principles and rules that candidates must comprehend and apply. In the FLK evaluations, candidates will be evaluated at level 3 of the Threshold Standard, which is equivalent to the competency level of a newly qualified solicitor, as outlined in Annex 6.

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