Will the new SQE Exam be responsible for the ‘Diversity Gap’ in the Legal Profession?
Replacing the infamous Legal Practice Course (LPC), the results of the first-ever Solicitors Qualifying Exam (SQE) have been released by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA). The findings reveal that 53% of the applicants passed. Despite over half of all candidates passing the exam, there is some worry about the discrepancy in pass rates between White pupils, and Black, Asian and other ethnic pupils. These results beg the question of whether the new exam will hinder the progression of diversity in the legal profession over the next coming years.
What is the SQE?
The Solicitors Qualifying Exam (SQE) is a new exam system, implemented in September 2021. All aspiring solicitors will be required to pass it should they wish to qualify. Essentially, this means that it is no longer necessary to finish a law degree, nor is it necessary to complete a law conversion course (GDL) in addition to the LPC, as of 2021.
The SQE, unlike the GDL and LPC, is not a course but a series of set tests separated into two parts. Candidates must pass all phases of the SQE and have two years of qualifying work experience.
1090 candidates, including 27 solicitor apprentices, took the first part of the exam: the SQE1. Out of the 1090 candidates that took the exam, 66% of candidates that passed were White, followed by just 43% of Asian/Asian-British candidates, and just 39% of all Black/Black British candidates.
In order to ascertain whether a diversity gap truly exists, we must compare the results of the SQE to its predecessor, the LPC.
The SQE compared to the LPC.
Pass rates for the LPC tended to differ across each provider. Since 2017/2018, the typical LPC pass rate has been 57%. Furthermore, 2021 SRA figures highlight that 68% of White students successfully completed their LPC in that period, compared with only 49% of Asian students and 36% of Black students.
These figures suggest that the reasons for the disparity in pass rates are more widespread, rather than the result of the new SQE exam.
The SRA stated that it is unclear what the reasons are for such a wide disparity in performance. However, they highlight the fact that there may also be a variation in academic ability between different intakes, s well as differences in teaching ability and the way in which assessments were approached. The SRA highlights that these factors make it difficult to be consistent about consistent outcomes.
There are also significant variances in the size of different providers and the number of students enrolled in their courses; the smallest cohorts have fewer than ten pupils.
It has also been suggested by legal journalists that a perceived disparity may be a direct reflection of the number of minority ethnic students that enrol on the LPC each year. Approximately one-quarter of pupils were classified as Asian/Asian British, 11% as Black/African/Caribbean/Black British, and 4% as mixed/multiple ethnic groupings.
This is most likely a result of the small percentage of minority ethnic students that apply to do law at University in the first place. According to statistics from 2019-20, is the most up to date information available, 20,905 students were accepted to do Law at University, with only 8,570 being minority ethnic.
The disparity between different races and ethnicities was not present between genders. There was little difference in attainment between men and women, as women made up over two-thirds of the September 2021 cohort.
The SRA nonetheless has acknowledged the issues stemming from the new examination and has called for an internal investigation into the matter:
‘‘We know there is an attainment gap affecting BAME students in legal education. This attainment gap is widely seen across higher education and professional assessments.We are commissioning independent research to look at the societal and structural factors that may be driving this attainment gap, so that we can look at whether we and others can take steps to make a difference.”
