Lawyers exempt from the Solicitors Qualification Examination because they qualified abroad may have to spend £200 to prove to the Solicitors Regulation Authority they are proficient in the English language. However the required score in the test has been lowered from the current 'unnecessarily demanding' level.
The SRA currently seeks evidence of proficiency when a qualified lawyer applies for their first practising certificate. But, in proposals published for consultation, the regulator says it wants to check they are proficient before they are admitted to the roll.
The consultation paper says: ‘When the UK was a member of the EU, the European Union (Recognition of Professional Qualifications) Regulations 2015 applied and we were not permitted to seek evidence of language proficiency from a lawyer qualified in another EU member state until their qualification had been recognised. We took a consistent approach for all qualified lawyers and deferred the check until the point at which they applied for a first practising certificate. The Qualifications Act 2022, which came into force recently, repeals this regulation meaning we are now able to decide when to undertake English language checks.
‘The current approach has resulted in some newly admitted solicitors being unable to gain a practising certificate because they could not provide evidence of their English language proficiency. This had a negative impact on their plans to practise as a solicitor and put them at risk of breaching our rules.’
Qualified lawyers whose legal qualification was not assessed in English would need to take a secure English language test (SELT), which costs around £200. They would have to score 7.5 instead of the current requirement of 8.5, which the SRA says is ‘unnecessarily demanding’.
Meanwhile, the SRA is proposing that qualified lawyers would no longer be exempt from parts of the SQE they have attempted and failed.
In a separate consultation paper, the SRA says: ‘There are a number of possible situations in which someone might fail an assessment and subsequently apply for exemption. For example, where they had attempted SQE2 before we had agreed that their original legal qualification could give them exemption from SQE2. Or before they had sufficient work experience for us to determine that they should be granted an exemption. Alternatively, a qualified lawyer may attempt SQE2 before they become eligible to apply for an exemption due to the phasing out of the previous QLTS [Qualified Lawyers Transfer Scheme] qualification route.’
Both consultations close on 24 January.
Law Society president Nick Emmerson said: 'The Law Society is looking into the proposed changes and will be responding to the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s consultations. We recognise the importance of maintaining the highest standards for the profession while ensuring that the SQE is as inclusive as possible, so that foreign lawyers wishing to requalify as solicitors have a clear and proportionate route to the profession.'
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