Flexible training to become a solicitor - £245 per month

Freedom Law Clinic - sqe preparation and pro bono opportunities

Full SQE 1 and SQE 2 prep combined with qualifying work experience

Our goal is simple. Innovative legal education that is
affordable, accessible and flexible... for everyone.

Since 2015 we have been delivering first class legal education. Now we’re bringing our innovative approach to the SQE, helping you to kickstart your legal career and qualify as a solicitor.

As well as learning the functioning legal knowledge you need to pass the SQE 1 exams, you will be working on real cases under the guidance of expert lawyers, gaining access to fascinating pro bono casework that helps you develop the skills required for SQE 2. And while helping us to deliver vital pro bono assistance to clients who might otherwise be denied access to justice, you also build up Qualifying Work Experience (QWE).

The whole programme, including the QWE, takes place online, so you can participate from anywhere in the world. And Our Pay As You Go pricing gives you maximum flexibility, both in terms of budget and being able to pause and restart your participation around other commitments.

Three-in-one approach

Over the course of 12 months, you will develop the requisite knowledge, skills and experience* that you need to enrol as a solicitor through the SQE route.
Not just SQE 1. Not just SQE 2...
SQE, plus QWE in one programme.

Our SQE preparation programme is designed to allow you to balance training to become a solicitor with other work, life and caring commitments. You have the full flexibility to study at your own pace, to pause your participation if necessary or to change plans completely.

SCROLL DOWN TO READ MORE ABOUT SQE 1, SQE 2 and QWE.

*To enrol as a solicitor you will need to demonstrate the equivalent of two years full-time equivalent of Qualifying Work Experience, which can all be completed with the clinic, although obviously not within 12 months.

Starting every year in January, April, July and September
- £294 / month x 12 months

Our flexible approach to the SQE means you pay £294 per month for 12 months. You retain access to the learning materials and QWE opportunities until you pass SQE 1 and SQE 2 and finally enrol as a solicitor.

SQE 1 - Functioning legal knowledge

We use a hybrid approach to learning, through a mixture of live online seminars, recorded lectures, digital learning materials and live skills workshops - all designed to help you acquire the knowledge you need to pass SQE 1. 

The knowledge component of the programme covers all of the topics required for the SQE 1 exams. Consisting of 360 multiple choice questions, the SQE 1 tests your understanding of the key concepts in a number of practice areas, as well as the fundamental principals that underpin our legal system. 

Each month we release new module materials, along with mock questions so that you can work with other students, course tutors and the clinic team to enhance your own knowledge and develop the skills required to answer a diverse range of questions in a timed examination. 

Starting every year in January, April, July and September
- £294 / month x 12 months

SQE 2 - Oral and written skills

We believe that developing skills by actually doing the work is the best possible preparation for practice as a solicitor.

Rather than working on fictitious scenarios, we use client casework as the opportunity for you to hone your oral and written skills. Combined with live skills workshops and regular casework meetings, we help you to improve your case and matter analysis so that you can address your client’s needs.

The casework you undertake counts as Qualifying Work Experience and will be signed off at the end of the programme.

Starting every year in January, April, July and September
- £294 / month x 12 months

Practical skills workshops help you think and act like a solicitor when approaching your own client casework.

Qualifying Work Experience

The QWE component runs throughout the programme and gives students the opportunity to work on live cases spanning criminal defence, regulatory proceedings and civil liberties.

Students are assigned to client cases in groups and then expected to manage their own individual workload both to support clients and gain experience of the many and varied tasks they are likely to encounter in practice.

We consider 30 hours a week working on client cases to be full-time equivalent, when coupled with studying and your general participation in the clinic. You do not have to undertake the full 30 hours each week and can adapt this to your circumstances and QWE will then be signed off pro rata. All students are expected to evidence their work, amongst other things through supervision and attendance notes.

Further QWE opportunities will be available upon completion of the SQE 1 exams.

All casework is completed remotely.

Starting every year in January, April, July and September
- £294 / month x 12 months

Demonstrate your commitment to pro bono as well as being able to juggle the demands of studying, working and diversifying your skillset.

FAQs

What kinds of cases might I be working on?

Students work on a variety of different cases ranging from criminal defence and appeals work, through to fitness to practise, civil liberties cases (particularly involving free speech) and also work helping individuals facing fixed penalty notices.

FAQ's

Do I need a law degree or to complete the GDL?

No, the new SQE route to practice simply requires that you have a Level 6 qualification – which is normally equivalent to a degree. This can be in any subject as the fundamentals of the legal system of England and Wales are now incorporated into the SQE programme and assessment.

FAQs

I have completed the LPC - should I join?

It depends. Completing the LPC means that you will normally be exempt from SQE 1, but will still need to do the Qualifying Work Experience and pass the SQE 2 assessment in order to enrol as a solicitor through the SQE route. You can undertake QWE and SQE 2 preparation with us.

FAQ's

Can I just do the QWE with the clinic?

Yes, however the fee remains the same. You are free to pick and choose which parts of the programme you engage with, including just focussing on gaining the necessary QWE. You can also choose how many QWE hours you do each week.

FAQs

Can I fit the programme around full-time work?

This will depend on your own time management skills and whether you are planning on undertaking QWE through the clinic. You can complete up to 30 hours per week of QWE, but should bear in mind the need for at least 10 hours per week of personal study time.

FAQ's

Do I have to attend in person?

Almost all of our programme is offered remotely, so you can participate from anywhere in the world, so long as you have a stable internet connection. Meetings, tutorial and seminars take place via Zoom and day-to-day communications happen via our internal messaging system.

FAQs

How much will I actually pay?

We charge £294 per month for 12 months, so £3,528 in total for all three components of the programme. Once you have made 12 payments, you do not pay anything else, but still retain access to the learning materials, live sessions, QWE until you have passed the SQE 1 and 2 assessments. You will need to pay any assessment fees direct to the SRA.

FAQ's

What happens if my plans change?

Not a problem. You can pause your participation and your payments temporarily and then just restart when you are ready. And if your plans change altogether, for example you decide that you no longer want to become a solicitor, you simply cancel your subscription and no further payments will be taken.

FAQs

I have completed the Bar course...can I do the SQE?

Unless you have completed pupillage and had a practising certificate, you are not exempt from any of the SQE assessments or QWE requirement. However, there will be a large portion of the course content which will already be familiar to you, so should make passing SQE 1 and SQE 2 easier.

Functioning Legal Knowledge

Below is a comprehensive list of the areas of law and practice, along with specific topics that constitute the functioning legal knowledge required in order to be fully prepared for the SQE 1 exams.

  • SLK: Ethics and Professional Conduct
  • SRA standards and regulations
  • SRA Code of Conduct for Solicitors, Registers European Lawyer’s (REL’s) and Registered Foreign Lawyer’s (RFL’s)
  • SRA Code of Conduct for Firms including managers in authorised firms and compliance officers in authorised firms
  • SRA badge – the “clickable logo”
  • SRA enforcement strategy
  • Undertakings
  • SRA price transparency rules
  • Money laundering
  • Financial promotions – section 21 FSMA
  • SLK: Criminal Law and Practice
  • Core principles of criminal liability
  • Participation
  • Law, procedure and processes involved in advising a client at the police station
  • Evidence – At the Police Station
  • Law, procedure and processes involved in pre-trial considerations
  • Law, procedure and processes involved to meet the client’s objectives
  • Court Bail
  • Law, procedure and processes involved in magistrates’ court and Crown Court trials
  • Sentencing
  • Appeals
  • Road Traffic Offences
  • SLK: The Legal System of England and Wales
  • The Legal System of England and Wales
  • Sources of Law
  • SLK: Constitutional and Administrative Law
  • Parliament and parliamentary sovereignty
  • Central government and accountability
  • The devolved institutions and their relationship with Westminster
  • Monarch and the Crown
  • Constitutional conventions
  • Prerogative powers
  • Parliamentary privilege
  • Legitimacy, separation of powers and the rule of law
  • Powers and procedures for the enactment of primary and secondary legislation
  • Powers and procedures for the implementation of primary and secondary legislation
  • Powers and procedures for the repeal of primary and secondary legislation
  • Public order:
  • Processions, Assemblies, and Breach of the Peace
  • SLK: Judicial ReviewNature, process and limits of judicial review
  • Supervisory nature
  • Remedies
  • Decisions which may be challenged
  • Time limits
  • Grounds: illegality, irrationality, procedural impropriety, and legitimate expectation
  • Human Rights Act 1998 and the European Convention on Human Rights
  • ss.2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10 Human Rights Act 1998
  • Schedule 1 Human Rights Act 1998 the “Convention Rights”
  • SLK: EU Law
  • Sources of retained EU law
  • Categories/status/interpretation of retained EU law
  • Modification/withdrawal of retained EU law
  • Parliamentary sovereignty and retained EU law
  • SLK: Legal services
  • The regulatory role of the SRA
  • Principles and risk-based regulation
  • Reserved legal activities
  • Professional indemnity insurance
  • Other regulated providers of legal services
  • Overriding legal obligations
  • The Equality Act 2010
  • Money laundering
  • Purpose and scope of anti-money laundering legislation including the international context
  • Where suspicions of money laundering should be reported in accordance with the legislation
  • The appropriate person or body to whom suspicions should be reported
  • The appropriate time for such reports to be made and the appropriate procedure to be followed
  • Direct involvement and non-direct involvement offences, and defences to those offences under Proceeds of Crime Act 2002
  • Due diligence requirementsFinancial services
  • The financial services regulatory framework including authorisation, and how it applies to solicitors’ firms
  • Recognition of relevant financial services issues, including the identification of specified investments, specified activities and relevant exemptions
  • Application of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 and related secondary legislation to the work of a solicitor
  • Appropriate sources of information on financial services
  • Funding options for legal servicesPrivate retainer
  • Conditional fee arrangements
  • Damages based arrangements
  • Fixed fees
  • Eligibility for criminal and civil legal aid
  • Third party funding
  • Legal expenses insurance
  • SLK: Solicitors Accounts
  • Transactions involving client money and money belonging to the authorised body
  • Operation of ledgers and bank accounts
  • Basic transactions, including Bills
  • Payment of interest
  • Accounting for VAT
  • Breaches of the SRA Accounts Rules
  • Accounting entries required
  • Obtaining and delivery of accountants’ reports
  • Obligations regarding record-keeping
  • SLK: Contract
  • Existence/formation of a contract
  • Contents of a contract
  • Causation and remoteness
  • Vitiating elements
  • Discharge of contract and remedies
  • Unjust enrichment
  • SLK: Tort
  • Negligence
  • Remedies and defences
  • Occupier’s liability
  • Product liability
  • Nuisance and the rule in Rylands v Fletcher
  • SLK: Dispute Resolution
  • Analysis of Merits of Claim
  • Analysis of merits of defence
  • Judgement in default
  • Arbitration
  • Mediation
  • Arbitration, mediation and litigation as an appropriate mechanism to resolve a dispute
  • Other ADR types
  • ADR and professional conduct
  • Pre-action considerations and steps
  • Choice of court
  • Funding and fee arrangements
  • Commencing, responding to or progressing a claim
  • Statements of case
  • Interim applications
  • Injunctions
  • Settlement and Part 36 offers
  • Case management
  • The evidence needed and required in commencing, responding to, progressing or defending a claim
  • Disclosure
  • Privilege
  • Preparation of a case for a trial, the trial and any post trial steps.
  • SLK: Business Law and Practice
  • Choosing a business structure: company, partnership, LLP or as a sole trader
  • Setting up a company
  • Joint ventures
  • Partnerships
  • Company decision making to ensure compliance with legal and statutory requirements
  • Directors
  • Business management to ensure compliance with legal and statutory requirements
  • Interests in proposed or existing transactions
  • Substantial property transactions
  • Loans to directors
  • Quasi-loans and credit transactions
  • Share capital
  • Allotment of shares and pre-emption rights
  • Own share purchase and redemption
  • Share transfers
  • Equity finance and debt finance
  • Taxation of a business and its stakeholders
  • Termination of a solvent business
  • Corporate insolvency
  • Personal bankruptcy
  • SLK: Property Law and Practice
  • Key elements of a freehold and/or leasehold residential or commercial property transaction
  • Investigation of registered and unregistered freehold and/or leasehold title
  • The general prohibition – section 19 FSMA
  • Steps to progress a freehold and/or leasehold transaction to exchange of contracts
  • Pre-completion steps in relation to freehold and/or leasehold property transactions
  • Completion and post-completion steps in relation to freehold and/or leasehold property transactions
  • Remedies for delayed completion
  • Grant and the assignment of a commercial lease and the law relating to their breach
  • Key lease covenants in a commercial lease and the law relating to their breach
  • Security of tenure under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 Part II
  • Taxation of property transactions
  • Stamp Duty Land Tax
  • Land Transaction Tax
  • Value Added Tax
  • Capital Gains Tax
  • SLK: Land Law
  • Registered and unregistered land
  • Freehold and leasehold estates
  • Legal interests in land
  • Equitable interests in land
  • Landlord and tenant
    Co-ownership
  • SLK: Wills and the Administration of Estates
  • Will basics and property establishment
  • Distribution and validation of testate, intestate and partially intestate estates
  • Distribution under intestacy rules
  • Law and practice in connection with an application for a grant of representation
  • Law and practice of Inheritance Tax in relation to lifetime gifts and transfers on death
  • Planning, management and progression of the administration of an estate
  • Claims under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975
  • Law and Practice relating to personal representatives and trustees in the administration of estates and consequent trusts
  • Rights, powers, and remedies of beneficiaries of wills and consequent trusts
  • SLK: Trusts
    Express trusts
  • Implied trusts
  • Fiduciary relationships/duties
  • Trustees’ duties
  • Trustees’ powers
  • Trustees’ liability
  • Equitable remedies
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