Mix of concern and anger
Senior figures at some of the country’s biggest law schools have responded to this morning’s news that nearly 200 aspiring lawyers were mistakenly told they had failed parts of the Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE).
Kaplan and the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) today apologised for a calculation error that resulted in 175 students being informed that they had failed either Functioning Legal Knowledge 1 and/or Functioning Legal Knowledge 2 (the two parts of SQE1), when in fact they had passed.
A goodwill payment of £250 is being offered to those candidates for the “upset caused by this matter”.
Reacting to today’s news, Jonny Hurst, presenter of SQE TV, branded the situation an “omnishambles”.
“It’s hard to fathom, isn’t it?” he wrote on LinkedIn. “Some of these candidates will have lost training contracts, which may, after all, now be recoverable. Others will have incurred considerable financial losses, such as accommodation costs and cancelled course fees. And then there are those who may have made significant life decisions off the back of January’s SQE1 ‘fail’. All will have been put through unnecessary distress and anxiety and my heart goes out to each and every one of you.”
“As someone who has been in legal education for over 15 years, I can appreciate how easy it is for a small error to have such far-reaching consequences,” said Hurst.
“The compensation being offered to the affected candidates (£250) will be a drop in the ocean to most. It certainly won’t cover many of their financial losses or the untold negative affect on their mental health. Looks like the SQE is as tough to administer as it is to pass,” Hurst continued.
In a statement to Legal Cheek, BPP’s dean, Jo-Anne Pugh, added, “We are aware of the error and are providing support to the affected students”.
Also reacting to the news, The University of Law‘s deputy vice-chancellor law, Professor Peter Crisp told us:
“Our concern is with those of our students whose future careers may have been impacted by this error. This includes those who may have been reliant on a positive result to secure a training contract. We are working closely with those students affected and our client firms to ensure they are appropriately supported.”
Meanwhile, BARBRI Global’s managing director Lucie Allen said she was concerned by today’s news and that “whilst this is positive for the students who have now passed, it is worrying that an error on this scale has happened”.
“Students will have been impacted in all sorts of ways which are significant and need to be thoroughly reviewed and understood,” she told Legal Cheek. “I am not sure the compensation offered addresses the extent of the repercussions experienced. BARBRI have put in place measures to support students and urge anyone impacted to reach out.
Finally, The College of Legal Practice issued a statement on LinkedIn expressing its deep disappointment, highlighting that the error will have greatly affected students’ wellbeing, confidence and finances. “We are seeing increased levels of anxiety both from our students and those thinking about taking the SQE and this will add to those concerns,” it said.
Dr Giles Proctor, the law school’s CEO, also commented on our coverage of the story.
“The latest from the Solicitors Regulation Authority in terms of their continuing problems with their running of the SQE, Proctor said. “Mistakes do occur and have quite rightly been addressed in this case. However, there is a wider issue emerging here around the dialogue from the SRA with firms, providers and students and how concerns are listened to and addressed.”
“More clear communication is needed and a sense of careful planning and discussion rather than just ploughing on with the same systems,” Proctor continued. “Otherwise, the really important stakeholders in all this, the students undergoing SQE, will continue to be under huge pressure and suffer from mistakes like this.”