Courses are now open for booking.
Preparation for | SQE1, both Functioning Legal Knowledge assessments (FLK1 and FLK2). Each course covers a single subject.
Lectures and Classes | Each short course has a weekly lecture for the whole cohort and a weekly small-group class of no more than ten students.
Delivery | Live, online, via Google Meet, scheduled in United Kingdom time.
Duration | Typically six weeks or more. The length of each course is given on its course page.
Availability | New courses are released on a rolling basis.
Cost | £250 per short course.
Booking | Register to study with Woodroffe Legal Education before you book. Registration is free.
Woodroffe’s SQE1 short courses provide subject-by-subject teaching for SQE1, the first stage of the centrally assessed Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE). Each short course addresses a single subject within the SQE1 specification. Together, the courses span the subjects tested in FLK1 and FLK2.
Each week combines a live lecture with a small-group class on that week’s topic. The lecture, given to the whole cohort, sets out the fundamental legal principles. In the class, you put them into practice through single best answer questions, the format used in SQE1, with direct feedback from your tutor.
The live teaching works together with prescribed reading, your own independent study and other activities, such as online quizzes, to cover each subject’s syllabus.
Each course is part-time, with a typical commitment of ten to fifteen hours a week, including independent study. You can book any course on its own, with no obligation to take any other Woodroffe course.
Some short courses build on ideas from other SQE1 subjects. Where this is the case, the page for that course names those subjects and recommends books on them. To build your background knowledge, you can study the suggested books alongside the course or take our short courses in those subjects beforehand. The choice is yours. Each of those courses is also an SQE1 preparation course in its own right, covering its own subject. If you are entirely new to law, Introduction to Learning Law, our six-week course for complete beginners, is a good place to start, though it is not required for our SQE1 short courses.
We welcome students from every background. There are no academic entry requirements for our short courses.
If you are new to the study of law, whatever your degree or background, these short courses give you a structured introduction to each subject for SQE1. No prior study of law is required.
You may already work in a legal environment, in a paralegal, support or other non-qualified role. If you are ready to move towards qualification, a short course gives you live, instructor-led teaching in a single subject, as assessed in SQE1. With or without a law degree or the Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL), you can use a course to consolidate what you already know or to start a subject from scratch.
Your law degree or GDL gives you a grounding in legal study. These short courses build on it, with focused preparation for SQE1, subject by subject.
If you qualified outside England and Wales and are preparing for the SQE, individual short courses let you target the specific parts of the SQE1 FLK1 and FLK2 syllabus where your existing knowledge most needs development.
If you are returning to SQE1 after an earlier attempt, you can focus on the subjects where you most need to improve, without repeating a full programme of preparation.
Several SQE1 subjects are also practice areas in which SQE2 assesses legal skills. If you are preparing for SQE2, you can use a short course to refresh your understanding of a particular subject, without committing to a full programme of revision.
Each short course covers a single subject in FLK1 or FLK2. Together, the series covers every SQE1 subject, with courses released on a rolling basis.
The FLK1 courses are Business Law and Practice, Dispute Resolution, Contract Law, Tort, the Legal System of England and Wales, Constitutional and Administrative Law, and Legal Services. The Legal System covers a large body of law, so we teach it as two courses, following the two parts in which the SQE1 specification sets it out. The second, Constitutional and Administrative Law, includes EU law.
The FLK2 courses are Property Law and Practice, Wills and the Administration of Estates, Land Law, Trusts Law, Criminal Liability, Criminal Practice (Criminal Law and Practice in the SQE1 specification), and Solicitors Accounts.
Ethics and professional conduct are addressed as they arise within each subject area.
Within each course, each week covers one topic, or a group of closely related topics.
Courses Open for Booking lists Woodroffe courses you can book now, as well as those coming later.
Each week of a short course has a live lecture and a live class.
The lecture. The lecture is given live to the whole cohort. It sets out the fundamental legal principles for the week’s topic, and typically lasts between one and a half and two hours.
The class. The class is smaller and more interactive, with no more than ten students. You work through single best answer questions, with direct instruction and feedback from your tutor. A class typically lasts up to two hours. Because places are limited, a week’s class may run more than once, so that every student has a place. Classes are scheduled separately from the lecture, and may fall on a different day.
Independent study and other activities. The lecture and the class are the core of each week, but they do not stand alone. You are prescribed reading from the course materials and the relevant Revise SQE book. You are also expected to study independently, through pre-reading, class preparation and post-class exercises. Other activities, such as online quizzes, run alongside.
Platform and access. Lectures and classes are taught live on Google Meet, in United Kingdom time. Each week’s livestreams and materials are held in Google Classroom. Once you are enrolled, we arrange your access. You sign in with the email address linked to your Google Account, the same address you use for the Student Portal. Access remains open for the duration of the course.
Tutors. The short courses are taught by a tutor or tutors with experience of teaching law and legal practice at university level.
Prescribed text. The current edition of the relevant Revise SQE book is prescribed for each short course. It is concise, focused revision material for the Functioning Legal Knowledge assessments. Each course page names the book. You will need your own copy.
Recommended background reading. Where a short course builds on ideas from other SQE1 subjects, the page for that course also recommends Revise SQE books on those subjects. You can study these alongside the course to build your background knowledge.
Book discount. If you are registered to study with us, you may be eligible for a discount on books bought directly from Revise SQE, subject to the publisher’s discount scheme, approval and availability.
There is no formal English language entry requirement for our short courses. However, the lectures and classes call for the ability to work with legal material in English. The level needed is broadly consistent with an International English Language Testing System (IELTS) score of 7.5 (Academic), or a Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) level of C1. Below that level, you may find it difficult to engage fully with the teaching, or to keep pace with the course.
Please note: The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) sets its own English or Welsh language requirements for admission as a solicitor, separately from this guidance. Confirm the current requirements directly with the SRA.
A place on any short course costs £250, which covers the full course. The fee does not include the cost of the prescribed Revise SQE book.
Each course is booked on its own. Which subjects you study, how many, and in what order is up to you.
A booking secures your place for the full course, including the weekly lecture and a weekly class. Courses Open for Booking lists Woodroffe courses you can book now, as well as those coming later.
You need to be registered to study with Woodroffe before you can book. You also need to be in the United Kingdom when you book.
Already registered. Sign in to our Student Portal with the email address linked to your Google Account. The Student Portal takes you to the booking system, where you can book and pay for a place on any course open for booking.
Not yet registered. Registration is free and completed once only. The form takes a few minutes, and we review each registration, typically within three working days. Once you are approved, we send you details of how to sign in to the Student Portal. You will need a free Google Account to sign in.
Already registered. Sign in to the Student Portal to book a short course.
Not yet registered. Register to study with Woodroffe to begin. Registration is free. Once you are approved, you can book any short course open for booking.
Questions first. If you are not yet ready to register, contact us with any questions.
Registering to study with us does not register you to sit the SQE. The two are entirely separate. Woodroffe Legal Education is an independent training provider. The SQE is centrally assessed by the SRA’s appointed assessment organisation. The SRA sets its own eligibility criteria for candidates. You register for the assessments directly with the SRA. See sqe.sra.org.uk for the SRA’s guidance on eligibility and registration.
For the route to qualifying as a solicitor, and where SQE1 fits within it, see SQE Preparation.
For one-to-one SQE1 teaching, see One-to-One SQE1 Tuition.