Courses are now open for booking.
Woodroffe's part-time short course in Criminal Practice, taught through lectures and small-group classes.
Preparation for | SQE1, Functioning Legal Knowledge 2 (FLK2).
Lectures and Classes | 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 | Six weeks.
Availability | Next course starts: [CONFIRM: start date].
Cost | £250 for the full course.
Booking | Register to study with Woodroffe Legal Education before you book. Registration is free.
This short course supports your preparation for the Criminal Law and Practice element of SQE1, the first stage of the centrally assessed Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE). It is based on the Criminal Law and Practice syllabus set out in the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s specification for FLK2, one of the two Functioning Legal Knowledge assessments that make up SQE1. The course covers advising clients at the police station, and the conduct of a criminal case through the courts, from bail and first hearings to trial, sentencing and appeal.
Every lecture and class is taught live and online. Each week, you attend a lecture with the whole cohort and a small-group class of no more than ten students. In class, you apply the law 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 the syllabus.
This course is part-time, with a typical commitment of ten to fifteen hours a week, including independent study. You can book it on its own, with no obligation to take any other Woodroffe course.
Some parts of this course may assume an understanding of criminal liability. If this subject is new to you, or you studied it some time ago, we recommend the Revise SQE book on Criminal Law, which you can work through alongside this course. Woodroffe’s Criminal Liability course prepares you for that subject as it is assessed in SQE1. It is not a prerequisite for this course. If you are entirely new to law, Introduction to Learning Law, Woodroffe’s six-week course for complete beginners, can lay the groundwork, though it is not required.
We welcome students from every background. There are no academic entry requirements for this course.
If you are new to the study of law, whatever your degree or background, this course gives you a structured introduction to Criminal Law and Practice for SQE1.
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, this course gives you live, instructor-led teaching in Criminal Law and Practice, as assessed in SQE1. With or without a law degree or the Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL), you can use the course to consolidate what you already know or to start the subject from scratch.
Your law degree or GDL gives you a grounding in legal study. This course builds on it, with focused preparation for the Criminal Law and Practice element of SQE1.
If you qualified outside England and Wales, this course teaches criminal procedure and evidence as they operate in this jurisdiction, in preparation for SQE1.
Criminal Law and Practice is one of the practice areas in which SQE2 assesses legal skills. If you are preparing for SQE2, you can use this course to refresh your understanding of the subject, without committing to a full programme of revision.
The course runs for six weeks. Each week covers one topic, or a group of closely related topics, and has a lecture and a 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.
G.W. Woodroffe, Principal Tutor
This course is led by Glen William, who leads Woodroffe Legal Education. He has more than a decade of experience in university lecturing and private tuition in law and legal practice. His university teaching has included Criminal Litigation on the Legal Practice Course (LPC), and undergraduate modules in Evidence and in Criminal Litigation and Advocacy. Other experienced tutors may teach some lectures or classes.
Prescribed text. The current edition of Revise SQE Criminal Practice is prescribed for this course. It is concise, focused revision material for the Functioning Legal Knowledge assessments. You will need your own copy.
Recommended background reading. We also recommend the Revise SQE book on Criminal Law.
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 this course. 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 this 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. The start date of the next course is shown at the top of this page.
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 this course.
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.
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 how our series of SQE1 short courses works, see SQE1 Short Courses.
For the courses you can book now, see Courses Open for Booking.
For more on registering to study with us, see Student Registration.
If you have a question before you register or book, contact us.