SRA allocates £360,000 to support aspiring solicitors from disadvantaged backgrounds

The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has announced the distribution of £360,000 to 11 organisations to help candidates from disadvantaged backgrounds with the costs associated with taking the Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE). The funding, sourced from financial penalties imposed on the SQE provider Kaplan, is intended to promote greater social mobility and diversity within the legal profession.

Patrick McCann, incoming CEO of the City of London Law Society, welcomed the award on behalf of the Social Welfare Solicitors Qualification Fund (SWSQF), a collaboration between BARBRI SQE Prep, CLLS, The City of London Solicitors’ Company, City Solicitors Educational Trust and Young Legal Aid Lawyers Group.

McCann explained: “The SRA has granted our funding application of £40,000, which we will use to pay for SQE assessments for qualifying members of our current cohorts, of which approximately 80 were in progress, with 32 already qualified.”

Allowing the SWSQF to deploy this sum swiftly will fund another three new candidates through the entire SQE process, he said.

He concluded: “We see this as a significant endorsement of the work we do and, more importantly, the work our cohort members and their employers do, delivering legal representation to the most vulnerable members of society across the country.”