SQE1 subjects: the full syllabus

Business Law & Practice

FLK1 · 18 topics

• Business & organisational characteristics (sole trader, partnership, LLP, company)
• Legal personality & limited liability
• Company incorporation & constitution (articles, memorandum)
• Company decision-making & resolutions (board, members, meetings, written resolutions)
• Directors — appointment, duties, removal
• Shareholders — rights & protection (incl. unfair prejudice, derivative claims)
• Share capital — allotment, transfer, maintenance of capital
• Partnership law (Partnership Act 1890)
• Limited liability partnerships
• Financing a business — equity, debt, charges & registration
• Corporate insolvency (liquidation, administration, CVA, receivership, wrongful/fraudulent trading)
• Personal insolvency (bankruptcy, IVAs)
• Income tax
• Capital gains tax (incl. business reliefs)
• Corporation tax
• Value added tax
• Inheritance tax & business property relief
• Taxation of partnerships & sole traders

Dispute Resolution

FLK1 · 13 topics

• Analysis of claim — causes of action, forum, merits
• Pre-action conduct & protocols
• Limitation periods
• Parties, issue & service, statements of case
• Tracks & case management
• Interim applications (summary judgment, interim payments, injunctions, security for costs)
• Disclosure & inspection
• Evidence — witness, expert, hearsay
• Settlement & Part 36 offers
• Trial, judgment & interest
• Costs
• Enforcement of judgments
• ADR — mediation & arbitration

Contract

FLK1 · 14 topics

• Formation — offer & acceptance
• Consideration & intention to create legal relations
• Privity & third-party rights
• Terms — express, implied, interpretation
• Exemption clauses & unfair terms (UCTA / CRA 2015)
• Misrepresentation
• Mistake
• Duress & undue influence
• Illegality
• Discharge — performance & breach
• Frustration
• Remedies — damages (incl. remoteness, mitigation)
• Equitable remedies (specific performance, injunctions)
• Unjust enrichment & restitution

Tort

FLK1 · 10 topics

• Negligence — duty of care
• Negligence — breach & standard of care
• Negligence — causation & remoteness
• Pure economic loss & psychiatric harm
• Employers' liability & vicarious liability
• Occupiers' liability (1957 & 1984 Acts)
• Product liability (Consumer Protection Act 1987)
• Nuisance & Rylands v Fletcher
• Defences (consent, contributory negligence, illegality)
• Remedies & damages in tort

Legal System (incl. Constitutional/Admin & EU)

FLK1 · 10 topics

• Courts — structure & jurisdiction
• Sources of law & doctrine of precedent
• Statutory interpretation
• Parliamentary sovereignty & rule of law
• Separation of powers & constitutional conventions
• Royal prerogative
• Judicial review — grounds, standing, remedies
• Human Rights Act 1998 & ECHR
• Retained/assimilated EU law post-Brexit
• Legal personnel & the judiciary

Legal Services

FLK1 · 6 topics

• SRA Principles & Code of Conduct
• Regulation & reserved legal activities
• Money laundering & proceeds of crime
• Financial services regulation in legal practice
• Funding options (private, CFA, DBA, legal aid, third-party)
• Client care & complaints handling

Property Practice

FLK2 · 10 topics

• Investigation of title (freehold & leasehold)
• Pre-contract searches & enquiries
• Contract & exchange
• Pre-completion & completion
• Post-completion (SDLT/LTT, registration)
• Leasehold — grant & assignment
• Leasehold covenants & remedies for breach
• Planning & building regulations
• Mortgages & security in conveyancing
• Property taxation (SDLT, VAT, CGT)

Wills & Administration of Estates

FLK2 · 10 topics

• Validity of wills
• Will interpretation, codicils & revocation
• Intestacy rules
• Property passing outside the will / succession estate
• Personal representatives — appointment & powers
• Grants of representation & probate procedure
• Administration — collecting, paying debts, distributing
• Inheritance tax on death
• Post-death variations & disclaimers
• Claims against estates (Inheritance (PFD) Act 1975)

Solicitors Accounts

FLK2 · 7 topics

• Client money vs business money
• SRA Accounts Rules — principles & obligations
• Client account operation — receipts & payments
• Transfers & mixed payments
• Interest on client money
• VAT & disbursements in accounts
• Breaches, records & reconciliations

Land Law

FLK2 · 9 topics

• Estates & interests in land (legal vs equitable)
• Registered land & registration
• Unregistered land & third-party rights
• Co-ownership & trusts of land
• Easements & profits
• Freehold covenants
• Leases — essential characteristics & types
• Mortgages & enforcement
• Proprietary estoppel & licences

Trusts

FLK2 · 10 topics

• Creation & the three certainties
• Formalities & constitution of trusts
• Beneficial entitlement & types of trust
• Purpose & charitable trusts
• Resulting trusts
• Constructive trusts
• Trustees — duties & powers
• Breach of trust & remedies
• Tracing (common law & equity)
• Fiduciary duties & liability

Criminal Liability

FLK2 · 10 topics

• Actus reus & mens rea
• Causation in crime
• Homicide — murder & manslaughter (incl. partial defences)
• Non-fatal offences against the person
• Theft & related offences
• Robbery & burglary
• Fraud & related offences
• Criminal damage
• General defences
• Inchoate offences & parties (attempt, accomplices)

Criminal Practice

FLK2 · 10 topics

• Police station advice & PACE
• Right to silence & interviews
• Bail
• Classification of offences & allocation
• Magistrates' court procedure
• Crown Court procedure & plea
• Evidence (confessions, character, hearsay, identification)
• Sentencing
• Appeals
• Youth court basics

How many subjects are in SQE1?

SQE1 covers 13 subject areas across two papers — six in FLK1 and seven in FLK2. Between them they break down into 137 discrete topics. Ethics and professional conduct run through every question rather than sitting as a separate subject.

What subjects are in FLK1?

FLK1 covers Business Law and Practice, Dispute Resolution, Contract, Tort, the Legal System of England and Wales (including constitutional, administrative and retained EU law), and Legal Services.

What subjects are in FLK2?

FLK2 covers Property Practice, Wills and the Administration of Estates, Solicitors Accounts, Land Law, Trusts, Criminal Liability, and Criminal Practice.

Do you have to pass every subject?

You are not marked subject by subject — FLK1 and FLK2 are each scored as a whole, and you need to pass both to pass SQE1. Because questions are drawn across the entire syllabus, a weak subject anywhere pulls your paper score down, so full coverage is the safe approach.