Key facts
- FLK1: Business Law and Practice, Dispute Resolution, Contract Law, Tort, Legal System (including constitutional and administrative law and EU law) and Legal Services.
- FLK2: Property Law and Practice, Wills and the Administration of Estates, Solicitors Accounts, Land Law, Trusts Law, Criminal Liability and Criminal Law and Practice.
- Ethics and Professional Conduct is examined across both papers; money laundering is assessed in FLK1 only.
- Tax is examined only in Business Law and Practice, Property Law and Practice, and Wills and the Administration of Estates.
- Solicitors Accounts is examined in the context of property and of wills and estates.
What is the difference between FLK1 and FLK2?
FLK1 covers Business Law and Practice, Dispute Resolution, Contract Law, Tort, the Legal System and Legal Services. FLK2 covers Property Law and Practice, Wills and the Administration of Estates, Solicitors Accounts, Land Law, Trusts Law, Criminal Liability and Criminal Law and Practice. Ethics and Professional Conduct is examined across both. (SRA, SQE1 Assessment Specification)
Put simply, FLK1 centres on business, civil litigation, the law of obligations and public law; FLK2 on property, private client work and crime. From January 2027 each paper has 170 single best answer questions in two sessions of 85. (SRA announcement, 10 September 2026) The format, timing and session rules are in our guide to how SQE1 is structured; this guide is about content. Within each paper, a question can draw on any combination of its subjects, as a real matter would. (SRA, SQE1 Assessment Specification)
What does FLK1 cover?
| Subject | Share | What the specification lists |
|---|---|---|
| Business Law and Practice | 14–20% | Sole traders, partnerships, LLPs and companies; incorporation; debt and equity finance; directors’ and shareholders’ rights and duties; decision-making and meetings; corporate and personal insolvency; income tax, capital gains tax, corporation tax, VAT and business property relief. Listing and other market rules are excluded. |
| Dispute Resolution | 14–20% | Arbitration, mediation and litigation; limitation and pre-action protocols; issuing and serving a claim; responding, statements of case, interim applications, case management and tracks; evidence, disclosure, trial, costs (including Part 36), appeals and enforcement. |
| Contract Law | 14–20% | Formation, privity and third-party rights, express and implied terms, exemption clauses, misrepresentation, mistake, duress, undue influence and illegality, termination (breach and frustration), remedies, causation and remoteness. |
| Tort | 14–20% | Negligence (duty, breach, causation, remoteness, economic loss, psychiatric harm), defences, vicarious liability, occupiers’ liability, product liability (including the Consumer Protection Act 1987), nuisance and the rule in Rylands v Fletcher. |
| Legal System | 14–20% | Courts and precedent, Acts of Parliament and of Senedd Cymru, statutory interpretation; parliamentary sovereignty, devolution, the Crown and prerogative, public order law, judicial review, the Human Rights Act 1998 and the place of EU law in the UK constitution. |
| Legal Services | 12–16% | The SRA’s regulatory role, reserved legal activities, professional indemnity insurance, the Equality Act 2010, money laundering (including the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002), financial services regulation and the ways legal services are funded. |
Sources: (SRA, FLK1 specification) (SRA, SQE1 Annex 4)
What does FLK2 cover?
| Subject | Share | What the specification lists |
|---|---|---|
| Property Law and Practice (with Solicitors Accounts in conveyancing) | 14–20% | Freehold transactions from title investigation, searches and exchange to completion; leases (content, grant, assignment, covenants, remedies, termination); business tenancies under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954; planning basics; SDLT in England, Land Transaction Tax in Wales, VAT and capital gains tax. |
| Wills and the Administration of Estates (with Solicitors Accounts) | 14–20% | Validity, alteration and revocation of wills; intestacy; property passing outside the estate; grants of representation; personal representatives’ duties; claims under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975; inheritance tax, and income tax and capital gains tax during administration. |
| Solicitors Accounts | – | Client money and client account, interest, breaches of the SRA Accounts Rules, records and reconciliations, bills and disbursements, joint and third-party managed accounts. Counted within the two subjects above. |
| Land Law | 14–20% | Estates and interests, registered and unregistered title, co-ownership and trusts of land, easements, freehold covenants, mortgages and leases. |
| Trusts Law | 14–20% | Express trusts (certainties, formalities, constitution), resulting trusts, trusts of the family home and proprietary estoppel, charitable and purpose trusts, fiduciary duties, trustees’ powers and liability, and tracing. |
| Criminal Liability | 14–20% | Specified offences – non-fatal offences against the person, theft offences, criminal damage, homicide and fraud – with actus reus and mens rea, defences, accomplices and attempts. |
| Criminal Law and Practice | 14–20% | The police station (PACE Codes C and D), bail, first hearings, plea and allocation, case management, evidence (identification, silence, hearsay, confessions, bad character), trial, sentencing, appeals and the youth court. |
Sources: (SRA, FLK2 specification) (SRA, SQE1 Annex 4)
What runs through both papers?
- Ethics and Professional Conduct. The SRA Principles and the Codes of Conduct are examined pervasively, across all subject areas, using realistic client situations – which can include matters covered by SRA warning notices, such as non-disclosure agreements and SLAPPs. (SRA, SQE1 Assessment Specification) Ethics and money laundering questions together can make up to 20% of a sitting; money laundering is assessed in FLK1 only. (SRA, SQE1 Annex 4)
- Taxation. Tax is examined only in Business Law and Practice, Property Law and Practice, and Wills and the Administration of Estates. Rates and thresholds that change with successive Budgets would normally be provided. (SRA, SQE1 Assessment Specification)
- England and Wales. Candidates must know that, for certain topics, the law differs between England and Wales – for example Land Transaction Tax in Wales – and the specification includes the use of the Welsh language in civil and criminal proceedings. (SRA, SQE1 Assessment Specification) (SRA, FLK1 specification) (SRA, FLK2 specification)
How the 2027 sessions group the subjects
From January 2027, each session covers only some subjects, mixed in random order (SRA announcement, 10 September 2026):
- FLK1 Session 1: Business Law and Practice, Dispute Resolution, Legal Services.
- FLK1 Session 2: Tort, Contract Law, Legal System.
- FLK2 Session 1: Wills and the Administration of Estates, Solicitors Accounts (wills), Trusts Law, Land Law.
- FLK2 Session 2: Property Law and Practice, Solicitors Accounts (property), Criminal Liability, Criminal Law and Practice.
That grouping is useful for revision. Subjects that share a session often share concepts: co-ownership appears under Land Law, and trusts of the family home under Trusts Law (SRA, FLK2 specification); remoteness appears in both Contract and Tort. (SRA, FLK1 specification) Practising them side by side trains you to tell the rules apart – the skill a mixed session demands.
Which paper should you start with?
The SRA does not prescribe an order, and both papers count. A practical rule is to begin where later subjects build on earlier ones: Contract and Tort before Dispute Resolution, Land Law before Property Law and Practice, Criminal Liability before Criminal Law and Practice. Keep ethics running from the first week, because it can appear in any question. Our SQE1 study plan shows how to rotate subjects so neither paper falls behind.
To see which paper is weaker for you now, try the free SQE1 quick test, which mixes FLK1, FLK2 and ethics. Our SQE1 course shows the number of questions for each subject.
Frequently asked questions
What subjects are in FLK1?
Business Law and Practice, Dispute Resolution, Contract Law, Tort, the Legal System (the legal system of England and Wales, constitutional and administrative law and EU law) and Legal Services. Ethics and Professional Conduct runs through all of them.
What subjects are in FLK2?
Property Law and Practice, Wills and the Administration of Estates, Solicitors Accounts, Land Law, Trusts Law, Criminal Liability and Criminal Law and Practice, with Ethics and Professional Conduct throughout.
Is ethics tested in FLK1 or FLK2?
In both. Ethics and Professional Conduct is examined pervasively across both papers. Ethics and money laundering questions together can make up to 20% of a sitting, and money laundering is assessed in FLK1 only.
Where is tax tested in SQE1?
Only in Business Law and Practice (FLK1), and in Property Law and Practice and Wills and the Administration of Estates (FLK2). Rates and thresholds that change with Budgets would normally be provided.
Is Solicitors Accounts a separate part of the exam?
It is listed as a subject area in FLK2 but examined in the context of Property Law and Practice and of Wills and the Administration of Estates. The blueprint counts it within those two subjects.
Sources
- Solicitors Regulation Authority: SQE1 Assessment Specification (applicable for assessments from 1 September 2026). Accessed 21 October 2026.
- Solicitors Regulation Authority: SQE1 Functioning Legal Knowledge – FLK1 (from 1 September 2026). Accessed 21 October 2026.
- Solicitors Regulation Authority: SQE1 Functioning Legal Knowledge – FLK2 (from 1 September 2026). Accessed 21 October 2026.
- Solicitors Regulation Authority: SQE1 Annex 4 – Functioning Legal Knowledge blueprint. Accessed 21 October 2026.
- Solicitors Regulation Authority: Important changes to SQE1 for January 2027 onwards (10 September 2026). Accessed 21 October 2026.
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