Key facts
- Criminal Law and Practice covers police station advice and the criminal process, including youth proceedings, in FLK2.
- The SRA blueprint allocates 14–20% of FLK2 to Criminal Law and Practice, separately from Criminal Liability.
- SQE1 is closed book, with five options and one correct answer per single best answer question.
- Ethics and Professional Conduct can be tested throughout Criminal Law and Practice.
What is tested in SQE1 Criminal Law and Practice?
Criminal Law and Practice is an FLK2 subject covering police station advice, bail, court procedure, evidence, trial, sentencing, appeals and youth proceedings. The specification also includes preliminary considerations for using Welsh in criminal proceedings.(SRA, FLK2 specification) The SRA blueprint allocates 14–20% of FLK2 to this subject.(SRA, SQE1 Annex 4) Revise it as a sequence of decisions: identify the client’s position, the stage reached, the applicable rule and the solicitor’s next step.
How does it differ from Criminal Liability?
Criminal Liability concerns offences, their elements and defences. Criminal Law and Practice concerns advising and representing a client through the criminal process. They are separate subjects in the specification. (SRA, FLK2 specification) Use our Criminal Liability guide for the substantive law, then connect it to the procedural decisions in this guide. Keep separate checklists so that knowing the offence does not substitute for knowing what happens next.
How is the subject assessed?
SQE1 is closed book. Each single best answer question has five options and one correct answer. Questions test the application of fundamental rules to realistic client situations at the level of a newly qualified solicitor. They can combine subjects within FLK2, with Ethics and Professional Conduct examined throughout. (SRA, SQE1 Assessment Specification) The blueprint classifies each question by its main focus, so its percentage range does not limit every use of criminal practice knowledge.(SRA, SQE1 Annex 4) From the January 2027 sitting, Criminal Law and Practice questions appear in FLK2 session 2, mixed in random order with Criminal Liability, Property Law and Practice and Solicitors Accounts in the property context; the blueprint proportions do not change. (SRA announcement, 10 September 2026) Read the task before selecting the rule: advice about an interview, admissibility and an appeal involves different decisions.
What does the SRA specification cover?
This checklist summarises the syllabus in practical groups. Use it alongside the full specification; it is not a prediction of a particular paper. (SRA, FLK2 specification)
| Stage or topic | What to revise |
|---|---|
| Police detention and interview | Access to legal advice, informing someone of arrest, detention reviews and time limits under PACE Code C. Advice, including for vulnerable clients, on answering questions, silence and adverse inferences. In interview: the solicitor’s role and conduct, the role of an appropriate adult and who can act as one, and the requirements of a lawful interview under Code C. |
| Identification | When an identification procedure is required, the available procedures and their conduct under PACE Code D. Connect this with visual identification evidence and the Turnbull guideline at trial. |
| Bail | Entitlement and exceptions, conditions, making and opposing applications, renewed applications, appeals, failure to surrender and breaches of conditions. |
| First hearing, plea and venue | Offence classification, representation orders and the defence solicitor’s role. Plea before venue, advice about trial venue, allocation between the magistrates’ court and Crown Court, and sending cases without allocation. |
| Case management and disclosure | Directions in the magistrates’ court, the Plea and Trial Preparation Hearing, and disclosure by the prosecution and defence, including unused material. |
| Evidence | Visual identification evidence and inferences from silence. Hearsay and confessions: definitions, admissibility and challenges. Bad character: definition, gateways for defendants and other people, and the court’s power to exclude. Fairness and the exclusion of prosecution evidence. |
| Trial | Burden and standards of proof, stages in each trial court, submissions of no case to answer, courtroom etiquette, leading and non-leading questions, witness competence and compellability, special measures, the defendant’s good character and the solicitor’s duty to the court. |
| Sentencing | Guidelines, seriousness, aggravating and mitigating factors, mitigation, concurrent and consecutive sentences. Custodial and suspended sentences, community orders, and when and how Newton hearings are used. |
| Appeals | Challenges to conviction or sentence from the magistrates’ court, the Crown Court’s appeal powers and High Court appeals by case stated. Appeals from the Crown Court: grounds, procedure and the Court of Appeal’s powers. |
| Youth proceedings and Welsh | Youth court jurisdiction, grave crimes, allocation and joint charges with adults. The Sentencing Children and Young People definitive guideline and the youth robbery guideline, referral orders, detention and training orders and youth rehabilitation orders. Preliminary arrangements for using Welsh in criminal proceedings. |
All coverage above comes from the FLK2 specification. (SRA, FLK2 specification) For each group, record who makes the decision, what triggers it and what options remain afterwards. Add any relevant time limit to the correct procedural stage, with its source and exceptions.
Which distinctions need particular care?
- Police procedure and trial evidence. Keep identification procedures separate from the assessment of identification evidence. Likewise, distinguish advice on silence at interview from the later question of adverse inferences. Both stages appear in the syllabus.(SRA, FLK2 specification)
- Admission and exclusion. Identifying hearsay, a confession or bad character is only the starting point. The specification also requires the applicable admission rules and challenges.(SRA, FLK2 specification) Check the route before comparing the answer options.
- Venue and appeal route. Keep the originating court, plea, decision challenged and available procedure visible in your notes. The specification distinguishes allocation, sending, appeals to the Crown Court, case stated and appeals from the Crown Court. (SRA, FLK2 specification)
- Adult and youth proceedings. Maintain a separate youth checklist covering jurisdiction, joint charges and sentencing. Do not carry an adult procedure across without checking the applicable youth rules. (SRA, FLK2 specification)
Confession exclusion and fairness are different tests
Under section 76 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, where it is represented that a confession relied on by the prosecution was or may have been obtained by oppression, or through things said or done likely in the circumstances to make a resulting confession unreliable, the prosecution must disprove that basis beyond reasonable doubt for it to be admitted. This applies even if the confession may be true.(PACE 1984, s 76)
Section 78 gives the court a discretion to refuse prosecution evidence where, having regard to all the circumstances, including how it was obtained, admitting it would have such an adverse effect on the fairness of the proceedings that the court ought not to admit it. (PACE 1984, s 78) In revision, label the evidence, the exclusion ground, who must establish what and whether exclusion is mandatory or discretionary. Avoid treating every procedural problem as an automatic exclusion.
How should you revise Criminal Law and Practice?
- Build a procedural map. Work from police detention through hearings, trial, sentence and appeal. Place each syllabus topic at its stage and mark the alternative routes.
- Practise one topic, then mix stages. Start with focused questions on a weak area. Later, mix evidence, procedure and Criminal Liability so that the topic heading no longer supplies the rule for you.
- Explain the deciding fact. Before reading feedback, state the rule and the fact that makes your answer fit. Explain why the closest alternative fails. Our single best answer guide gives a reading routine.
- Keep an error log. Record whether you missed the stage, court, evidential test, exception or client circumstance. Return to the source, write a short correction and revisit it after a gap. See our revision guide.
Check your materials against the law cut-off for your sitting: the SRA uses the law in force four calendar months before the first assessment in the assessment window. (SRA, SQE1 Assessment Specification)Begin with the free SQE1 quick test, then use the SQE1 course page to check current subject coverage. Treat a short test as a starting point for revision, not a forecast of an exam result. This guide is for study, not legal advice.
Frequently asked questions
What does SQE1 Criminal Law and Practice cover?
Police station advice, identification, bail, hearings, plea and allocation, case management, disclosure, evidence, trial, sentencing, appeals and youth proceedings. The syllabus also includes preliminary considerations for using Welsh in criminal proceedings.
Is Criminal Law and Practice the same as Criminal Liability?
No. Criminal Liability covers offences, their elements and defences. Criminal Law and Practice covers advising and representing clients through the criminal process. Both are FLK2 subjects.
How much of FLK2 is Criminal Law and Practice?
The SRA blueprint allocates 14–20% of FLK2 to it. Questions are classified by their main focus and can also require knowledge from other subjects.
How are Criminal Law and Practice questions tested?
Through closed-book single best answer questions with five options and one correct answer. They test applying fundamental rules to realistic client situations at newly qualified solicitor level, with ethics throughout.
Are youth proceedings included in SQE1?
Yes. Criminal Law and Practice includes youth court jurisdiction, grave crimes, allocation, joint charges with adults, youth sentencing guidelines and specified youth orders.
How should I revise Criminal Law and Practice?
Map the procedural stages, practise focused questions before mixing topics, explain the deciding fact and record mistakes by stage or rule. Revisit corrections after a gap and check the law cut-off for your sitting.
Sources
- Solicitors Regulation Authority: SQE1 Functioning Legal Knowledge – FLK2 (from 1 September 2026). Accessed 25 October 2026.
- Solicitors Regulation Authority: SQE1 Assessment Specification (applicable for assessments from 1 September 2026). Accessed 25 October 2026.
- Solicitors Regulation Authority: SQE1 Annex 4 – Functioning Legal Knowledge blueprint. Accessed 25 October 2026.
- Solicitors Regulation Authority: Important changes to SQE1 for January 2027 onwards (10 September 2026). Accessed 25 October 2026.
- The National Archives, legislation.gov.uk: Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, section 76 – Confessions. Accessed 25 October 2026.
- The National Archives, legislation.gov.uk: Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, section 78 – Exclusion of unfair evidence. Accessed 25 October 2026.
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