The Qualified Lawyers Assessment

1. Legal system and legal method
2. Public Law
3. Obligations
4. Criminal Law
5. Evidence
6. Procedure
7. Conveyancing
8. Trusts and Succession
9. European Law and Institutions
10. Professional Conduct
11. The Accounts Rules

Candidates may sit the exams in any order that they choose.

Please note the QLA exams are held remotely however they may return to “in person” exams, we will advise candidates if this change happens and give candidates at least 6 months notice.

Syllabus and reading list

There are two exam diets per year (May and November). Exams are currently being held remotely. This method will continue until further notice. Further information about the arrangements of a remote exam diet can be found in the drop-down list below. 

You can find a copy of the current exam calendar below.

• QLA Exam Calendar 2025

Details of an exam diet will also be emailed to candidates who have enrolled on an exam, around three weeks before the exam date. It is therefore important that candidates contact the Society with any change in circumstances or if contact details change

Please note the QLA exams are held remotely however they may return to “in person” exams, we will advise candidates if this change happens and give candidates at least 6 months notice.

• Enrolments for an exam should be made no later than six weeks prior to the date of an exam.
• Late enrolments may not be accepted.
• Any candidate who enrolls for an exam and either fails to give at least seven days’ notice that they will not attend, or does not have reasonable cause for non-attendance (see our policy on reasonable cause), will be treated as having failed the exam.
• The enrolment fee is £115 per exam. If an applicant is required to resit an exam, another enrolment fee must be paid. Once your enrolment form has been processed, you will receive an invoice shortly after including payment instructions. Payment must be made within seven days of receipt of the invoice.
• Enrolment forms must be completed in full and submitted to exams@lawscot.org.uk.

Exam enrolment form

Candidates are asked to sign and submit a disclaimer for their first exam, which is applicable to all future exams.  Candidates can view a copy of the disclaimer below and should sign and return the disclaimer when they enroll on their first exam.

Candidates who don't return a signed disclaimer before the date of their first exam, will not be allowed to sit that or any other exam until a disclaimer is signed and returned.

Law Society of Scotland Exam Disclaimer

Issue of paper

Exam papers will be sent to candidates, by email, 10 minutes before the scheduled start time of each exam.

Format

The exam paper will be in broadly the same format as would have been supplied in the exam hall setting. It will comply with the terms of the syllabus for each subject in terms of numbers and types of question etc.

Form of submission

In principle, exam answers should be Word-processed. If you will be unable to comply with this requirement, you must arrange, in advance, to handwrite your answers and submit photos of each page within the 10-minute period allowed for this at the end of the exam. Excessively long answers should be avoided. Quality is more important than quantity. 

Open book

Exams are now open book. In answering them, candidates may consult any material available to them. The questions will take some account of the fact that all materials are accessible. Do not rely on being able to find the material required during the exam. Access to materials can serve only as aide-memoire so that, for example, it may be possible to check a detail such as a case name.

Referencing and avoiding academic dishonesty

For case law and legislation, full citation is required to be stated at least once but can be shortened after that for any subsequent reference. If you quote another source directly, you must put that quotation in inverted commas and give a brief citation of the source (eg “Chalmers, (2015), p8)”.

We remind candidates that you have signed a disclaimer to avoid academic dishonesty, plagiarism and AI platforms. A copy of the disclaimer that has been signed and agreed by you can be found here.

Candidates with reasonable adjustments

In general, these can be dealt with for online submission but please discuss in advance with the Law Society.

Candidates must sit their first exam or exams within 12 months of the date on their Certificate of Eligibility. Starting with the first exam diet, candidates then have four consecutive exam diets to sit each exam at least once.  This means candidates will have to attempt each exam, at least once, within a two-year period.

Candidates then have three attempts to pass each QLA exam.

Any candidate who enrolls for an exam and either fails to give at least seven days’ notice that they will not attend, or does not have reasonable cause for non-attendance, will be treated as having failed the exam.

Further clarification on numbers of attempts:

1. Any candidate who does not have a first attempt at an exam within the relevant two-year time period will be deemed to have failed their first attempt at that exam or exams.
2. Any candidate who fails to pass all of their exams within the relevant time period, must attempt all outstanding exams at the next available diet.  This will be the case until a candidate has used up all three of their attempts for each outstanding exam.

Note: This means that where a candidate does not have a first attempt at an exam within the relevant time period and is deemed to have failed their first attempt at that exam (as noted in paragraph 1 above), the “next available diet” noted in paragraph 2 above will be the candidates second attempt at that exam.

The Law Society has produced the following guidance on oral exams.

Oral exam policy

Occasionally, candidates will enroll in an exam and then be unable to sit that exam.  For instances where this happens, the Law Society has produced the following guidance on extenuating circumstances and reasonable cause.

Extenuating circumstances and reasonable cause policy

The Society’s Marking Scale and Descriptors are available on the Society’s website.

Each paper will be graded A to G. Grades A to D are passes.  Grade D3 is regarded as a borderline pass, and in certain circumstances could be cause for a candidate to sit an oral exam.

Grade E1 is regarded as a marginal fail. 

Law Society of Scotland Exam Marking Scale

Candidates are advised in writing of results, normally within eight weeks of the exam date, but only after the results are ratified by the Convener and Vice-Convener of the Board of Examiners.

Candidates will only be provided with feedback for questions that they have failed, in a failed exam:

• Where an exam has been passed, even where a candidate has failed a question within that exam, feedback will not be provided at all.
• Where an exam has been failed but certain questions within that exam have been passed, feedback will only be provided for the questions that have been failed, not for questions that have been passed.

The Law Society has produced the following guidance on rights of appeal against exam marks.

Rights of appeal against exam marks

The Law Society has produced the following guidance on applications for exemptions from exams.

Guidance on exemption applications

Solicitors from some jurisdictions have been granted exemptions “by right”. The exemptions by right noted below will automatically be granted and do not require a separate application.

Exemptions for solicitors, advocates and barristers in England & Wales, Northern Ireland, Ireland and Channel Islands

English and Welsh solicitors and barristers, Northern Irish solicitors and barristers, Irish solicitors and barristers and solicitors and advocates from the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man are exempt from sitting examinations in:

• public law
• obligations
• European law and institutions
• professional conduct

Exemptions for lawyers qualified in non-UK EEA jurisdictions or Switzerland

Lawyers qualified in non-UK European economic area jurisdictions or Switzerland are exempt from sitting an examination in European law and institutions.

Exemptions for lawyers qualified in common law jurisdictions

Lawyers qualified in other common law jurisdictions have the option to answer any three questions in the examination in legal system and legal method. Non-common law candidates also must answer three questions, in which one question will be compulsory.

If you believe that you are qualified in a common law jurisdiction which is not included in this list at the link above, please indicate so on your application and explain your reasons.

Around two thirds of all exemption applications are refused.  As an example, the table below shows the number of successful applications per exam in 2023:

It is noted that there is a fee associated with making an application (noted on the exemption application form) and that there is no right to have your application reconsidered where you disagree with the examiner’s assessment of your experience or qualifications.  Only where you can establish that the Law Society has not acted in accordance with its exemption guidelines will your application be reconsidered.  Applicants are asked to keep all of this in mind when considering making an application. 

It is important to note that it is not sufficient to provide evidence that you have prior qualifications and/or work experience in another jurisdiction that merely relates to the subject from which you are applying for an exemption.  It is fundamental that you provide evidence that your prior qualifications and/or experience matches to the Scots law syllabus being examined. 

Even the most experienced of foreign qualified lawyers will be required to sit the Society’s QLA exams, if they cannot show that their prior qualifications and/or experience matches the Scots law syllabus being examined.  The key is whether you can show you have a relevant qualification in Scots law or have sufficient experience working in relevant areas of Scots law.  If you cannot, even where you have considerable prior experience in your home or another jurisdiction, your exemption application will likely be refused. 

Applications for exemption must be submitted when applying for a Certificate of Eligibility but will be considered only if and when the relevant certificate has been issued by the Society.