SQE1 Legal System.

A woman paid a builder £9,000 to refit her bathroom. He stripped out the old fittings, took the money and never came back. A second builder has quoted £8,500 to finish the work properly, and she also wants the £150 of pay she lost while waiting at home for the first builder to arrive. Nobody has been injured. The dispute is about what the two of them agreed and what was actually done, and a trial is expected to take half a day. The woman has been told that anything to do with building work is treated as a complex case, and she is afraid of having to pay the builder's legal costs if she loses.

Is the woman's claim likely to be allocated to the small claims track?

1. Yes, because the claim is worth less than £10,000 and no injury is claimed. Correct
2. Yes, because the claim is worth less than £25,000 and the claimant is an individual.
3. No, because the sum claimed exceeds the £5,000 limit for contract claims.
4. No, because a dispute about building work is allocated to the multi-track as complex.
5. No, because a claim of this size is allocated to the fast track.

A man has been convicted in the magistrates' court of two offences committed a fortnight apart: common assault, and criminal damage to a fence valued at £800. Neither offence can be tried in the Crown Court. The magistrates say that because these were separate incidents they intend to impose a sentence of imprisonment for each offence, to run consecutively.

What is the longest total sentence of imprisonment that the court may impose on the man?

1. Six months, that being the aggregate limit for consecutive sentences of this kind. Correct
2. Nine months, being six months for the assault and three for the damage.
3. Twelve months, because a separate sentence may be passed for each of the offences.
4. Twelve months, that being the limit since the magistrates' powers were increased.
5. Six months for each offence, giving a total of twelve months.

A woman has been dismissed from a job she had held for four years, for misconduct she says she was never told about. She was given no meeting before the decision was taken, and she was not paid the four weeks' notice her contract required. She wants the dismissal declared unfair and she wants compensation. She has no savings, cannot afford to instruct a solicitor for a hearing, and a neighbour has told her that she will have to pay her former employer's legal bill if she loses.

Is an employment tribunal the more appropriate forum for the woman's claims?

1. Yes, because it specialises in such claims and rarely orders a losing party to pay costs. Correct
2. Yes, because a party who loses a claim in a tribunal can never be ordered to pay costs.
3. No, because a claim of this kind has to be brought in the County Court.
4. No, because she could not present a claim to a tribunal without being represented.
5. No, because a tribunal can order her employer to take her back but cannot award compensation.

A man's house purchase was handled from start to finish by a chartered legal executive. He has since discovered that she knew for three weeks that the seller had withdrawn and said nothing, leaving him to give notice on his rented flat and pay for a removal van. He has complained to her firm, which replied that she had done nothing wrong, and he now wants her conduct investigated by whoever is responsible for disciplining her. A neighbour tells him that anyone doing conveyancing answers to the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

To which body should the man direct his complaint about her conduct?

1. The Solicitors Regulation Authority, because it regulates everyone who carries out conveyancing work.
2. The Law Society, because it is the professional body to which all lawyers belong.
3. The Bar Standards Board, because it regulates lawyers who have not qualified as solicitors.
4. The Legal Services Board, because it handles complaints about the conduct of individual lawyers.
5. CILEx Regulation, because it is the regulator of chartered legal executives. Correct