Business Law And Practice Revision Notes

[David]

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Congress passed the first antitrust law, the Sherman Act, in 1890 as a "comprehensive charter of economic liberty aimed at preserving free and unfettered competition as the rule of trade." In 1914, Congress passed two additional antitrust laws: the Federal Trade Commission Act, which created the FTC, and the Clayton Act. With some revisions, these are the three core federal antitrust laws still in effect today.

The antitrust laws proscribe unlawful mergers and business practices in general terms, leaving courts to decide which ones are illegal based on the facts of each case. Courts have applied the antitrust laws to changing markets, from a time of horse and buggies to the present digital age. Yet for over 100 years, the antitrust laws have had the same basic objective: to protect the process of competition for the benefit of consumers, making sure there are strong incentives for businesses to operate efficiently, keep prices down, and keep quality up.

The Sherman Act outlaws "every contract, combination, or conspiracy in restraint of trade," and any "monopolization, attempted monopolization, or conspiracy or combination to monopolize." Long ago, the Supreme Court decided that the Sherman Act does not prohibit every restraint of trade, only those that are unreasonable. For instance, in some sense, an agreement between two individuals to form a partnership restrains trade, but may not do so unreasonably, and thus may be lawful under the antitrust laws. On the other hand, certain acts are considered so harmful to competition that they are almost always illegal. These include plain arrangements among competing individuals or businesses to fix prices, divide markets, or rig bids. These acts are "per se" violations of the Sherman Act; in other words, no defense or justification is allowed.

The penalties for violating the Sherman Act can be severe. Although most enforcement actions are civil, the Sherman Act is also a criminal law, and individuals and businesses that violate it may be prosecuted by the Department of Justice. Criminal prosecutions are typically limited to intentional and clear violations such as when competitors fix prices or rig bids. The Sherman Act imposes criminal penalties of up to $100 million for a corporation and $1 million for an individual, along with up to 10 years in prison. Under federal law, the maximum fine may be increased to twice the amount the conspirators gained from the illegal acts or twice the money lost by the victims of the crime, if either of those amounts is over $100 million.

The Federal Trade Commission Act bans "unfair methods of competition" and "unfair or deceptive acts or practices." The Supreme Court has said that all violations of the Sherman Act also violate the FTC Act. Thus, although the FTC does not technically enforce the Sherman Act, it can bring cases under the FTC Act against the same kinds of activities that violate the Sherman Act. The FTC Act also reaches other practices that harm competition, but that may not fit neatly into categories of conduct formally prohibited by the Sherman Act. Only the FTC brings cases under the FTC Act.

The Clayton Act addresses specific practices that the Sherman Act does not clearly prohibit, such as mergers and interlocking directorates (that is, the same person making business decisions for competing companies). Section 7 of the Clayton Act prohibits mergers and acquisitions where the effect "may be substantially to lessen competition, or to tend to create a monopoly." As amended by the Robinson-Patman Act of 1936, the Clayton Act also bans certain discriminatory prices, services, and allowances in dealings between merchants. The Clayton Act was amended again in 1976 by the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act to require companies planning large mergers or acquisitions to notify the government of their plans in advance. The Clayton Act also authorizes private parties to sue for triple damages when they have been harmed by conduct that violates either the Sherman or Clayton Act and to obtain a court order prohibiting the anticompetitive practice in the future.

In addition to these federal statutes, most states have antitrust laws that are enforced by state attorneys general or private plaintiffs. Many of these statutes are based on the federal antitrust laws.

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SQE1 itself is a two-day exam with multiple-choice questions (MCQ). The first day tests FLK1 subjects (Business Law and Practice, Dispute Resolution, Contract, Tort, Legal System of England and Wales, Constitutional and Administrative Law and EU Law and Legal Services). The second day tests FLK2 topics (Property Practice, Wills and the Administration of Estates, Solicitors Accounts, Land Law, Trusts, Criminal Law and Practice).

The main reason I chose to go through this new route was my reluctance to pay 16k for the Legal Practice Course (LPC) myself, and, unfortunately, I could not secure a training contract. So I wanted to go through the whole SQE route for under 16k while working full-time as a legal assistant (paralegal).

I completed the Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL) part-time at the University of Law in 2017-2019. I had relatively fresh knowledge of the core subjects, but I had never studied LPC subjects. I knew that I would need some materials for those.

In January 2021, one of the cheapest options on the market was the Basic Course at the QLTS School. It included hard copy textbooks, printable revision notes, flashcards (which I never used), practice questions, and ten mock tests for 1,590. I was comfortable going with them because of their experience preparing candidates for the QLTS exam (similar to the SQE).

I essentially spent about four months (April-July) reading all hard copy books. I typically studied for about 5-10 hours per week. These books are also accessible online, but I found that system to be very slow, and you need to be connected to the Internet at all times, so forget about planes or even places with poor internet connections. There were some typos and mistakes, so I had to stay alert and double-check with other sources if something did not look quite right.

When on the go (and to save my eyesight), I also tried to watch YouTube videos or listen to podcasts. I can particularly recommend Equity & Trusts podcast by Alastair Hudson, which contains comprehensive material that is easy to understand (but be aware it was recorded some years ago).

During my reading of a particular subject and a few days after, I attempted as many practice questions as possible. I found those questions to be very similar to the types of questions in the real SQE1 exam. Questions also contained some typos and, occasionally, some wrong answers but not many. I was annoyed with the questions that were not covered in the textbooks. However, the answers were usually comprehensive, and you learn something new from them too.

Throughout September and October, my main focus was on preparing concise revision notes for all subjects. I was lucky to have flowcharts that I prepared for my GDL revision, which I supplemented with printable revision notes from the QLTS School. These were handy, but I found them too detailed, so I had to remove anything that I thought was unnecessary. I love flowcharts, so I also used all I could find online or on Westlaw.

I took two last weeks before the exam off from my full-time job. On the one hand, it felt like an absolute waste of my holiday allowance, which I could have used for trips to some lovely destinations. On the other hand, given that I was revising for 7-8 hours a day, it was overall beneficial.

Results were only announced more than two months later, on 20 January 2022. There was also a 7-hour delay in delivering the candidates' results, which felt like an eternity. Although, it did not matter when I realised that I passed both parts with smashing scores of 81 for FLK1 and 80 for FLK2 (both in the top 20%). It probably was higher than in any of the mock tests. This is either because mock tests were slightly more complex or because I was more focused and determined during the actual exam.

I spent many hours preparing, and it paid off in the end! My two key pieces of advice for future candidates are: (1) prepare good revision notes for each subject; and (2) do as many practice tests as possible and carefully consider why a particular answer is correct. Therefore, whether self-study from only books is possible, I think access to a representative pool of exam questions is essential. (I felt that the sample SRA questions were easier than the exam questions.)

I hope this note is helpful for future SQE1 candidates, but, of course, each journey is different, and different people will find other materials and techniques more helpful. This was my way to pass SQE1.

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