Welcome to the Kinnu newsletter

If you’re reading this, you’re somewhere on the SQE journey. That might mean the early days of “what even is an FLK?”, deep in the trenches with property, or counting down the weeks to exam day. Wherever you are, we’re glad you’re here.

Gabriel Content team · Kinnu

BTW, this is Gabriel writing. I’m part of the content team at Kinnu and a future trainee at a City firm here in London. I did a law conversion last year, then sat SQE1 in January and SQE2 in April, and thankfully passed both in the top quintile. Some of you might already know me as the person who replies when you get in touch with questions about our MCQs or learning material.

I’ve been exactly where you are, so I know how tough this process is and how overwhelming (and, at times, lonely) it can feel.

That’s why we’re building Kinnu around you. We’re always looking for new ways to improve and to support you as best we can. So if you ever want advice, have a question, or just need a good vent, hit reply. I read every email and I’ll get back to you.

So what’s this all about?

Every week we’ll land in your inbox with a small, useful dose of SQE. No 40-page PDFs, and no guilt trips about the revision you didn’t do last weekend. Here’s what to expect:

What’s new with Kinnu: what we’ve been building, fixing and getting excited about. (This bit. You’re in it now.)

MCQ of the week: one question to keep you sharp. Try it before checking the answer. We’ll know if you didn’t. (We won’t.)

Legal news story of the week: a real world story that shows the law you’re studying in action.

Study tip of the week: one practical tip you can actually use, not “just stay motivated!”

Why are we doing this?

The SQE is a lot. It covers a huge amount of law and rewards consistency more than cramming, and it can feel lonely when you’re working through it around a job, a degree or just life. We built Kinnu to make it feel less like climbing a mountain alone and more like a well planned route with someone handing you snacks along the way.

This newsletter is part of that. It’s a weekly nudge to keep going and a reminder that small, regular steps add up to a big result.

Coming soon

We’ve got a lot cooking behind the scenes: a brand-new SQE2 offering, a complete refresh of our SQE1 material, and a study planner that takes charge of your revision schedule so you don’t have to. More on all of these in the weeks ahead.

Until then, scroll down, have a go at this week’s MCQ, and give yourself some credit for getting this far. You’re doing better than you think.

Speak next week,
Gabriel and the Kinnu team

So, this is a particularly evil IHT question. We know that from the question data, but more importantly, I got it wrong which is conclusive proof that it must be exceptionally difficult. Good luck!

A woman died in July 2024 domiciled in England and Wales, leaving a net estate for inheritance tax purposes valued at £1.2 million. Her estate included her main residence, valued at £450,000, which she had occupied as her home and which passes to her two adult children, a holiday home abroad valued at £300,000, and investments totalling £450,000. Her estate is left equally to her two adult children, and there are no charitable gifts in her will. Her spouse died in July 2019, leaving his entire estate to her, so none of his nil-rate band or residence nil-rate band was used. She made a lifetime gift to an individual of £200,000 more than seven years before her death, and another lifetime gift to an individual of £100,000 two years before her death. These figures are stated after deducting any available lifetime exemptions. She also made regular lifetime gifts of £5,000 annually to charity over the last 10 years of her life.

We’ve all had that moment of panic after hitting “send”. Spare a thought for Freshfields this week.

What happened?

The magic circle firm has apologised unreservedly after leaked internal emails revealed remarks about Middle Eastern sovereign wealth investors. The emails were between global managing partner Alan Mason and Ethan Klingsberg, co-head of the firm’s US corporate and M&A team. In them, the pair discussed outside investment in the firm’s AI and legal tech division and the possibility of a multibillion-dollar valuation.

The problem was that the thread reached far more people than intended when Mason forwarded it over a weekend to a large internal mailing list called “$Freshfields All”.

The comment that caused the fuss

Klingsberg suggested the firm should approach sophisticated investors respected by the wider investor community, adding that this “probably” ruled out “Middle Eastern sovereign wealth money”.

That was awkward, because Freshfields counts some of the region’s biggest sovereign wealth funds among its clients, including ADIA, QIA, Saudi Arabia’s PIF, Bahrain’s Mumtalakat and Mubadala. The firm has also recently launched an office in Saudi Arabia, and it was the region’s top legal adviser for deals in the first half of last year, according to Bloomberg data.

The response

In a statement on Monday, Freshfields distanced itself from the remark, saying it did not reflect the position or beliefs of the firm or of those in the email chain, and that it sincerely regretted the offence caused.

Why it matters for you

Obviously, the email blunder is what grabbed the headlines. The real story, though, is a commercial awareness gem you can take into interviews. A magic circle firm is seriously considering spinning out its AI unit and opening it up to outside investors. Freshfields isn’t alone either: more and more firms are building their own AI tools to diversify what they offer.

So when AI comes up, go beyond “AI is going to replace junior lawyers”. The more interesting angle is how AI is pushing firms past their traditional legal offering, and what that could mean for how law firms are structured and make money.

As for the lesson for future trainees: always double-check who’s in the “To” field before you hit send.

Clearly, the forgetting curve presents a problem to those of us trying to learn. How can we prevent that massive loss of information in the first few days?

The golden rule to embed new information in long-term memory is ‘spaced repetition.’ This is a study technique that involves actively testing yourself on material over increasing intervals of time.

Effective spaced repetition relies on active recall — retrieving information from your brain rather than simply recognising it on a page.

For example, after studying contract remedies, close your SQE notes and list all the types of remedies and their requirements from memory.

This process of self-testing forces your brain to work harder, creating stronger memory pathways.

Expanding retrieval

The optimal learning schedule is one where the intervals between these active recall sessions become increasingly longer.

Take Criminal Law and Practice, for instance: after learning the actus reus and mens rea for murder, test yourself with some MCQs the next day, then three days later, then a week after that.

As exam day approaches and recall becomes easier, reviews can be spaced further apart.

This is called ‘expanding retrieval.’ It works because retrieving information after you’ve started to forget it requires more mental effort and allows you to go back through the consolidation process again.

Many SQE candidates find that spaced repetition helps them retain even the finer details under pressure, significantly improving their chances of passing their exams.

Repetition tools: SQE flashcards and practice questions

To implement effective spaced repetition for SQE1, you’ll need both the right techniques and a strategic review schedule.

Digital tools like Anki, Quizlet, or Brainscape can make expanding retrieval easier by automatically adjusting the review timing based on your performance, showing you what you’re struggling with more often and spacing out material you’ve mastered.

These tools can be used to create large decks of flashcards summarising key legal concepts. As one successful SQE1 candidate noted, “I wish I’d started writing flashcards from the beginning and edited them as I went” — a solid reminder to start early rather than cramming later.

You will also find many publicly available SQE flashcard decks on the platforms above made by other students.

Other practical recall techniques include:

• Using practice questions as a springboard for listing all the legal rules relevant to that case study
• Covering your notes and writing down what you remember
• Summarising each study session or a book chapter in one minute from memory
• Explaining complex ideas out loud, as if teaching someone else

To make the most of spaced repetition:

• Build an SQE revision schedule that cycles through all subjects rather than focusing exclusively on one area at a time
• Revisit each topic periodically (e.g., negligence a week after first study, then two weeks later)
• Use tools and online resources to automate review timing where possible
• Focus more frequent reviews on topics you find harder

Remember, this approach pays dividends beyond just SQE1.

Since much of the material overlaps with SQE2, building it into long-term memory through spaced repetition means you won’t need to relearn everything later.

Cramming, by contrast, virtually guarantees you’ll need to start from scratch for SQE2.