Legal Skills Assessments

The legal skills assessments in SQE2 are:

• client interview and attendance note/legal analysis
• advocacy
• case and matter analysis
• legal research
• legal writing
• legal drafting

Although there is no separate assessment called negotiation, all deliveries of SQE2 will contain at lease one assessment involving negotiation. Negotiation may be assessed in either interview and attendance note/legal analysis and/or case and matter analysis and/or legal writing.

Practice Areas

The practice areas in which these legal skills are assessed are:

• Criminal Litigation (including advising clients at the police station)
• Dispute Resolution
• Property Practice
• Wills and Intestacy, Probate Administration and Practice
• Business organisations, rules and procedures (including money laundering and financial services)

Questions in these practice areas may draw on underlying black letter law in the Functioning Legal Knowledge (FLK) as follows:

• Criminal Litigation: Criminal liability
• Dispute Resolution: Contract law and Tort
• Property Practice: Land law
• Wills and Intestact, Probate Administration and Practice: Trusts
• Business Organisations, rules and procedures: Contract law

Professionalism and ethics will be core parts of SQE2. Questions on ethics will be pervasive throughout the SQE2. Ethical issues will not be flagged and candidates will need to identify any ethical and professional conduct issues and exercise judgment to resolve them honestly and with integrity.

Questions involving taxation may arise in Property Practice, Wills and Intestacy, Probate Administration and Practice, and Business organizations, rules and procedures.

Property Practice is under the heading freehold and leasehold real estate law and practive and core principles of planning law.

For avoidance of doubt the legal system of England and Wales, constitutional and administrative law and EU law, legal services (apart from money laundering and financial services) and solicitors’ accounts are not examined in SQE2. Money laundering and financial services are examinable in the context of business organizations, rules and procedures.

Organisation and delivery

For practical purposes SQE2 is divided into two parts as follows:

SQE2 oral

The assessments in SQE2 oral are:

• interview and attendance note/legal analysis
• advocacy

SQE2 oral will take place over two and half days. The following table shows the assessments candidates will undertake on each of the days. Candidates will take a total of four oral legal skills assessments.

Day 1 Advocacy (Dispute Resolution) . Interview and attendance note/legal analysis (Property Practice)
Day 2 Advocacy (Criminal Litigation) – Interview and attendance note/legal analysis (Wills and Intestacy, Probate Admininistration and Practice)

Please note that different candidates may complete the assessments in different orders. Candidates may therefore start with either the interview and attendance note/legal analysis or the advocacy.

SQE2 Written

The assessments in SQE 2 written are:

• case and matter analysis
• legal research
• legal writing
• legal drafting

SQE2 written will take place over three half days. The following table shows the assessments candidate will undertake on each of the days. Candidates will take a total of 12 written legal skills assessments.

Day 1 1 – Case and matter analysis 1 – Legal drafting 1 – Legal research 1 – Legal writing Two of these exercises will be in the context of Dispute Resolution and two will be in the context of Criminal Litigation.
Day 2 1 – Case and matter analysis 1 – Legal drafting 1 – Legal research 1 – Legal writing Two of these exercises will be in the context of Property Practice and two will be in the context of Wills and Intestacy, Probate Administration and Practice.
Day 3 1 – Case and matter analysis 1 – Legal drafting 1 – Legal research 1 – Legal writing Candidates will sit all assessments in the context of Business Organisations, Rules and Procedures.
Please note that different candidates may complete the assessments in different orders.

If you would like to have an interview and plan your study for the SQE with a professional tutor with more than 10 years experience, send an email to info@britishlawacademy.com or fill in this form https://forms.gle/ybTC5vY691KQHAv17