SQE2 Assessment

Overview of SQE2

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 least 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 Intestacy, 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 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 organisations, 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 half days, you will take a total of four oral legal skills assessments.

SQE2 written

The assessments in SQE2 written are:

• Case and matter analysis
• Legal research
• Legal writing
• Legal drafting

SQE2 written takes place over three half-days. You will take a total of 12 written legal skills assessments.

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