SQE2 attendance note: what to record, and a template

What the note is for

The interview and the note are one station. In the interview you gather facts and build the client's trust. In the note you record those facts and analyse them. The actor playing the client marks the interview on skills only, so every law mark in the station comes from the note. A good interview followed by a thin note scores poorly on law.

The SRA describes the task as an "attendance note/legal analysis". That second phrase matters. A file note that only records what was said is half the task. The note must also analyse the legal issues, record your initial advice, set out next steps for you and the client, and deal with any ethical issue. You have 25 minutes, and you write by hand.

What examiners mark

There is no language criterion on the note. That is unusual in SQE2: case and matter analysis, legal research, legal writing and legal drafting are all marked on language. In the note, neat phrasing earns nothing. What earns marks is completeness, a correct analysis and next steps that are specific. Short sentences and bullet points are fine, provided the assessor can follow them.

The skills half of the station is the interview and the note in equal shares. The marking criteria page shows how this works with a calculator.

Record during the interview, analyse after it

Most of the recording problem is solved before the note starts. In the 10 minutes before the interview, divide a page into the headings below. During the interview, write facts under them as you hear them: names, dates, amounts, addresses, what the client wants. When the 25 minutes of writing starts, you are then completing a note, not trying to remember one.

A template to copy

1. Header: client name, date, matter, who was present, length of the interview.
2. Client's objectives: what the client wants, in their words, and what matters most to them.
3. Key facts: names, dates, amounts and documents, grouped by issue.
4. Issue 1: the law, applied to these facts, with the likely outcome and any uncertainty.
5. Issue 2 (and so on): the same pattern.
6. Advice given in the interview, and advice still to give.
7. Ethical and conduct points: what the issue is and what you will do about it.
8. Next steps for us: each one a specific action, with a time if one matters.
9. Next steps for the client: what they must send, sign or decide.
10. Information still needed, and from whom.

A short annotated example

This is our own excerpt, not an SRA sample. Joan, aged 79, came to make a new will leaving her house to her son Martin, who drove her to the office and asked to sit in. Her previous will left everything equally to Martin and her daughter Kate.

• [1] Earns credit (record all relevant information). The note captures the objective, the asset, how it is owned and the client's own reason. Ownership matters: a house held jointly would pass outside the will.
• [2] Earns credit (law, correctly applied). The 1975 Act risk is identified and applied to Kate's circumstances. A fuller answer would add that a claim must normally be made within six months of the grant of representation.
• [3] Earns credit (ethics). A beneficiary asking to sit in on will instructions is a classic undue influence and instructions risk. Seeing the client alone, and recording that you did, is the professional response.
• [4] Earns credit (next steps). Each step is a specific action with a person attached. "Follow up with client" would earn little.

Check your own note

Our paraphrase of what competent notes do. The SRA publishes performance indicators for the attendance note with its SQE2 sample questions; read them in full.

• Could a colleague pick up the file from this note alone?
• Have I recorded the facts the law depends on, such as dates, amounts, ownership and relationships?
• Is each legal issue analysed and applied to the client, not only named?
• Have I recorded what the client wants and how my advice serves it?
• Are my next steps specific actions, split between us and the client?
• Have I answered every question in the partner's email?
• Have I recorded the ethical issue and what I did or will do about it?

Common mistakes

• Writing a transcript. The interview took 25 minutes; the note should record what matters, grouped by issue, not the order it was said.
• Leaving the analysis out. A note without legal analysis cannot score well on the law criteria, which are half the station.
• Vague next steps, such as "obtain further information". Name the information and who provides it.
• Recording advice you did not give as if you gave it. Separate advice given in the interview from advice to follow.
• Running out of time. Handwriting is slower than typing, so plan for fewer words than in a typed task.

The SQE2 client interview guide covers the 25 minutes before the note. The marked note at the top of this page shows the criteria applied to a full answer. The SQE2 hub lists everything in the course, and plans and prices sets out the options.