SQE2 attendance note: how to write a strong one

An SQE2 attendance note is a short record of the client meeting plus your legal analysis and next steps, written in about 25 minutes straight after the interview. A solicitor marks it on skills and on application of law.

What the assessor is looking for

The skills criteria ask you to record the relevant information and to identify next steps. The law criterion asks for a correct and comprehensive application of the law to the client's situation, with advice that is focused on the client. From 1 September 2026 there is a separate criterion for ethics and professional conduct.

So the note has to do three jobs: record, analyse, plan. A transcript fails the second and third jobs. A bare list of law fails the first.

A structure you can use every time

1. Heading. Client name, matter, date, who attended, length of meeting.
2. Summary. Two or three sentences: what the client wants and the main legal issue.
3. Relevant facts. Short numbered points. Include dates, sums, parties and documents. Leave out colour that does not matter.
4. Client's goals and concerns. What matters most, and any deadline.
5. Legal analysis. For each issue: the rule, how it applies to these facts, and your view. Say what you do not yet know.
6. Advice given and options. What you told the client, or what you recommend telling them.
7. Ethics and risks. Conflict, confidentiality, money laundering, vulnerability, client care, funding.
8. Next steps. Who does what, and by when. Include documents to obtain, letters to send, enquiries to make, and time limits.

Use short headings. The marker must find each element in seconds.

Worked mini example

Mrs Adeyemi wants a new will. She is 78 and a widow. Her daughter Tola brought her to the meeting.

Attendance note. Client: Mrs Beryl Adeyemi. Matter: new will. Present: client and trainee (daughter waited outside after the first five minutes). Length: 25 minutes.

Summary. Client wants to leave her house to her daughter Tola and the rest equally to Tola and Mrs Adeyemi's son Femi. Capacity appears good, but there is a possible undue influence concern.

Facts. 1. Widowed 2021; existing will from 2014 leaves everything to her late husband, then to both children equally. 2. House is her main asset, worth about £420,000. 3. Tola arranged the appointment and answered several questions.

Analysis. A will is valid if it meets Wills Act 1837, s 9 (in writing, signed by the testator or by another in her presence and direction, with two witnesses present at the same time). The client must have testamentary capacity (Banks v Goodfellow) and know and approve the contents. Tola's presence raises a risk of undue influence. I saw the client alone for the instructions, which is good practice.

Ethics. I act only for Mrs Adeyemi. I must not take instructions through Tola and must keep the client's information confidential from her (SRA Code, para 6.3). I should record why I am satisfied the wishes are her own.

Next steps. 1. Draft the will for the client's approval. 2. Obtain the title details for the house. 3. Consider a capacity note. 4. Arrange signing with two independent witnesses. 5. Send a client care letter.

Common mistakes

• Writing a transcript of who said what. The marker wants a record and an analysis.
• Writing law without applying it. 'The law of negligence requires duty, breach and damage' is not analysis. Say how it works for these facts.
• No next steps, or next steps with no dates, names or actions.
• Padding the facts with detail that does not matter, so the legal points arrive late.
• Missing a time limit or an obvious risk.
• Forgetting the ethics section because the interview did not flag it.
• Typing errors that make the note hard to read. Check your final minute.

Time plan for 25 minutes

Spend two minutes on the heading and summary, six on facts and goals, eleven on analysis and advice, four on ethics and next steps, and two reading it through. If you run short, keep the law and the next steps; trim the facts.

Attendance note checklist

• Heading complete.
• A summary at the top.
• Facts in short points, with dates and money.
• The client's goals and worries recorded.
• Each issue: rule, application, view.
• Gaps in information listed.
• An ethics and risk point.
• Next steps with owner and time.

For the interview that comes before this task, see SQE2 client interview. You can practise both in one sitting with an AI client, with estimated marking against the published criteria.

Templates and worked examples

• SQE2 attendance note example
• SQE2 attendance note template

Questions

Related

• SQE2 client interview: how to structure it
• SQE2 ethics and professional conduct: how it is tested
• SQE2 wills and probate: what the tasks look like
• SQE2 property practice: what the tasks look like
• SQE2 mock: how to run one that helps

Sources: SRA presentation: The SQE2 assessment; Law Society: SQE1 and SQE2 assessments; SRA: Ethics and professional conduct changes for SQE2 after 1 September 2026; Wills Act 1837. Checked 10 November 2026.