SQE2 criminal litigation: what the tasks look like
SQE2 criminal litigation tasks cover advice and advocacy for suspects and defendants: an advocacy task on oral Day 2, and written tasks on written Day 1, which it shares with Dispute Resolution. You need police station and court procedure, evidence, sentencing basics and the ethics of acting for a defendant.
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Where criminal litigation appears
The advocacy task in Criminal Litigation is on oral Day 2. Written Day 1 has four tasks across Criminal Litigation and Dispute Resolution: one case and matter analysis, one legal drafting, one legal research and one legal writing task. From 1 September 2026, ethics and professional conduct has its own separate law criterion in SQE2, so spot and deal with the ethics point in every task.
| Skill | Typical criminal task |
|---|---|
| Advocacy | A bail application, mode of trial representations, plea in mitigation, an application to adjourn, or a submission on admissibility. |
| Case and matter analysis | A file with a charge, a police interview and disclosure. Advise on plea, evidence and strategy. |
| Legal research | A question on the elements of an offence, a PACE rule or a sentencing point. |
| Legal writing | A client email on the process and options, or a letter to the prosecution. |
| Legal drafting | A defence statement, a witness statement or a written submission. |
Key law to have ready
- Police station: the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984: arrest and detention, the right to legal advice, the Codes of Practice and the caution. Know when a court may draw an inference from silence under the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, s 34, if the defendant later relies on a fact they did not mention when questioned.
- Classification and venue: summary, either way and indictable only offences. The plea before venue and allocation process for either way offences.
- Bail: the Bail Act 1976. The general right to bail, the exceptions, and the conditions that can be imposed.
- Disclosure: the prosecution duties under the Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act 1996 and the defence statement.
- Evidence: admissibility of confessions and exclusion of unfair evidence under PACE, hearsay and bad character in outline.
- Plea and sentence: credit for a guilty plea depends on when it is entered; use the Sentencing Council guidelines for starting points and mitigation.
- Procedure: the Criminal Procedure Rules, the overriding objective and case management.
- Funding: legal aid, means and merits in outline.
Build the base with the SQE1 pages on criminal law and practice and criminal liability.
Worked mini example
You act for Ms Daley, 24, who has pleaded guilty to stealing £1,200 from her employer. It is her first offence. You make a plea in mitigation. It can sound like this.
'Sir, I accept that this offence involved a breach of trust, which the guideline treats as high culpability, and I recognise the starting point that follows. Ms Daley comes before the court with no previous convictions. I draw the court's attention to three matters. First, she pleaded guilty at the first opportunity, which attracts the maximum reduction for a guilty plea. Second, the genuine remorse shown in her letter to the court and her offer to repay the sum in monthly instalments, which she has already started. Third, her personal circumstances: she is the sole carer for her mother, and a custodial sentence would end that care. In light of those matters, I submit that these matters justify a sentence below the starting point. I invite the court to impose a community order with requirements that fit her caring duties, or, if the court finds the custody threshold is passed, to suspend the sentence.'
This follows the usual order for mitigation: accept the starting point honestly, give the factors in her favour, and ask for a specific sentence. The ethics point: you may not say anything you know to be false. If Ms Daley tells you the offence was worse than the papers show, you need not volunteer that, but you must not say anything that contradicts it. If she wants to plead not guilty after telling you she did it, you can only put the prosecution to proof; you cannot assert her innocence (Code paras 1.4 and 2.4).
Common mistakes
- Mixing up the tests for bail, remand and sentencing.
- Not addressing the prosecution's grounds for objecting to bail.
- Giving a mitigation speech with no sentence proposed.
- Missing the effect of the stage of plea on credit.
- Ignoring a PACE breach that could affect admissibility.
- Asserting facts you cannot support.
- Forgetting the client's instructions, or acting without them.
Criminal litigation checklist
- Offence and its elements.
- Court and mode of trial.
- Bail and conditions.
- Police station rights.
- Evidence and admissibility.
- Disclosure.
- Plea, credit and sentencing guideline.
- Mitigation points.
- Ethics: duty to the court, instructions, confidentiality.
Skill pages: client interview, attendance note, advocacy, case and matter analysis, legal research, legal writing and legal drafting.
Practise this now
Bail application after a domestic assault chargePassAdvocacy
Plea in mitigation for theft from an employerPassAdvocacy
No case to answer on a disputed identificationPassAdvocacy
Excluding a police interview obtained without a solicitorPassAdvocacy
Using the complainant's conviction in a self-defence trialPassAdvocacy
Exceptional hardship to avoid a totting up banPassCase and matter analysis
Class A supply charge: police interview and plea strategyPassCase and matter analysis
Wounding charge outside a takeaway: self-defencePassLegal drafting
Defence case statement in a burglary identification casePassLegal drafting
Witness summons for a nightclub's CCTV and incident logPassLegal research
Can the prosecution use previous convictions at trial?PassLegal research
Reading a frightened witness's statement at trialPassLegal writing
Letter to the CPS proposing a plea to common assaultPassLegal writing
Advising on a mobile phone charge and a driving ban
Questions
What do SQE2 criminal litigation tasks cover?
Police station advice, bail, mode of trial, plea and sentence, evidence, disclosure and the ethics of acting for a defendant.
When is criminal litigation in SQE2?
The advocacy task is on oral Day 2. The written tasks are on written Day 1, with Dispute Resolution.
What advocacy tasks come up in criminal litigation?
Bail applications, mode of trial representations, pleas in mitigation and applications to adjourn. Learn the structure for each.
Do I need sentencing guidelines for SQE2?
Know how to use them: the structure, the effect of a guilty plea and the role of mitigation. The Sentencing Council publishes them. Use the extracts in the task.
What SQE1 subjects help?
Criminal Liability and Criminal Law and Practice, both in FLK2.
Related
- SQE2 advocacy: how to prepare and perform
- SQE2 ethics and professional conduct: how it is tested
- SQE1 Criminal Practice
- SQE1 Criminal Liability
- FLK2: subjects, sessions and how to study
Sources: SRA presentation: The SQE2 assessment; Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984; Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994; Bail Act 1976; Criminal Procedure Rules; Sentencing Council. Checked 10 November 2026.