You have forty-five minutes on the clock, a fictional client whose contract has gone sideways, and a blank screen on the Pearson VUE platform. No internet, no templates, no auto-correct catching your slips. The instructions say "write a letter of advice". Do you open with the law? The facts? A cheery greeting? This is the moment where a lot of otherwise strong candidates freeze — not because they don't know the law, but because they have never rehearsed the shape of a solicitor's written work under pressure.
Legal Writing and Legal Drafting are two of the five SQE2 skills, sitting alongside Client Interviewing, Advocacy, Case and Matter Analysis, and Legal Research. They look similar on paper. They are not. Getting the difference clear in your head is the first real step towards a comfortable pass.
Writing vs Drafting: two SQE2 skills, two mindsets
Legal Writing asks you to communicate — usually a letter or email to a client, another solicitor, or a third party. The reader is often a non-lawyer. Your job is to explain the legal position in plain, accurate English and tell them what happens next.
Legal Drafting asks you to produce a legal document or part of one — a clause in a contract, a witness statement, a particulars of claim, a will provision, a deed of variation. Here precision and structure matter more than warmth. A single loose word can change the legal effect of the whole document.
Think of it this way: in writing you are the translator, turning law into language a client understands. In drafting you are the engineer, building something that has to hold its shape when tested. The SRA marks both on two axes — the quality of your skills (structure, clarity, tone, format) and the quality of the application of law. You need both. A beautifully written letter that misstates the limitation period will not pass, and neither will a legally perfect answer buried in a wall of jargon.
The assessors are not looking for a law review essay. They are checking whether a real client would understand you, act on your advice, and be properly protected by the document you produced.
A repeatable method for the SQE2 legal writing task
Under exam conditions you don't want to invent a structure from scratch. Have one ready. Here is a reliable skeleton for a letter or email of advice:
- Open properly. Correct salutation, a one-line purpose ("I am writing to advise you on…"), and a short reference to the matter. Match the register to the recipient — a client gets warmth, an opposing solicitor gets courtesy without concession.
- Summarise the facts you are relying on. Two or three sentences. This shows the assessor you have read the file and protects you if a fact turns out to be wrong.
- State the legal position, applied. Not "the law of misrepresentation says…" in the abstract. Instead: "Because the seller told you the roof was new when it was fifteen years old, you may have a claim in misrepresentation." Weave law and fact together.
- Give practical options and a recommendation. Clients want to know what to do. Negotiate? Issue proceedings? Wait? Set out the realistic choices and steer them.
- Close with next steps and any action needed from them. Deadlines, documents you need, when you will be in touch.
A few habits earn easy marks. Use short paragraphs and sub-headings the client can scan. Avoid Latin and jargon unless you explain it — write "the time limit for bringing a claim" rather than leaving "limitation" hanging. And never give advice you cannot support on the facts given. If information is missing, say so and explain what you would need. That caution reads as competence, not weakness.
Drafting clauses and documents that hold up
Drafting tasks reward discipline. Whatever the document, work through the same checks:
- Purpose first. What is this clause or document meant to achieve? A well-drafted indemnity clause and a poorly drafted one can read almost identically until something goes wrong.
- Follow conventional structure. A witness statement needs a heading, numbered paragraphs, the maker's own words, and a statement of truth. Particulars of claim need the parties, the facts, the legal basis and the remedy sought. Know the standard skeleton for the common documents.
- Be precise with defined terms. If you call one party "the Buyer", stay consistent. Sloppy naming creates ambiguity, and ambiguity is where disputes live.
- Cover the "what ifs". Good drafting anticipates. What happens on late payment? On breach? On termination? You won't have space for everything, so cover the risks the scenario clearly flags.
- Keep sentences doing one job each. Long, comma-stuffed clauses hide errors. Break obligations into separate numbered sub-clauses.
Remember that drafting is still tested for legal accuracy. If you are drafting a clause about a partnership dispute, the default rules in the Partnership Act 1890 may fill any gaps — so your clause should say clearly what the parties actually want, not leave the statute to decide for them. If you are drafting around a negligence claim, the duty-of-care principles from Donoghue v Stevenson still frame the substance. The document is only as good as the law behind it.
Working within the Pearson VUE constraints
SQE2 is delivered on a closed computer platform. No browser, no internet, no spellcheck you can lean on, and only Ctrl+F to search within the materials you are given. Two practical consequences follow.
First, proofread manually. Budget the last three or four minutes of every writing or drafting task to reread from the top. Typos and dropped words cost skills marks and, worse, can flip the meaning of a clause. Second, get comfortable typing structured text without formatting tools doing the work for you. Practise laying out numbered paragraphs and headings by hand so it feels natural on the day.
Time is the real examiner. If you have not planned your structure in the first two minutes, you will spend the last five panicking. Decide your headings before you write a full sentence.
Common mistakes that cost SQE2 marks
Over the years the same errors come up again and again. Watch for these:
- Answering the wrong question. The instructions might ask for a letter to the client, and candidates write to the other side instead. Read the task twice.
- Dumping law without applying it. Reciting a rule earns little. Applying it to these facts earns marks.
- Ignoring tone and audience. A distressed client does not want cold statute references; a firm's file note does not want chatty asides.
- Running out of time on the last task. Two half-finished answers score worse than two complete, tidy ones. Pace yourself.
- Forgetting the practical "so what". Every piece of writing should leave the reader knowing what happens next.
The good news? Writing and drafting are skills you can drill. Unlike a vast area of substantive law, the format is stable and predictable. Do enough timed practice on realistic prompts and the structure becomes automatic, freeing your brain to think about the law. Candidates who write six or seven full practice letters and clauses under exam timing walk in calm. Those who only read model answers do not.
Turn practice into a pass
A quick weekly routine works well in the run-up: one writing task and one drafting task, both under strict time, followed by an honest self-mark against skills and law. Rotate the document types so nothing surprises you. By the time you reach the real assessment, you should be able to name your structure before you have finished reading the scenario.
If you would like structured help, our CELE SQE course (celebar.com) is built around exactly this kind of deliberate practice. The SQE2 Course is £1,450 and includes 61 full mock questions built 1:1 to the official SRA format, so you rehearse writing and drafting on the same task shapes you will meet on the day. Come and find us on WeChat SQE100 or email [email protected] if you want to talk through where you are — no pressure, just practical guidance from tutors who have coached candidates since the very first sitting.