Picture the room. Headset on, Pearson VUE cubicle, and a client called Mrs Adeyemi who opens with: "My brother has taken money out of our mother's estate and now he says the house was promised to him." You have a fixed slot. You spend the opening minutes building rapport, then more minutes exploring how upset she is, and then the timer creeps and you realise you still do not know when the mother died, whether there was a will, who the executors are, or what the client actually wants you to do next. The interview ends. Then you have to write an attendance note about a conversation that went nowhere in particular.
That is the classic SQE2 client interviewing failure, and it is rarely a knowledge failure. It is a structure and timing failure. This article is about the architecture of the station — the shape of the meeting, and the written work that follows it.
What SQE2 Client Interviewing Actually Assesses
Client Interviewing is one of the five skills tested in SQE2, alongside Advocacy, Case and Matter Analysis, Legal Research and Legal Writing/Drafting. It is not a standalone chat. The station pairs a live interview with a piece of written work — an attendance note recording the meeting and a section of preliminary legal analysis or advice. Check the current SRA assessment specification for the exact timings on your sitting, because the written component is where a lot of candidates lose marks they earned in the room and then gave back at the keyboard.
Two sets of marks are in play. There are skills marks (how you conduct yourself, gather information, listen, structure, and deal with the client as a person) and application of law marks (whether your note and analysis reflect a competent Day One solicitor's grasp of the relevant area). You can be warm, empathetic and thoroughly likeable and still fail if the legal substance is thin.
The assessment is set in one of the SQE2 practice contexts — business organisations, dispute resolution, property practice, wills and intestacy/trusts and probate, or criminal litigation. You will not be told which one is coming. Prepare a fact-gathering framework for all five.
A Five-Stage Map That Keeps the Interview on Time
Use a fixed skeleton so that your brain is spending its energy on the client's problem rather than on what to say next.
1. Open and set the agenda. Introduce yourself and your role, confirm you have the right person and matter, explain roughly how the meeting will run and that you will take notes, and mention confidentiality in one clean sentence. Keep this short. A crisp opening buys you time later.
2. Let the client tell the story. One genuinely open invitation — "Tell me what has happened, in your own words" — then listen without interrupting. Take skeleton notes only: names, dates, documents, amounts. Resist the urge to start solving the problem while they are still speaking.
3. Fill the gaps systematically. This is where the practice-area checklist earns its keep. Move from open to closed questions, and signpost as you go: "Can I ask a few specific questions about the property itself?"
4. Identify objectives and constraints. What does the client actually want? Money back? The house? A quiet life? A working relationship preserved? What is their attitude to cost, delay and risk? Many candidates skip this entirely and then write an advice section that answers a question nobody asked.
5. Summarise, outline next steps, close. Read back a short summary of the facts and objectives, invite correction, give a realistic outline of what happens next and who does what, and mention costs and funding in general terms. Then close politely.
Roughly speaking, stages one and five together should occupy the smallest share of your time; stage three the largest. If you find yourself at the halfway mark still in stage two, gently take control: "That's really helpful — may I ask some specific questions so I've got the full picture?"
Fact-Gathering Checklists by SQE2 Practice Context
Do not memorise scripts. Memorise the categories of fact a solicitor cannot advise without.
Wills and probate: date and place of death, whether a will exists and where it is, executors and their willingness to act, the family tree (spouse, civil partner, children, any predeceased beneficiaries), the estate assets and liabilities, jointly held property and how it is held, lifetime gifts, and any promise or reliance that might raise a proprietary estoppel argument (think of the line of cases culminating in Guest v Guest [2022] UKSC 27). Where there is no valid will, the intestacy rules in the Administration of Estates Act 1925 govern distribution, and a disappointed cohabitee may need to be told about the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 and its strict time limit.
Dispute resolution: the parties and their correct legal identities, the contract or duty relied on, key dates for limitation (the Limitation Act 1980 gives six years for most contract and tort claims, with special rules for personal injury and latent damage), quantum and how it is evidenced, what the other side has said, whether any pre-action protocol applies, insurance and funding, and the client's appetite for mediation.
Property practice: registered or unregistered title, freehold or leasehold, co-ownership and whether the beneficial interest is joint tenancy or tenancy in common, the price and deposit, mortgage arrangements, chain and target dates, occupiers other than the seller, and any known disputes or planning issues.
Business organisations: the entity type, shareholdings, articles and any shareholders' agreement, board composition, the transaction or dispute in question, and whether directors' duties under sections 171 to 177 of the Companies Act 2006 are engaged.
Criminal litigation: the alleged offence and stage of proceedings, the client's account, bail position and conditions, previous convictions, the evidence disclosed, and the client's instructions on plea. Never lead a client towards an account; take instructions.
Writing the Attendance Note That Marks Itself
An attendance note is a file document. It is written for a colleague who was not in the room and may have to pick the matter up tomorrow. Write it in the third person, in the past tense, in plain English, and keep opinion separate from record.
A reliable layout: header (client name, matter, date, attendees, method of attendance); the client's instructions and the factual background in a logical order, ideally chronological; the client's objectives; what you advised or explained in outline; risks or issues flagged; and the agreed next steps with names attached to each action. Give it headings. Markers read quickly, and a wall of prose hides your good work.
Practical rule: every material fact the client told you should be traceable in the note, and every fact in your legal analysis should be traceable to the note. If a fact appears in your advice from nowhere, you have invented it.
Because SQE2 runs on the closed Pearson VUE platform, there is no browser, no internet and no Boolean searching — Ctrl+F is the extent of it. So the note has to come out of your head and your interview notes, typed cleanly under time pressure. Practise typing, not just talking.
Legal Analysis: Advise, Do Not Lecture
The analysis section is not an essay on the law of trusts. It is what a competent newly qualified solicitor would put on file after a first meeting. Three moves work almost every time: state the client's position on the facts as they currently stand; identify the realistic options with the practical consequences of each; and set out what further information or documents are needed before firmer advice can be given.
Hedging honestly is a professional skill, not a weakness. "On the information currently available, the claim appears to be within the limitation period, but this should be confirmed once the invoice date is verified" is better lawyering than a confident assertion built on a fact you never checked. Equally, do not hedge everything — the client deserves a view.
Professional Conduct Issues Hiding in the Interview
Conduct points are seeded into these tasks deliberately. The client mentions that her brother is also a client of the firm; that raises conflict of interest under paragraph 6.2 of the SRA Code of Conduct for Solicitors, RELs and RFLs. She asks you to tell her what her brother said in his meeting; that runs straight into the duty of confidentiality in paragraph 6.3 — the principle in Prince Jefri Bolkiah v KPMG [1999] 2 AC 222 remains the classic statement of how seriously the courts treat it. A client who hints at concealing assets from creditors, or asks you to hold funds "just passing through", should trigger your money laundering antennae under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.
You are not expected to resolve every issue in the room. You are expected to spot it, say something sensible and non-alarming to the client, and record it in your note: "I cannot advise both of you on this matter and will need to check the firm's position on conflicts before we go further." That single sentence, plus a line in the attendance note, is often all the marks require.
How to Practise in the Final Six Weeks
Talking about interviewing does not improve interviewing. Record yourself. Get a study partner to play the client from a written brief you have not seen, run the full station under timed conditions, then write the attendance note without pausing the clock. Play the recording back with three questions: did I interrupt, did I get every category of fact on my checklist, and did I close with clear next steps?
Two habits pay disproportionately. Keep a one-page "gap list" of the questions you forgot in each practice, and rehearse your opening and closing until they are automatic — those two minutes are pure marks and require no legal knowledge at all. Is your note readable by someone who wasn't there? If not, revise the layout before you revise the law.
How CELE SQE Can Help
We have been teaching SQE candidates since the very first sitting in 2021, and our SQE2 course is £1,450, including 61 full mock questions built 1:1 to the official SRA format across all five skills — with interviewing simulations and attendance note feedback from tutors who mark to the assessment criteria. If you are still working through SQE1 first, the CELE SQE long-term, mid-term and short-term courses run at £3,720, £2,750 and £1,750 respectively, with single FLK options at half price and £150 off for early bookings. Questions about which route fits your timetable? Reach us on WeChat SQE100, at [email protected], or at celebar.com — no pressure, we are happy just to talk it through.