Advocacy (sample practice area Criminal Litigation)

Summary of question and answer

This sample question and discussion of answer is an example of an advocacy assessment.

You have 45 minutes to consider the documents provided and prepare, and 15 minutes to make your submission to a judge who is present in the room. The judge will be played by a solicitor of England and Wales who will assess you both on skills and application of law.

Professionalism and ethics will be core parts of SQE2. Questions on ethics will be pervasive throughout SQE2. Ethical issues will not be flagged. You will need to identify any ethical and professional conduct issues and exercise judgement to resolve them honestly and with integrity.

Please note that the sample questions are provided to give an indication of the type of tasks that you could be set. They do not represent all the material that will be covered in SQE2. Future questions may not take exactly the same format.

For further detail see the SQE2 Assessment Specification.

Please note that this SQE2 sample criminal litigation advocacy question was prepared on the basis of the law in force on 30 June 2021.