SQE2 Written Skills: What Examiners Actually Want in CMA, Legal Research and Drafting

Of the six SQE2 assessments, the written ones are where most candidates think they will pick up easy marks. That assumption is only partly right.

CMA, legal research, drafting and legal writing are not just knowledge tests. They are tests of whether you can demonstrate specific competencies in a specific format, under time pressure, in a way the assessors can mark clearly. The good news is that once you understand the format, you can work to it reliably regardless of what topic comes up.

I passed SQE2 in November 2025 without a single 1 or 2. Here is what worked for me.

Case and matter analysis (CMA)

CMA asks you to analyse a legal scenario and advise, usually in the form of a professional email or memo. It is not a pure knowledge test. It is a test of whether you can identify the issues, apply the law, and communicate your analysis clearly to a specific recipient.

Two things matter more than anything else.

First: know who you are writing to. A memo to a supervising partner reads differently from an email to a client. Clients need plain language, clear explanations and concrete next steps. Partners need analysis, flagged risks and professional judgment. The assessors are marking whether you have thought about the recipient and adjusted your communication accordingly. A technically correct answer written in the wrong register will lose marks.

Second: structure your answer. A professional email or memo should have a clear introduction, address each question or issue in turn, and end with a conclusion and next steps. IRAC (issue, rule, application, conclusion) works well at the paragraph level. Using the headings from the question as subheadings in your answer is a simple way to make sure you have covered everything asked.

What I did in preparation was use ChatGPT to generate scenarios and then write IRAC paragraphs against the clock, again and again. The skill is constructing a clean, structured, legally accurate paragraph quickly. That takes repetition. It does not take reading more notes.

Legal research

Legal research is the assessment I found most stressful going in, and the one where technique made the biggest difference.

The single most useful thing I did was this: write your structure into the answer before you read the sources.

If the question asks for an email, write the email structure first. Introduction, each question as a subheading, conclusion, next steps, sources used, sources disregarded, sign off. Do this before you look at a single source document.

The reasons are twofold. First, if you run out of time, you will still have the structure in your answer and will pick up the skills marks even if the content is incomplete. Second, it gives you a framework to drop information into as you research, which makes the process faster and more organised.

When you read the sources, copy or closely paraphrase the relevant sections under the appropriate heading. Then, at the end, include a short section covering which sources you used and why, and which sources you disregarded and why.

That final section is something many candidates forget entirely. It is a skills mark. It demonstrates that you engaged critically with the material rather than just copying it. Do not leave it blank.

On the sources themselves: you will often be given more than you need. Part of what is being tested is whether you can identify which sources are relevant and authoritative. A statute beats a textbook. A case beats a commentary. Be explicit about your reasoning when you disregard a source.

Drafting

Drafting is where I put the most preparation time, and I do not regret it. Nothing that came up in my sitting surprised me, because I had prepared for every document type I thought was likely to appear.

My approach was to create a guide for each practice area covering the documents most likely to be examined. For each document, I noted:

• Purpose: what the document is for and who uses it
• Law: the legal framework underpinning it
• Structure: the sections, their order and what each one achieves
• Common amendments: what parties often add or change, and why
• Effect of changes: how any amendment affects the document as a whole

That last point matters. Drafting questions often ask you not just to draft a document but to amend one, or to explain the effect of a proposed change. If you understand why each clause exists and how it relates to the rest of the document, you can answer those questions reliably without having memorised the precedent word for word.

The documents I prepared for:

Business Law and Practice: articles of association, board meeting notices and minutes, written resolutions, general meeting notices and minutes, shareholders' agreements, partnership agreements, LLP agreements and supply/sale/purchase of goods or services agreements.

Criminal Law and Practice: letters of advice, defence case statements, witness statements, indictments, briefs to counsel, legal aid applications, notices to introduce hearsay and applications to exclude, notices to introduce bad character and applications to exclude, and applications to challenge the admissibility of evidence.

Wills and Administration of Estates: wills, codicils, deeds of variation and estate accounts.

Dispute Resolution: letters before claim, claim forms, particulars of claim, defences, counterclaims, replies to defence, part 20 claims, part 18 requests and responses, witness statements, affidavits, application notices (N244), part 36 offers, other settlement offers, consent orders and Tomlin orders.

Property Law and Practice: reports on title, certificates of title, AP1, TR1, FR1, TP1, contracts for exchange, leasehold documents, licences to assign or sublet, section 25 notices, section 26 notices and section 146 notices.

That list looks long. It is not as bad as it seems. Many structures are similar across practice areas, and knowing one document type well gives you a foundation for related ones.

Where I sourced my precedents: Practical Law for BLP, PLP and WAE; the CPS website for CLP; the government website for DR. All free. You do not need a paid service to prepare for drafting.

Legal writing

Legal writing is assessed through professional emails and memos. It is not a separate knowledge test so much as an applied test of how well you communicate legal analysis in a professional format.

Know the structure of a professional email: subject line, salutation, purpose, substance, next steps, sign off. Know the structure of a memo: to, from, date, subject, introduction, analysis, conclusion, next steps. Know the difference between writing to a client and writing internally, and adjust your language accordingly.

The law still matters. Legal writing is not just format. You need to identify the right issues and apply the law correctly. But the skills marks come from how you communicate it, so presentation and structure matter as much as substance.

Practise by writing. Generate scenarios, write the email or memo, time yourself. The skill is speed and structure as much as content.

The common thread

Across all four written assessments, the candidates who underperform are usually either people who know the law but present it poorly, or people who run out of time because they had no structure ready to populate.

Both problems are solvable. Structure your answer before you write the substance. Know your recipient. Cover every question asked. Do not leave conclusions or next steps blank.

If you go into each written assessment with a clear framework in your head, even a question that surprises you on the substance is manageable. Apply your structure to whatever you have. A structured answer with imperfect content will score better than an unstructured answer with perfect content.

That is the honest version of what the written assessments reward.