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Message: <blockquote data-quote="average_jo123" data-source="post: 215360" data-attributes="member: 15838"><h3>SQE2 Drafting</h3>The two key points I personally struggled with drafting is (1) the broad range of documents which might come up and (2) precedent or no precedent.<h4>Types of documents</h4>There is no way you can predict every single document that might come up, though if you are with a provider chances are they would have made relatively good guesses as to what kind of stuff is most likely to come up. And I'm ngl apart from what ULaw fed to us and what I hear anecdotally from friends at BPP, I don't think I can even conceive of any more potential documents which could come up. But hey the SRA loves surprises so no promises. I can say at least that for my sitting, all of the documents which came up for me was smth that I low key expected, mainly because ULaw had prepped us for it before. And if you really sit down and list down all the bread and butter stuff that your provider says you might be tested on for drafting, you will realise that there is already quite a big pool of questions that you can expect the SRA to test you on that you can drill down on. So it's not like there's only 5 documents you can expect and the SRA could pull out 30 other random options to catch you out on (I think the reality is more like the other way round — you can predict the majority, and there will be a minority of rogue questions the SRA could pull out).To some extent once you've gone through enough documents and forms, you will grow more confident knowing that you do at least have a very good amount already under your belt, and if the SRA does catch you out with a rogue question, then tough luck (plus everybody else would have struggled with the same question anyway). If you do encounter a document that you genuinely have not seen before, I also feel that it probably won't be something completely out of your depth — you just need to try your best to apply any FLK you have to the question and wing it the best you can with whatever you are given.There are countless number of forms that they could test you on. I remember seeing certain mocks on random probate forms and IHT400 and whatever. I feel like for these forms, if I were to encounter them in my exam, I don't think it would have been the end of the world — as long as you know the big picture, your FLK and what purpose the form serves and you have ok English, you probably will be fine. So I'd say don't panic too much about what could come up. Just focus on drilling down on the basic documents that are very easy for the SRA to write questions around e.g. TR1, board minutes, particulars of claim etc — these are no brainers and you must make sure you know these inside out because you don't want to lose marks over something that anyone could have easily predicted.<h4>Precedent or no precedent</h4>A few weeks before my exam I was spiralling about drafting because I just cannot wrap my head around how the SRA expects us to draft certain contractual clauses from scratch when all I can do is something that is barely grammatically correct let alone legally effective lol. The only way I found to cope with this is to approach my prep by grouping drafting documents into two broad categories — (1) day one solicitor can probably recall how to draft this from scratch from no precedent and (2) day one solicitor will probably need precedent to draft this.I kind of just had to use my intuition to decide whether something is likely to come up as a cat 1 or cat 2 document. Some are really straightforward e.g. TR1 form is a no brainer definitely cat 1, because it only involves very short sentences and whether you know how to draft those short sentences would depend on how well you actually know your FLK. So automatically the SRA is already hitting two birds with one stone if they test you on this — they are testing if you can draft (skill) and whether you can apply your FLK correctly in your drafting (law).Then you have cat 2 documents where you can kind of guess that no day one solicitor would be able to draft a fully operative clause from scratch. Again, the best bet you have is only to use your intuition and try to figure this out. I remember for example looking at a partnership agreement and I personally just thought it probably will fall into cat 2, because I just don't see how you can expect a day one solicitor to correctly draft a singular long wordy clause, let alone have it fit in nicely with all other parts of the agreement.The issue is there will be documents where it is really hard to exercise that judgment call of whether it would fall into cat 1 or cat 2, or whether it would sit in between. I remember I was looking at board / members' minutes and I thought I really can't place it in either cat 1 or cat 2. I personally thought the SRA might expect a day one solicitor to draft a board minute from a blank page without a template (as it is somewhat possible to memorise a template and reproduce it), whereas if it's an actual clause in a partnership agreement or a trust deed, can you really be expected to remember it word for word? Probably not. There's also stuff like deed of variation or a simple will — I personally thought this fell into cat 1, as yes, you do need to memorise the overall structure and the particular wording of the clauses word for word, but it is not impossible to do so. You can also question say for example a special condition in a sale of property contract — some of it is short enough for you to memorise word for word while some of it wouldn't be. But I think you will just need to think critically about how this sort of question might come up and whether it is something that the SRA can test both law and skill on at the same time. So, deed of variation for example, I personally thought I would be expected to draft from scratch with no precedent as I thought that if they had given me precedent, it would effectively be giving the law away, whereas if I were expected to draft from scratch, I would actually be expected to recall and apply core parts of the FLK relating to that topic (e.g. what are the elements which must be present in a deed of variation? Under what circumstances would it be appropriate to use a deed of variation? What interest is the deed actually varying? Crucially, who needs to sign the deed?). For simple wills I prepped for them as cat 1 because I thought the only way they could test me on both law and skill is if they gave me a largely blank page, as it is up to you to analyse the client's instructions, recall what the law is on e.g. ademption, substitution, intestacy etc and draft it accordingly so it is legally correct and accords with client's instructions.I can't list out each and every document and whether I prepped for it as a cat 1 or cat 2, because there are countless and essentially what I'm trying to say here is you need to make your own judgment call whether you think the SRA will deem it as something that a day one solicitor would be able to draft from scratch, or would it be something they can be expected to draft but only with a precedent. Whether you prep for something as a cat 1 or cat 2 would really depend on what you personally think is likely to come up and how it will be tested, and your views on some may differ from your peers. You can discuss with your classmates to gauge if you are missing certain bits and perhaps they can give you an alternative perspective of how they think a question on Document X might come up, but ultimately you need to trust your own judgment and cover your own bases as you see fit.I cannot disclose whether I got any precedent for my sitting cause of my NDA. And it would be of no value to you anyway knowing whether previous sittings were provided with precedent. They may very well just twist the question in such a way that maybe the last sitting would have needed precedent but this sitting would be expected to draft from scratch. No matter when you are sitting it, it will come down to your own judgment call of whether you should prep for a document as a cat 1 or cat 2 document.For cat 1 documents I memorised them by active recall using flashcards. For those that I wasn't sure whether I would get any precedent or even a template, I memorised the main structure and headings of the document so I can be sure I am hitting all essential elements that I need to check off in that document, just in case I am given a blank page in the exam. You should note that you can prep for a document with cat 1 approach but find that in the exam that was redundant because they end up giving you a template or some precedent anyway, but I suppose better safe than sorry. But again, you just need to be strategic about which documents you actually choose to memorise. If there are certain wordings in clauses which are really legally salient, and if you think you do need to prep for it as cat 1, you kind of just have to suck it up and memorise it word for word. I personally felt I couldn't really wing it lol cause some of the wording really isn't just plain English e.g. I hereby revoke all of my previous wills, codicils and testamentary provisions <-- you wouldn't be able to wing it and draft smth like this from scratch with plain everyday English, yet you can't really get away with omitting such a clause in a simple will (because it has to do with revocation, which is a bit of FLK you are expected to know). You will find yourself in this situation for quite a few other documents across all the different subjects as you go along, so just make sure you give yourself enough time to really memorise these key phrases that anticipate coming up as a cat 1 or as a question straddling between cat 1 and cat 2. For trickier words and sentence structures I found that I just had to flashcard them and memorise them until I could intuitively draft it from scratch — this was low key doable for the simple sentences which are not cat 2, so I just memorised it this way to be safe.For cat 2 documents what I did was just look up a precedent document on Practical Law or something and just familiarise myself with it. This was pretty much what ULaw told us to do for some of these what I would consider cat 2 documents. At first I felt super disheartened doing this, as I would spend so much time staring at a long ass precedent, close the tab and try to draft it from scratch, but just go completely blank. Then I realised that there is just no way I can memorise any of these technically worded clauses. What I wish I had done differently is actually look at these precedent documents and instead of trying to memorise every single word in the clause (which is impossible anyway), try to pick out the main operative clauses that you can link to your FLK. My POV is that if the SRA is gonna test you on anything, it will have to be something that involves both skill and law (disclaimer: this is just my personal opinion). I mean, they could, in theory, test your skills of writing a boilerplate clause from scratch but will they? Nothing stopping them from doing that of course, but I feel it probably would be more logical if they crafted the questions in such a way that tests both your skill and FLK in tandem. So if for example I were looking at a precedent document for a licence to assign a lease, what I would look out for is not the definition clauses or whatever, it would be the main operative parts of the document i.e. the meat of the document. Try to link it back to your FLK and think of the different ways you might get tested on to draft which would require you to apply that FLK:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">What are the common conditions to the landlord giving consent? Can you list out a few off the top of your head? In the precedent document, how is it drafted and how is it described? You probably won't be able to draft it word for word, but you just need to be sure that you can recall the key points and draft something that is at least legally correct and shows correct application of the FLK, even if your language and style isn't perfect.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">What happens if the lease is assigned without consent? How does that affect the completion time?</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Who is responsible for costs for the landlord to give consent? Who needs to give an undertaking for costs? How is this drafted?</li> </ul>That's just an example of some of the questions I would be thinking of if I were to look at a precedent for a licence to assign. It's non-exhaustive and I'm sure there are many more bits that you can link back to your FLK (lol I've not touched my SQE books for so long I might be completely chatting shit with my example above, but you get the gist). Basically if I could do it all over again the approach I described above is how I would approach any documents in the cat 2 category — just repeat the same and think about how it can be linked to your FLK and what kind of situations your client might be in. Instead of stressing yourself out about quoting these Practical Law clauses word for word, the next best thing you can do is make sure you know how to apply the FLK correctly, test yourself to see if you can remember the key concepts correctly, and then only try to see if your drafting would give the same (and correct) legal effect according to law and also according to your client's instructions.</blockquote>

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