Client Interviewing & Attendance Notes Flashcards
6 cards from real SQE2 practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 6 Client Interviewing & Attendance Notes flashcards as text
A client who lacks mental capacity at the time of an interview can provide instructions through:
Answer: A person holding a registered Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA)
Only a person with a registered LPA for property and financial affairs (or a court-appointed deputy) has legal authority to instruct a solicitor on behalf of an incapacitated client.
The attendance note of an initial meeting should record all of the following EXCEPT:
Answer: The solicitor's private personal opinions about the client's credibility
Attendance notes should record objective facts, advice and instructions; personal opinions about the client's credibility are inappropriate and should not be included in a professional file note.
Under the SRA Code of Conduct 2019, conflicts of interest between two clients:
Answer: Cannot be acted on if a significant risk of conflict exists, with limited exceptions
The SRA Code prohibits acting where there is a significant risk of conflict; limited exceptions exist (e.g. conveyancing in specific circumstances) only with informed consent.
Open questions in client interviewing are preferred in the early stages because they:
Answer: Encourage clients to give a narrative in their own words
Open questions ('Tell me what happened') invite a narrative response, giving the client control and ensuring no relevant facts are missed by premature narrowing.
Which of the following statements about client confidentiality is correct?
Answer: The duty of confidentiality survives the end of the retainer and continues after the client's death
The SRA Code imposes a continuing duty of confidentiality that persists after the retainer concludes and even after the client dies, subject to very limited exceptions.
When advising on costs at the outset of a matter, a solicitor must:
Answer: Give the best available information about costs and likely total charges
The SRA Code requires solicitors to provide the best available information about likely costs at the outset and as the matter progresses, enabling informed client decision-making.