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IPP writing assessment
IPP writing assessment
Module
Writing History (HIS3020)
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SKILLS
ASSESSMENT
Legal Writing
Practice Assessment
2023/
The contents of this assessment are confidential. You must not disclose, discuss or
express an opinion on the contents of this assessment or your answer to it to any other
person, by any means. You are not permitted to copy or reproduce the contents of this
assessment or any part thereof.
In particular, you should note that you may not consult any member of the University of
Law staff or any other person on any aspect of this assessment. If you are in any doubt
as to how to interpret any word or phrase in this assessment you should decide for
yourself what interpretation to adopt.
Your submitted work MUST be typed or word processed and produced as a Word
document.
Please remember that Professional Conduct is pervasive and that points on Professional
Conduct can arise in any assessment.
By attempting this assessment you are confirming that you are fit to sit, in accordance
with the Assessment Regulations.
This page is intentionally blank
GUIDANCE ON LEGAL WRITING
Criterion 2: Analysis of complex legal, factual, business and/or management
issues, as appropriate
analyse the client’s concerns, perspective and needs; and
identify the relevant issues.
Criterion 3: Application of knowledge and understanding to the task
take account of the supervising solicitor’s and/or client’s perspective, as
relevant;
address all issues raised;
do not cover issues which are irrelevant to your instructions;
where the purpose of the communication is to provide information, give the
information accurately, clearly and succinctly; and
where the purpose of the communication is to provide advice:
o explain the relevant law clearly and in a manner and to a degree that is
appropriate to the subject matter and the particular client;
o apply the law correctly to the facts;
o advise the client as to his position and, if relevant, his possible courses
of action.
Criterion 7: Ability to communicate using a clear and logical structure and
language appropriate to the task
produce a piece of writing which is well-organised;
where appropriate, use headings, numbering and tabulations.
address the recipient correctly;
explain the purpose of the communication;
ensure that you deal with different topics in separate paragraphs;
conclude the communication correctly;
be concise and clear, using a professional style to suit the client’s/ supervising
solicitor’s requirements;
do not produce work which contains mistakes in spelling, punctuation and/or
grammar;
produce work which meets the needs of the client; and
do not breach any professional conduct obligations.
© The University of Law Limited Page 4 of 18 2324_ipp_writing_ce02_practice_assessment
INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES
1. There are two Legal Writing questions. You must choose to answer
EITHER Question 1 OR Question 2. (Note that you will not have a choice
of questions in the real Legal Writing Assessment).
2. This assessment is marked ‘competent’, ‘borderline’ or ‘not yet
competent’.
3. The assessment is based on the role play scenarios in Unit Tasks 1 and
2 from the IPP Interviewing and Advising Unit and requires you to write
an initial letter of advice to the client. You are only required to write ONE
letter.
4. In order to attempt this assessment, you must choose EITHER Question
1 OR Question 2. Attached to each Question you will find ‘Instructions to
Trainee Solicitor’ and ‘Confidential Instructions to Client’. These are
taken from the IPP Interviewing and Advising Unit and so you have hard
copies of them amongst your Unit materials.
5. You are NOT required to carry out any legal research in order to
complete this assessment. Attached to this assessment is an extract
from the Guide for the IPP Interviewing and Advising Unit which contains
a summary of the law and practice. For the purpose of this assessment,
you may assume that the summary is accurate and comprehensive.
(Note that you will not be provided with a summary of law and practice in
the real Legal Writing Assessment.)
2324_ipp_writing_ce02_practice_assessment Page 5 of 18 © The University of Law Limited
QUESTION 1
INSTRUCTIONS TO TRAINEE SOLICITOR
You are a trainee solicitor with SW Law LLP, 15–19 Parnell Road, Truro, Cornwall,
TR1 9KL. Your supervising solicitor is Mr Daljit Singh. Your secretary has made an
appointment for you to see Michael/Michelle DuPont, joint owner of Soufflé
Restaurant, 25 Topcliffe Road, St Mawes, Cornwall, TR14 7CD. Telephone number
02908 985 2134.
The client has a problem with a defective electric cooker supplied to his/her
restaurant.
The client has left a copy of the invoice for the cooker with your secretary (see
attached).
The client has not used your firm before. Your secretary has already carried out
identity checks for money laundering purposes and checked the new client’s name
and the name of the supplier of the cooker against the firm’s database. There is no
apparent conflict of interest with existing clients.
Your secretary has confirmed that the client knows that he/she is not eligible for
Legal Aid and has no relevant legal expenses insurance. For this sort of matter, your
firm has a policy of charging a first interview hourly rate of £120 per hour plus VAT.
Any work that you carry out after that is charged at £200 per hour plus VAT.
2324_ipp_writing_ce02_practice_assessment Page 7 of 18 © The University of Law Limited
Arco Ltd
Catering for all your needs since 1987
Unit 5A
Mayfield Industrial Estate
Exeter Road
Truro
Cornwall
TR1 3EY
INVOICE
Michael/Michelle DuPont
Soufflé,
25 Topcliffe Road,
St Mawes,
Cornwall
TR14 7CD
To:
Supplying and delivering Arco T450 electric cooker (serial number 987654)
Delivery date [tomorrow]
£12,000 inclusive of VAT, payable on delivery
© The University of Law Limited Page 8 of 18 2324_ipp_writing_ce02_practice_assessment
The cooker was duly delivered the following day and you employed an electrician to
install it. You briefly tested the cooker and everything seemed fine. However, at the
grand opening when the cooker was in full use, some serious problems became
apparent. The heat supply to the inbuilt griddle kept cutting out for no apparent
reason, causing the food to cool and stick to the griddle. In addition, the door to one
of the ovens kept springing open part way through the cooking time, causing the
temperature to drop and the food to spoil.
You managed to get through the grand opening, but it was not the success you had
hoped for. The issues with the cooker caused delays in the kitchen and customers
were left waiting for their food, added to which, the presentation of some of the food
was not up to your usual high standards. One of the customers at the grand opening
was a well-known restaurant critic who has subsequently published a review in
Foodie Magazine, under the headline “Soufflé’s grand opening: a total flop”.
You contacted Joan Taylor the day after the grand opening and she promised to
send someone from Arco Ltd to look at the cooker. However, before this could
happen, events took a disastrous turn.
You were in the middle of the lunchtime service at the restaurant when the cooker
suddenly burst into flames. You managed to get the staff and the customers to
safety, but the fire caused significant damage. Much of the kitchen equipment was
damaged beyond repair, and there was smoke damage to the furnishings and décor
in the restaurant itself. You have had to close the restaurant for repairs and you are
unlikely to be able to re-open for at least another two weeks. It has been a complete
disaster. Not only have you lost money, but you have also suffered professional
embarrassment as result of the poor review in Foodie Magazine.
You have not been able to get any response from Joan Taylor.
FURTHER DETAILS (ONLY TO BE PROVIDED IF THE TRAINEE SOLICITOR
ASKS A RELATED QUESTION)
YOUR BUSINESS
You have been a chef for 15 years. You worked in several high-end restaurants in
London and then spent four years as the head chef in a country house hotel in the
Lake District. You built up a good reputation and received a number of food industry
awards. Over time you decided that you wanted to have your own restaurant.
You lacked the capital and the business knowledge to set up a restaurant alone, and
so you teamed up with an old school friend, Harrison Locke. Your respective roles in
the restaurant were clear from the outset. Harrison has a background in finance and
so you were happy for him to deal with the business side of the restaurant, just as he
was happy to leave the cooking to you.
You settled on Cornwall as the perfect place to set up the restaurant and found the
premises in St Mawes relatively quickly. You and Harrison worked hard on the
necessary refurbishment, and this was completed on schedule. Everything was in
place for a spectacular grand opening.
© The University of Law Limited Page 10 of 18 2324_ipp_writing_ce02_practice_assessment
ARCO LTD
On the day that the old cooker broke down, Harrison was away touring vineyards in
Kent and Sussex, buying wine for the restaurant. You spoke on the phone and
Harrison agreed that you should go ahead and buy a replacement as soon as
possible so as not to risk delaying the grand opening.
You found Arco Ltd via the internet. You agreed orally with Joan to buy the cooker
during your telephone conversation. If asked, you should say that you have no
recollection of seeing any written contract. You certainly did not sign any contract.
You were given an invoice, but it simply had details of the model number etc. You
have left a copy of the invoice with the trainee solicitor’s secretary, (see attached).
You received no other paperwork.
You have telephoned Arco Ltd several times since the fire. On each occasion you
have been told that Joan is ‘unavailable’. You have left messages, but Joan has not
called you back. You get the feeling that Joan is trying to avoid you.
THE PROBLEMS WITH THE COOKER
Once the cooker was installed you simply made sure that everything was working. It
was only during prolonged use at the grand opening that the problems with the
griddle and the oven door became evident.
The Chief Fire Officer who attended the fire has subsequently told you that in his
opinion the cooker has an electrical defect and had most probably shorted and
caught fire. You asked whether there could have been a problem with the installation
of the cooker, but he said that he thought that to be highly unlikely, and that the
nature of the fire pointed to a defect in the cooker itself.
YOUR VIEWS
You are outraged by the entire experience. Harrison has not accompanied you to the
meeting today as he is back at the restaurant organising the clean-up, but he is as
angry as you. The cooker was clearly defective and this has caused you a substantial
loss. Just getting your money back for the cooker is nowhere near enough. You have
to replace a number of pieces of kitchen equipment and you want compensation for
the cost of redecorating the restaurant and for the money you will lose whilst the
restaurant remains closed. You are also angry about the professional
embarrassment that you have suffered.
[If you are asked about insurance, you should say that Harrison had been so busy
with the grand opening that he forgot to take out buildings and contents insurance
before the fire.]
You think that this fiasco has cost you about £65,000.
[If asked how you arrived at this amount, you can explain that the figures are
approximately:
2324_ipp_writing_ce02_practice_assessment Page 11 of 18 © The University of Law Limited
QUESTION 2
This is a continuation of the IPP Interviewing and Advising Unit.
You are the trainee solicitor with Smith Morris LLP, as set out in the ‘Instructions to
Trainee Solicitor’. You have just conducted the interview at which your client has
provided you with the information contained in the ‘Confidential Instructions to Client’.
Write the initial letter of advice to the client. Your letter must include an
explanation of the legal position and the client’s options.
Note to Candidates: your letter should not address client care matters which you
can assume will be dealt with in separate correspondence.
2324_ipp_writing_ce02_practice_assessment Page 13 of 18 © The University of Law Limited
QUESTION 2
INSTRUCTIONS TO TRAINEE SOLICITOR
You are a trainee solicitor with Smith Morris LLP, 1-5 Solent View, Southampton,
Hampshire, SO2 4JM. Your supervising solicitor is Mr Faheem Khan. Your secretary
has made an appointment for you to see David/Davina Marlow, owner of Marlow’s
Boatyard, Western Quay, Portsmouth, Hampshire, PO4 2WS. Telephone number
01848 179 2300.
The client is being threatened with legal action in respect of a consignment of
plywood supplied to his/her boatyard.
The client has left a copy of the invoice for the plywood with your secretary (see
attached).
The client has not used your firm before. Your secretary has already carried out
identity checks for money laundering purposes and checked the new client’s name
and the name of the supplier against the firm’s database. There is no apparent
conflict of interest with existing clients.
Your secretary has confirmed that the client knows that he/she not eligible for Legal
Aid and has no relevant legal expenses insurance. For this sort of matter, your firm
has a policy of charging a first interview hourly rate of £120 per hour plus VAT. Any
work that you carry out after that is charged at £200 per hour plus VAT.
© The University of Law Limited Page 14 of 18 2324_ipp_writing_ce02_practice_assessment
QUESTION 2
CONFIDENTIAL INSTRUCTIONS TO CLIENT
Please read these confidential instructions carefully. Try to learn as many of the
facts as possible before the interview. Do not tell your entire story at once. Allow the
trainee solicitor to find out the facts. Respond to all questions asked but wait for the
interviewer to ask a related question.
If necessary, you may invent facts to fill gaps in these instructions. However, do not
invent facts that are inconsistent with these instructions.
THE MAIN CHARACTERS
David/Davina Marlow: You, the client
Nathan Shaw: Your apprentice
Jack Fox: Managing Director of Timber 2U Ltd
Kelly Watson Sales Assistant
YOUR PERSONAL DETAILS
You run a boat building business. Your business premises are at Marlow’s Boatyard,
Western Quay, Portsmouth, Hampshire, PO4 2WS. Telephone number 01848 179
2300. You already know that you are not eligible for Legal Aid. You have told the
trainee solicitor’s secretary that you do not have legal expenses insurance.
REASON FOR VISIT
You recently bought a consignment of plywood for your business at a price of
£10,000 inc VAT. You have refused to pay for the plywood as it is unusable. You
want to know what you can do about the situation. The supplier is now threatening to
sue you for the price.
BACKGROUND TO YOUR REQUEST FOR ADVICE
(TO BE FREELY VOLUNTEERED)
You have used the same timber supplier for many years. A month ago they
contacted you to say that they were experiencing ‘sourcing issues’ and would be
unable to supply marine grade plywood for the foreseeable future.
At the time you had two boats under construction in your boatyard and needed
plywood to complete the work, so you needed to find another supplier quickly. You
searched the internet and found the details of Timber 2U Ltd. You telephoned the
company and placed an order with their sales assistant, Kelly Watson.
© The University of Law Limited Page 16 of 18 2324_ipp_writing_ce02_practice_assessment
The consignment of plywood was delivered the following day. You were not at the
boatyard when it arrived, so it was your apprentice, Nathan Shaw, who actually took
delivery. Nathan says that he did not examine the plywood itself, but he checked the
delivery to make sure that the consignment was complete and then signed the
invoice handed to him by the delivery driver to acknowledge receipt. You have
already given a copy of the invoice to the trainee solicitor’s secretary (see attached).
It was only when you came to use the plywood three days later that you realised that
there was a problem. The plywood had been made from ‘Douglas fir’ timber and
whilst this type of plywood is used in boat building, it cannot be used to produce the
high quality finish needed for your boats. You only ever use plywood made from
‘Okoume’ timber and which has been manufactured to the industry standard.
You immediately telephoned Timber 2U Ltd and spoke to the Managing Director,
Jack Fox. You told him that the wrong plywood had been delivered. He replied, “I
don’t know what your problem is, mate. You ordered marine grade plywood and
that’s what you got. We supply loads of boat builders and no one’s ever complained.”
He then put the phone down on you.
Since then you have received a couple of letters from Timber 2U Ltd requesting
payment, which you have ignored. Then yesterday, Jack telephoned and said that if
you do not pay within seven days he would be putting the matter in the hands of his
solicitor.
You do not see why you should pay for plywood which you did not order and cannot
use. Added to which you are out of pocket yourself as you had to order the correct
plywood from a different supplier at a cost of £15,000 inc VAT. The time spent finding
a new supplier meant that work on the two boats was delayed, and as a result you
suffered a financial penalty for late delivery of one boat, and missed out on a
marketing opportunity with the other.
FURTHER DETAILS (ONLY TO BE PROVIDED IF THE TRAINEE SOLICITOR
ASKS A RELATED QUESTION)
YOUR BUSINESS
You have run your own business for the past 10 years. You make classic wooden
motorboats. The work is highly specialist and your boats command high prices. You
produce your own range of boats as well as building bespoke boats to a customer’s
own specification.
TIMBER 2U LTD
You have had no previous dealings with Timber 2U Ltd. You chose to place the order
with Timber 2U Ltd because on their website they guaranteed next day delivery.
You placed the order when speaking to the sales assistant, Kelly, on the telephone.
Kelly seemed quite vague and so you were very specific in your requirements. You
said that your order was for Okoume plywood. You are in no doubt about this as you
remember that you had to spell ‘Okoume’ for her. You also said that the plywood had
to comply with BS1088. Again you are in no doubt on this as you had to explain to
her that this meant that the plywood had to be manufactured in accordance with
2324_ipp_writing_ce02_practice_assessment Page 17 of 18 © The University of Law Limited
SUMMARY OF LAW AND PRACTICE
1. LAW
(a) Contractual Rights
The Sale of Goods Act 1979 implies various conditions into a contract for the sale of
goods, where the seller sells in the course of a business. These include the following:
Where there is a sale of goods by description, that the goods will
correspond with the description (s(1));
The goods will be of satisfactory quality, i. as to appearance and
finish, free from minor defects, safe, durable and fit for all the purposes
for which goods of the kind in question are commonly supplied
(s(2)); and
Where the buyer makes known to the seller a particular purpose for
which the goods are being acquired, the goods are reasonably fit for
that particular purpose (s(3)).
In the case of a sale to a business, these implied terms can be excluded but only to
the extent that the exclusion is reasonable.
(b) Remedies for Breach of Contract
Breach of a condition entitles the buyer to:
Reject the goods; and/or
Claim by way of damages (subject to remoteness/mitigation) a sum to
enable them to buy goods equivalent to what should have been
supplied under the contract.
Where rejecting the goods is not possible (because the goods have already been
‘accepted’ i. the buyer has done something inconsistent with the seller’s ownership,
or has retained the goods beyond a reasonable time without indicating an intention to
reject them) the buyer is entitled to claim by way of damages a sum to compensate
for the loss suffered.
The aim of contractual damages is to put the innocent party in the position they
would have been in had the contract been properly performed.
(c) Damages/Remoteness
This is dealt with on the principles of Hadley v Baxendale.
An aggrieved party can only recover for loss which is within the reasonable
contemplation of the parties at the time they made the contract as the probable result
of the breach.
2324_ipp_writing_ce02_practice_assessment Page 19 of 18 © The University of Law Limited
What is within the reasonable contemplation of the parties depends on their
knowledge.
Everyone is taken to know what loss is liable to result in the ordinary
course of things from a breach. This includes loss of ordinary profits.
However, if there are special circumstances giving rise to an
exceptional loss of profit, the person breaching the contract must have
known of those special circumstances, otherwise the loss will be too
remote.
The injured party must take reasonable steps to mitigate their loss.
Sellers often include provisions in contracts designed to exclude or limit their liability
for consequential loss. There are statutory limitations on the effectiveness of such
clauses. Even if not affected by statute, they can only apply if successfully
incorporated into the contract.
2. PROCEDURE
A claim in excess of £100,000 for breach of contract is brought in the High Court;
below that figure it needs to be brought in the County Court.
Before litigation is commenced, the pre-action protocol requires the parties to
exchange relevant information and to at least explore the feasibility of resolving the
case in some other way (e. by negotiation through solicitors, mediation etc.). A
failure to take these preliminary steps can be penalised by the court on costs.
3. COSTS
If a claim for breach of contract progresses to full litigation, then the costs would
escalate and could amount to several thousand pounds. If the client wins, the other
side could be ordered to pay some (perhaps most but not all) of the client’s costs.
Likewise, if the client loses they could be ordered to pay some of his/her opponent’s
costs as well as their own legal costs.
If litigation is not involved, the cost will depend on how much time is spent on
advising the client and dealing with the other side. The client might not need any
further advice after the first interview. Alternatively, the client might want the solicitor
to argue the matter on their behalf and/or represent them in, for example, mediation.
In either case there would be a minimum of several hours’ further work.
4. TIME FRAME
Once proceedings have been formally started, a case involving a claim of anything
from £10,000 to £25,000 must come to trial within 30 weeks. A claim in excess of
£25,000 would take longer to come to trial.
© The University of Law Limited Page 20 of 18 2324_ipp_writing_ce02_practice_assessment
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IPP writing assessment
Module: Writing History (HIS3020)
3 Documents
Students shared 3 documents in this course
University: Newcastle University
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Code: SKILLS
ASSESSMENT
Legal Writing
Practice Assessment
2023/24
The contents of this assessment are confidential. You must not disclose, discuss or
express an opinion on the contents of this assessment or your answer to it to any other
person, by any means. You are not permitted to copy or reproduce the contents of this
assessment or any part thereof.
In particular, you should note that you may not consult any member of the University of
Law staff or any other person on any aspect of this assessment. If you are in any doubt
as to how to interpret any word or phrase in this assessment you should decide for
yourself what interpretation to adopt.
Your submitted work MUST be typed or word processed and produced as a Word
document.
Please remember that Professional Conduct is pervasive and that points on Professional
Conduct can arise in any assessment.
By attempting this assessment you are confirming that you are fit to sit, in accordance
with the Assessment Regulations.
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