The legal profession in england and wales

A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person licensed to practice law"[1]. Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain stability, and deliver justice. Working as a lawyer involves the practical application of abstract legal theories and knowledge to solve specific individualized problems, or to advance the interests of those who hire lawyers to perform legal services.

Every country has its own regulation with regards to legal profession. The legal profession in England and Wales is divided between solicitors and barristers. A solicitor gets the facts of the case from the client and briefs a barrister in writing. The barrister then researches, drafts, and files the necessary court pleadings, and orally argues the case.[2]

Origin of the profession

Both barristers and solicitors are trained in law but serve differing functions in the practice of law.

Historically, the superior courts were based in London the capital city, and in order to dispense justice throughout the country, a judge and court would periodically travel a regional circuit to deal with cases that had arisen there. From this emerged a body of lawyers that were on socially familiar terms with the judges, had training and experience in the superior courts, and had access to a greater corpus of research material and accumulated knowledge on the interpretation and application of the law. Some would go "on circuit" with the court to act on behalf of those requiring representation. By contrast, solicitors were essentially local to one place, whether London or a provincial town.

Lawyers who practiced in the courts in this way came to be called "barristers" because they were "called to the Bar", the symbolic barrier separating the public -- including solicitors and law students -- from those admitted to the well of the Court. They became specialists either in appearing in court, or in the process of using the courts, which would include giving oral or written advice on the strength of a case and the best way to conduct it. For those who had the means and preference to engage a solicitor, it became useful, then normal and then compulsory, for the solicitor in turn to select and engage a barrister to represent the client before the courts. Likewise, it became either useful or normal (but not compulsory) to engage an appropriate barrister when highly specialist advice was required. In fact, many barristers have largely "paper practices" where they rarely or (in some cases) never make court appearances.=

Historically practicing at the bar was a more socially prestigious profession than working as a solicitor. In the 18th and 19th centuries the bar was one of the limited number of professions considered suitable for upper class men (politics, the Army and Navy, the established clergy, and the civil and diplomatic services being the others). Many leading eighteenth and nineteenth century politicians were barristers; few were solicitors. In the 20th century solicitors closed the gap greatly, especially in terms of earnings, and by the early 21st century the social gap was far less important than formerly.

Key differences between barristers and solicitors

Until recently, the most obvious differences between the two professions was that, firstly, only barristers had exclusive and wide rights of audience (that is, a right to plead) in all courts in England and Wales, and secondly, only solicitors could be directly engaged for payment by clients. However, the boundary between barristers and solicitors has evolved. In England today, the barrister monopoly covers only appellate courts, and barristers must compete directly with solicitors in many trial courts.

Barristers have full rights of audience to appear in all courts, from highest to lowest.

Solicitors, on the other hand, have traditionally only been able to appear as advocates in the inferior courts (that is, the magistrates' and county courts) and tribunals. Indeed the bulk of such work continues to be handled by solicitors. Under section 17 of the Courts and Legal Services Act 1990, solicitors with appropriate advocacy experience are entitled to acquire higher "rights of audience", enabling them to appear in the superior courts. Solicitors who attain these rights are known as solicitor-advocates. However, in practice few exercise the option to do so, and solicitors continue to engage a specialist advocate or adviser from the Bar (that is, a barrister). Barristers often have a more specialized knowledge of case-law and precedent. When a solicitor in general practice is confronted with an unusual point of law, they sometimes seek the "opinion of counsel" on the issue.[3]

Until 2004, barristers were prohibited from seeking or accepting "instructions" (that is, being hired) directly by the clients whom they represent. The involvement of a solicitor was compulsory.

The rationale was that solicitors could investigate and gather evidence and instructions and filter them - according to the interests of the client - before presenting them to the barrister; in return the barrister, being one step removed from the client, could reach a more objective opinion of the merits of the case, working strictly from the evidence that would be admissible in court. In addition, being less involved in the current affairs of clients, including many matters that might never come to court, barristers had more time for research and for keeping up to date with the law and the decisions (precedent) of the courts. Theoretically, this prohibition has been removed. In certain areas (but not crime or conveyancing), barristers may now accept instructions from a client directly ("Direct Access"). However, a barrister cannot undertake any work that requires him to hold funds on behalf of their client, something only a solicitor may do. A barrister is in principle required to act for any client offering a proper fee, regardless of the attractions or disadvantages of a case, if he is available to take the case and feels competent to handle the work. In most cases a barrister would be obliged, under what is known as the "cab rank rule", to accept instructions for a case in an area in which they held themselves out as practicing, at a court at which they normally appeared and at their usual rates.[4][5]