THE LEGAL PROFESSION

Vocabulary

15.1 SOLICITORS

solicitor
qualify (~ as a solicitor/barrister)
advocate, advocacy
training (~ for lawyers)
the Lord Chancellor
the Bar
practise (~ as lawyers)
the Law Society
negotiation, negotiate
draft (~ documents, contracts)
authority (local ~)
trainee
the Crown Prosecution Service
paperwork
on behalf of
draft (~ contracts, leases, legal documents)
draw up (~ a will)
conveyancing, conveyancer
put (~ the client’s case )
handle (~ work, a case)
specialise (in)
expertise
prior (to)
fees (reduce ~)
the Magistrates’ Court
the County Court
the right of audience
committal
sentence
grant (~ a certificate, access)
be eligible (to)
judicial (~ post)
provide (the act ~s that)
deal (~ with clients)
sue (for)
breach of contract
negligence
plaintiff
proceedings (divorce ~, to start ~, ~ against sb)
lose (lost) (~ a case, ~financially)
compensation

15.2 BARRISTERS

barrister
the Bar (call to ~, be called to ~)
the Inns of Court
practical skills
draft (~ pleadings)
validate
face (~ problems)
judge
pupillage, pupil
conduct (~ a case)
chambers
clerk
staff
tenancy (~ in the chambers), tenant
tax
company law
brief (~ a barrister direct), a ~ (from)
Queen’s Council (QC)
“take silk”, apply for silk
high profile (~ cases)
ethnic minorities
claimant
liable (for)
overrule (~ the earlier case)
Law Lord
immunity (from)
litigate, litigation, litigant
abuse (of)

15.3 FUSION

debate
fusion
merge (into)
advice (from)
represent (~ clients in court)

A CAREER IN THE LAW

complete (~ the degree, the course)

plead (~ cases in court)
argue (~ a case)
advise (~ on legal affairs)
LLB
vocational (~ stage)
apprenticeship
gain (~ a law degree)
graduate, undergraduate
entail
juris doctor (J.D.)
THE LEGAL PROFESSION
In England and Wales there are two types of lawyers (barristers and solicitors) jointly referred to as the legal
profession. Most countries do not have this clear-cut division among lawyers: a person will qualify simply as a
lawyer, although, after qualifying, it will be possible for them to specialise as an advocate, or in a particular
area of law. This type of system is seen in this country in the medical profession, where all those wishing to
become doctors take the same general qualifications. After they have qualified, some doctors will go on to
specialise in different fields, perhaps as surgeons, and will take further qualifications in their chosen field.

In England, not only are the professions separate, but there is no common training for lawyers, although there
have been increasing calls for this. As far back as 1971 the Ormrod Committee was in favour of a common
education for all prospective lawyers. In 1994 the Lord Chancellor's advisory committee on legal education,
under Lord Steyn, recommended that, instead of having separate training for barristers and solicitors, 'the two
branches of the profession should have joint training. All those qualifying would then work for six months or a
year at a solicitors', with those who wished to become barristers going on to do extra training at the Bar. Yet
despite these recommendations, the training of the two professions remains separate.

15.1 SOLICITORS
There are over 90,000 solicitors practising in
England and Wales and they are controlled by
their own professional body, the Law Society.
15.1.1 TRAINING
To become a solicitor it is usual to have a law
degree, although those with a degree in a subject
other than law can do an extra year’s training in
core legal subjects, and take the Common
Professional Examination. The next stage is the
one-year Legal Practice Course. This is much more
practically based than the previous Law Society
Finals course and includes training in skills such as
client-interviewing, negotiation, advocacy, drafting
documents and legal research. There is also an
emphasis on business management, for example,
keeping accounts.
The majority of those who succeed in qualifying
as a solicitor will then work in private practice
in a solicitors' firm. However, there are other
careers available, and some newly-qualified
solicitors may go on to work in the Crown
Prosecution Service or for a Local Authority or
Government Department. Others will become
legal advisers in commercial or industrial
businesses.
A solicitor in private practice may work as a
sole practitioner or in a partnership. There are
some 8,700 firms of solicitors, ranging from the
small 'high street' practice to the big city firms.
The number of partners is not limited, and some
of the biggest firms will have over a hundred
partners as well as employing assistant
solicitors.

Training contract The type of work done by a solicitor will largely

Even when this course has been passed, the student
is still not a qualified solicitor. He or she must next
obtain a training contract under which they work in
a solicitors’ firm for two years, getting practical
experience. This training period can also be
undertaken in certain other legal organisations
such as the Crown Prosecution Service, or the legal
department of a local authority. During this two-
year training contract the trainee will be paid,
though not at the same rate as a fully qualified
solicitor, and will do his own work, supervised by
a solicitor. He will also have to complete a 20 day
Professional Skills Course which builds on the
skills learnt on the LPC. At the end of the time, the
trainee will be admitted as a solicitor by the Law
Society and his name will be added to the roll (or
list) of solicitors. Even after qualifying, solicitors
have to attend continuing education courses to
keep their knowledge up to date.
depend on the type of firm he or she is working
in. A small high street firm will probably be a
general practice advising clients on a whole
range of topics such as consumer problems,
housing and business matters and family
problems. A solicitor working in such a practice
is likely to spend some of his time interviewing
clients in his office and negotiating on their
behalf, and a large amount of time dealing with
paperwork. This will include:
 writing letters on behalf of clients
 drafting contracts, leases or other legal
documents
 drawing up wills
 dealing with conveyancing (the legal
side of buying and selling flats, houses,
office buildings and land)

The solicitor may also, if he wishes, act for

some of his clients in court. Standing up in court
15. 1. 2. SOLICITORS’ WORK and putting the client's case, and questioning
witnesses is known as advocacy. Some solicitors
will specialise in this and spend much of their
time in court.
Specialising
Although some solicitors may be general
practitioners handling a variety of work it is not
unusual, even in small firms, for a solicitor to
specialise in one particular field. The firm itself
may only handle certain types of cases (perhaps
only civil actions) and not do any criminal cases,
or a firm may specialise in matrimonial cases.
Even within the firm the solicitors are likely to
have their own field of expertise. In large firms
there will be an even greater degree of
specialisation with departments dealing with one
aspect of the law. The large city firms usually
concentrate on business and commercial law.
Amounts earned by solicitors are as varied as the
types of firm, with the top earners in big firms
on £500,000 or more, while at the bottom end of
the scale some sole practitioners will earn less
than £30,000.
Conveyancing
Prior to 1985 solicitors had a monopoly on
conveyancing: this meant that only solicitors
could deal with the legal side of transferring
houses and other buildings and land. This was
changed by the Administration of Justice Act
1985which allowed people other than solicitors
to become licensed conveyancers. As a result of
the increased competition in this area, solicitors
had to reduce their fees, but even so they lost a
large proportion of the work. This led to a
demand for wider rights of advocacy.
Rights of advocacy
All solicitors have always been able to act as
advocates in the Magistrates’ Courts and the
County Courts, but their rights in the higher
courts used to be very limited. Normally a
solicitor could only act as advocate in the Crown
Court on a committal for sentence, or on an
appeal from the Magistrates’ Court, and then
only if he or another solicitor in the firm had
been the advocate in the original case in the
Magistrates’ Court.
The first major alternation to solicitors’ rights of
audience came in the Courts and Legal Services
Act 1990. Under this Act, a solicitor in private
practice had the right to apply for a certificate of
advocacy which enabled him to appear in the
higher courts. Such a certificate was granted if
the solicitor already had experience of advocacy
in the Magistrates’ Court and the County Court,
took a short training course and passed
examinations on the rules of evidence. The first
certificates were granted in 1994 and by the end
of 2004 about 1,200 solicitors had qualified to
be an advocate in the higher courts.
Solicitors with an advocacy qualification are
also eligible to be appointed as Queen’s Counsel
(see section 15.2.2) and also to be appointed to
higher judicial posts.
The Access to Justice Act 1999 provides that all
solicitors will automatically be given full rights
of audience. However, new training
requirements to allow solicitors to obtain these
rights have not yet been brought in.
15.1.3 COMPLAINTS AGAINST
SOLICITORS
A solicitor deals directly with clients and enters
into a contract with them. This means that if the
client does not pay , the solicitor has the right to
sue for his fees. It also means that the client can
sue his solicitor for breach of contract if the
solicitor fails to do the work.
A client can also sue the solicitor for negligence
in and out of court work. This happened in
Griffiths v Dawson (1993) where solicitors for
the plaintiff had failed to make the correct
application in divorce proceedings against her
husband. As a result the plaintiff lost financially
and solicitors were ordered to pay her £21,000
in compensation.
Other people affected by the solicitor’s
negligence may also have the right to sue in
certain circumstances. An example of this was
the case of White v Jones (1995) where a father
wanted to make a will leaving each of his
daughters £9,000. He wrote to his solicitors
instructing them to draw up a will to include
this. The solicitors received this letter on 17 July
1986 but had done nothing about it by the time
the father died on 14 September 1986. As a
result the daughters did not inherit any money
and they successfully sued the solicitor for the
£9,000 they had each lost.
15.2 BARRISTERS
There are about 14,000 barristers in independent
practice in England and Wales. Collectively
barristers are referred to as ‘the Bar’ and they
are controlled by their own professional body –
the General Council of the Bar. All barristers
must also be a member of one of the four Inns of
Court: Lincoln’s Inn, Inner Temple, Middle
Temple and Gray’s Inn, all of which are situated
near the Royal Courts of Justice in London.
15.2.1 TRAINING
Entry to the Bar is normally degree-based,
though there is a non-degree route for mature
entrants, under which a small number of
students qualify. As with solicitors, graduate
students without a law degree can take the one
year course for the Common Professional
Examination in the core subjects, in order to go
on to qualify as a barrister. All student barristers
have to pass the Bar Vocational Course which
emphasises the practical skills of drafting
pleadings for use in court, negotiation and
advocacy.
Until 1997 only the Inns of Court School of
Law (Bar School) could run this course, but
since September 1997 six other bodies have
been validated to offer the course. These are:
the BPP Law School and the College of Law in
London, and Law Schools in Nottingham,
Northumbria, Bristol and Cardiff. This allows
more students to obtain a place on the Bar
Vocational Course, but brings the same
problems that solicitors are facing, with more
people qualifying than there are work
placements available for.
All student barristers must join one of the four
Inns of Court and used to have to dine there 12
times before being called to the Bar. Since
October 1997 students may attend in a different
way, for example, a weekend residential course.
This will help students on the courses outside
London as travelling costs will be lower. The
idea behind the rule requiring all trainee
barristers to dine was that they met senior
barristers and judges and absorbed the traditions
of the profession. In practice, few barristers dine
at their Inns and students are unlikely to meet
anyone except other students.
Once a student has passed the Bar Vocational
Course, he or she is then 'called to the Bar'. This
means that they are officially qualified as a
barrister. However, there is still a practical stage
to their training which must be completed. This
is called pupillage.
Pupillage
After the student has passed the Bar Vocational
Course there is 'on the job' training where the
trainee barrister becomes a pupil to a qualified
barrister. This effectively involves 'work
shadowing' that barrister, and can be with the
same barrister for 12 months or with two
different pupil masters for six months each.
There is also a requirement that they take part in
a programme of continuing education organised
by the Bar Council. After the first six months of
pupillage, barristers are eligible to appear in
court and may conduct their own cases. During
pupillage trainee barristers are paid a small
salary, usually about half the amount paid to
trainee solicitors.
15. 2. 2 BARRISTERS’ WORK
Barristers practising at the Bar are self-
employed, but usually work from a set of
chambers where they can share administrative
expenses with other barristers. Most sets of
chambers are fairly small comprising of about
15 to 20 barristers. They will employ a clerk as
a practice administrator – booking in cases and
negotiating fees – and they will have other
support staff. One of the problems facing newly
qualified barristers is the difficulty of finding a
tenancy in chambers. Many will do a third six-
month pupillage and then 'squat' as an unofficial
tenant before obtaining a place. The rule on
having to practise from chambers has been
relaxed, so that it is technically possible for
barristers to practise from home. However,
despite the fact that a tenancy in chambers is not
essential, it is still viewed as the way to allow a
barrister to build a successful practice.
The majority of barristers will concentrate on
advocacy, although there are some who
specialise in areas such as tax and company law,
and who rarely appear in court. Barristers have
rights of audience in all courts in England and
Wales. Even those who specialise in advocacy
will do a certain amount of paperwork, writing
opinions on cases, giving advice and drafting
documents for use in court.
Direct access
Originally it was necessary for anybody who
wished to instruct a barrister to go to a solicitor
first. The solicitor would then brief the barrister.
This was thought to create unnecessary expense
for clients, as it meant they had to use two
lawyers instead of one. As a result of criticism
the Bar first of all started to operate a system
called Bar direct under which certain
professionals such as accountants and surveyors
could brief a barrister direct without using a
solicitor. This was extended to other
professionals and organisations. Then in
September 2004 the Bar granted direct access to
anyone (business or individual). It is no longer
necessary to go to a solicitor in order to instruct
a barrister for a civil case. However, direct
access is still not allowed for criminal cases or
family work.
Queen’s Counsel
After at least 10 years as a barrister or as a
solicitor with an advocacy qualification, it is
possible to apply to become a Queen's Counsel
(QC). About 10 per cent of the Bar are Queen's
Counsel and it is known as 'taking silk'. QCs
usually take on more complicated and high
profile cases than junior barristers (all barristers
who are not Queen's Counsel are known as
'juniors'), and they can command higher fees for
their recognised expertise. Often a QC will have
a junior barrister to assist with the case.
Until 2004 Queen's Council were appointed by
the Lord Chancellor. However, the Lord
Chancellor's criteria for selecting QCs has been
criticised as being too secretive. There was also
the fact that less than 10 per cent of QCs are
women and only a very few are from ethnic
minorities. In turn this has an effect on the
composition of the judiciary since senior judges
are usually chosen from the ranks of Queen's
Counsel.
In 2004 the Lord Chancellor, the Bar Council
and the Law Society agreed a new system for
appointment. It would no longer be made by the
Lord Chancellor: instead it would be by a
selection panel. This panel will be chaired by a
non-lawyer and include other non-lawyers
among its members. Selection will be by
interview and applicants can provide references
(including from clients). The new system is
likely to be in place by autumn 2005.
15.2.3. COMPLAINTS AGAINST
BARRISTERS
Where a barrister receives a brief from a
solicitor he or she does not enter into a contract
with his client and so cannot sue if their fees are
not paid. Similarly, the client cannot sue for
breach of contract. However, they can be sued
for negligence. In Saif Ali v Sydney Mitchell and
Co (1980) it was held that a barrister could be
sued for negligence in respect of written advice
and opinions. In that case a barrister had given
the wrong advice about who to sue, with the
result that the claimant was too late to start
proceedings against the right person.
In Hall (a firm) v Simons (2000) the House of
Lords held that lawyers could also be liable for
negligence in the conduct of advocacy in court.
This decision overruled the earlier case of
Rondel v Worsley (1969) in which barristers
were held not to be liable because their first
duty was to the courts and they must be ‘free to
do their duty fearlessly and independently’.
The Law Lords in Hall (a firm) v Simons felt
that in light of modern conditions it was no
longer in the public interest that advocates
should have immunity from being sued for
negligence. They pointed out that doctors could
be sued and they had a duty to an ethical code
of practice and might have difficult decisions to
make when treating patients. There was no
reason why advocates should not be liable in the
same way.
They also pointed out that allowing advocates to
be sued for negligence would not be likely to
lead to the whole case being re-argued. If an
action against an advocate was merely an
excuse to get the whole issue litigated again, the
matter would almost certainly be struck out as
an abuse of process.
15.3 FUSION
A major debate used to be whether the two
professions should be merged into one profession.
The advantages of fusion were thought to be:
 reduced costs as only one lawyer would
be needed instead of a solicitor and a
barrister
 less duplication of work because only
one person would be doing the work,
instead of a solicitor preparing the case
and then passing it on to a barrister
 more continuity as the same person
could deal with the case from start to
finish
The disadvantages of fusion were seen as:
 a decrease in the specialist skills of
advocacy
 loss of the independent bar and the lack
of availability of advice from
independent specialists at the bar
 less objectivity in consideration of a
case; at the moment the barrister
provides a second opinion
The argument for fusion is no longer so
important since the changes made by the Courts
and Legal Services Act 1990 and the Access to
Justice Act 1999 mean that barristers and
solicitors can take a case from start to finish.
Under the Access to Justice Act barristers have
the right to do litigation (i.e. the preliminary
work in starting a case) which has in the past
always been done by solicitors. At the same
time solicitors have wider rights of advocacy
and may represent clients in all courts.