Legal Personnel Flashcards
(39 cards)
Types of Legal Personnel
2 types of lawyers:
- barristers
- soliciters
Legal executives can work in soliciters’ firms and have qualifications in law but are not fully qualified to be soliciters.
Barristers
About 12,700 self-employed barristers in England and Wales and an additional 3,000 employed by organisations such as the Crown Prosection Service, independent buisness, local government and the Civil Service.
Barristers - controlled
Collectively, they are referred to as the ‘bar’ and are controlled by thie rown professional body: the General Council of the Bar. All barristers must be a member of one of 4 Inns of Court:
- Lincoln’s Inn
- Inner Temple
- Middle Temple
- Gray’s Inn
All are situated near the Royal Courts of Justice in London.
Barristers - training
Entry to the bar is usually degree based. If not in law, they must take the Graduate Diploma in Law or the Common Professional Examination to qualify as a barrister. All students must pass the Bar Professional Training Course, where they study:
- case preperation legal service
- written skill
- opinion writing (giving written advice)
- drafting documents such as claim forms
- conference skills (interviewing clients)
- negotiation
- advocacy
Barristers - advocacy
The art of speaking in court on behalf of another - conducting a case in court as the legal representative of another.
Barristers - pupillage
After students passed the Bar Professional Training Course there is ‘on the job’ training where the trainee becomes a pupil to a qualified barrister. This involves ‘work shadowing’ and can be with the same barrister for 12 months or with 2 different pupil masters for 6 months each.
Barristers - chambers
Barristers practicing at the Bar are self-employed but usually work for a set of chambers where they can share administrative expenses with other barristers. Most sets of chambers are small with about 15-20 barristers and have a clerk employed as a practice administrator (booking cases and negotiating fees) and will have other support staff.
Barristers - rights of audience
The majority of barristers will concentrate on advocacy. Barristers have full rights of audience (the right to present a case on behalf of another). There are some barristers who will specialise in areas such as tax and company law and will rarly appear in court. Even those who do specialise in advocacy will do a certain amount of:
- paperwork,
- writing opinions,
- giving advice,
- drafting documents for use in court.
Barristers - direct access
It is no longer necessary to go to a solicitor before consulting a barrister for civil cases, although in the majority of cases this will still happen. A barrister needs additional training to do direct access work. Direct access is not avaliable for criminal cases or family work.
Barristers - employed barristers
Can be employed by:
- government organisations
- the Civil Service
- local government
- buisinesses
- the Crown Prosecution Service employs a large number to prosecute cases in criminal courts.
All barristers have the full rights to audience.
Solicitors
About 130,000 soliciters practicing in England and Wales. Of those, 90,000 are in private practice and the rest in employed work for:
- local government
- the Civil Service
- the Crown Prosecution Service
- private businesses.
They have their own controlled body; the Law Society.
Solicitors - training
It is usual to have a law degree. With a dgree in another subject, those can take the Common Professional Examination or Graduate Diploma in Law. The next stage would be the Legal Practice Course which includes training in:
- client interviewing
- negotiation
- advocacy
- drafting documents
- legal research
- business management
Solicitors - training contract
When they pass the course, they must obtain a trainig contract under which they work in a soliciters’ firm for 2 years to get practical experience. The training period can be undertaken in certain other legal organisations or the legal department of a local authority. Once the training contract is completed, they will be admitted as soliciters by the Law Society.
Solicitors - career paths
The majority of those who suceed as qualifying solicitors will go on to work in the Crown Prosecution Service, for a local authority or government department. Others will become legal advisors in commercial or industrial businesses. About 40,000 are employed.
Solicitors - private practice
May work as a sole practictioner or in a patnership. There are some 9,500 solicitor firms ranging from ‘high street’ practice to big city firms. The number of patners is not limited and some of the biggest firms will have over 100 patners as well as employing assistant solicitors.
Solicitors - type of work
Depends on the type of firm a solicitor is working in. A small high street firm will probably be a general practice advising clients on a whole range of topics. They will likely spend some of the time interviewing clients in their office and negotiating on their behalf. A large amount of time will be dealt on paperwork including:
- writing letters on behalf of clients
- drafting legal documents
- drawing up will
- dealing with conveyancing.
Some solicitors will specialise in advocacy and spend a lot of their time in court.
Solicitors - specialising
Some solicitors may be general practitioners handling a variety of work, it is not uncommon for a solicitor to specialise in one particular field. Within small firms dedicated to certain areas of the law, solicitors are likely to have their own fields of expertise within them. Large firms have en even greater degree of specialisation with departments dealing with different areas of the law. Large city firms often concentrate on business and commercial law.
Solicitors - conveyancing
Prior to 1985, solicitors had a monopoly on conveyancing (only solicitors could deal with the legal side of transferring houses, other buildings and land). This was changed by the Administrative of Justice Act 1985 which allowed people other than solicitors to become licensed conveyancers. As a result, competiton rose and solicitors had to reduce their fees and they lost a large proportion of work. This led to a demand for wider rights to advocacy.
Solicitors - briefing barristers
Where it is necessary to go to court, a solicitor may brief a barrister to do a case. They may also look for an opinion on a complex case.
Solicitors - rights of advocacy
By the Courts and Legal Services Act 1990, solicitors are now able to apply for a certificate of advocacy which enables them to appear at the higher courts, not just the Magistrates’ and Crown courts. This certificate is granted if the solicitor already has experience of advocacy in the Magistrates’ and County courts, takes a short training course and passes examinations on the rules of evidence. Soclicitors with an advocacy qualification are also eligable to be appointed as the King’s Counsel.
The overlap of roles of barristers and solicitors
Until the end of the 20th centurary, the roles of barristers and solicitors were quite different. Now, the lines seem to blur by solicitors now being able to apply for rights of audience, and barristers being able to be directly breifed instead of having to go through a solicitor (2004, in civil cases) and can do the same preparoty work as a solicitor. However, this is only 1 in every 200 solicitors (6,500). The rules allow the same advocacy work however there is still clear difference in duties.
The overlap of roles of barristers and solicitors - Alternative Business Structures
Changes in the rules about the type of business structures allowed some overlap in the legal world between solicitors and barristers. The Legal Services Act 2007 allows:
- legal businesses to include lawyers and non-lawyers
- non-lawyers to own legal businesses
- legal businesses to operate as companies.
The overlap of roles of barristers and solicitors - Alternative Business Structures - setting up
A licence must be applied for from the Legal Service Board. The first 3 licences under the Act were given in April 2012. 2 of these were to high street solicitors who wished to bring in a non-lawyer manage, and the third was to the Cooperative Society (big business with shops nationwide). As more ABSs will be set up, the style of legal advice will change due to newfound competition.
King’s Counsel
After at least 10 years as a barrister or solicitor with an advocacy qualification, it is possible to apply to become a King’s Counsel. About 10% of barristers practicing at the bar are part. Becoming one is known as ‘taking silk’. KCs usually take on more complicated and high profile cases than junior barristers (all who aren’t part of KCs are known as junior) and can command higher fees for their recognised expertise. Often a KC will have a junior to assist with the case.
