Legal Personnel - Barristers, solicitors and legal executives: role and the regulation of legal professions - ROLE

Question 1

Explain the roles of the different personnel involved in cases (8 marks)

Explain the work of a barrister and how they get involved in a case (8 marks)

Explain the role of a solicitor and how it can vary. (8 marks)

Answer 1

Explain the work of a barrister and how they get involved in a case (8 marks)

Barristers work within chambers and are self employed. They share administration costs with other barristers and will employ support staff such as a clerk who will find each barrister cases. Barristers may also work for the Crown Prosecution Service if they specialise in prosecuting criminal offences and dealing with appeals.
A barrister’s main role is advocacy, which means representing their clients in court. Barristers have full rights of audience meaning they can take cases to any court within the UK. If a barrister has been qualified for more than 10 years they can apply to become King’s Counsel. This would mean they would have a high reputation and would therefore be able to charge more for their services. This often also comes along with another barrister assisting them with their services as they will be taking on bigger and more complex cases. Although advocacy in court is the primary role of a barrister, they also need to ensure they know their cases in great depth, knowing the witnesses and evidence and planning out and drafting speeches and questions for their known witnesses and the opposing side’s. They will also do some paperwork, although this is usually not the main focus of their work unless they specialise in tax or company law.
A barrister becomes involved in a case through the cab rank rule, which means that if they have capacity in their work and they specialise in the area needed, they must take on a case, regardless of their beliefs. Usually clients will not approach barristers directly and usually this will be through a solicitor who will have initially dealt with their case. If, however, the client is of a particular profession, such as a surveyor or an accountant, they will be able to brief a barrister directly if the barrister has undertaken additional training in order to deal with these cases.

Explain the role of a solicitor and how it can vary. (8 marks)
here are around 136,000 solicitors practising in England and Wales and they are controlled by their own professional body - The Law Society. Most solicitors (about 90,000) work in private practice in a law firm. About 40,000 are employed elsewhere. Some work in the Crown Prosecution Service or for a local authority or government department. Some work as legal advisers in large commercial or industrial businesses. In private practice, a solicitor may work as an associate solicitor or they may be a partner in the firm if they have been a solicitor for a number of years. Partners sometimes receive a share of the annual profits for the firm.

The type of work undertaken by solicitors depends on the type of firm they work in. In a small high street firm, the type of work may be quite general and solicitors will advise clients on a whole range of topics such as consumer problems, housing and business matters and family problems. Although many Solicitors are general practitioners, it is especially common in large commercial firms or niche firms for solicitors to specialise in one particular area of law, for example Intellectual Property, Mergers and Acquisitions or Construction.

All solicitors can act as advocates in the Magistrates’ Court and County Courts – this is their “right of audience”. Since the Courts and Legal Services Act 1990, solicitors may be seen in higher courts representing clients if they have been granted an Advocacy Certificate based on experience, a training course and exams. This was extended by the Access to Justice Act 1999. Currently however, there are only around 6500 Solicitor-Advocates in the UK.

Question 2

HEN: Find out the most up to date statistics on the different legal professions you have included.
How many are there of each type in England and Wales?
What are the percentages for male/female/ethnic minorities?
What are the average ages of these people?
What are the average annual incomes for each of the different professions?

Question 3

ROLE: 1) Legal Executives
Where do they work

Answer 3

Legal Executives work in Solicitors Firms as assistants

Question 4

Provide examples of the similar work they do to the solicitors

Answer 4

They do similar work to solicitors, especially conveyancing and probate.

Question 5

What is conveyancing and probate

Answer 5

Conveyancing -
Moving houses - making sure it goes smoothly, meaning they prepare documents for legal process involved when ownership of a property is transferred from the seller to the buyer
Probate -
The person dealing with the estate of the person who has died called an executor or an administrator. An executor is someone who is named in the will as responsible for dealing with the estate. An executor may have to apply for a special legal authority before they can deal with the estate.

Question 6

How do they assist solicitors

Answer 6

• Deal with clients eg advise clients and can represent clients in the lower courts.
• Gather evidence

Question 7

Around how many legal execs are there in England and Wales

Answer 7

There are around 20,000 execs practising

Question 8

Legal execs have limited rights of audience - provide examples of types of cases they will apply for

Answer 8

They have limited rights of audience - mainly making applications where cases are not defended in family matters and civil cases in county court

Question 9

What do rights of audience mean

Answer 9

The courts you can appear in to represent client

Question 10

How might legal execs obtain wider rights of audience

Answer 10

Since 2008, they can take a course on advocacy to obtain wider rights of audience

Question 11

What certificates might legal execs be provided after this course and what would it involve

Answer 11

The course of advocacy to obtain wider rights of audience could provide them with a:
- Civil proceedings certificate
- Family proceedings certificate

This allows them to do such matters as make bail applications or deal with issues in the youth court for example.

Question 13

What is legal execs role

Answer 13

• Take instructions from clients and prepare witness statements
• Attend court
• Undertake research and drafting
• Manage cases
• Deal with clients and gather evidence

Question 14

Solicitors: ROLE
Who are solicitors controlled by and how many solicitors are practising in England and Wales

Answer 14

• There are around 136,000 solicitors practising in England and Wales
• And they are controlled by their own professional body - The Law Society

Question 15

Where do solicitors work and provide statistics

Answer 15

• Most solicitors (about 90,000) work in private practice in a law firm.
• About 40,000 are employed elsewhere
• Some work for other organisations in the Crown Prosecution Service ( 15 percent work in CPS) or for a local authority or government department
• Some work as legal advisors in large commercial or industrial businesses.
• In private practice, a solicitor may work as an associate solicitor or they may be a partner in a firm if they have been a solicitor for a number of years. Partners sometimes receive a share of the annual profits for the firm.
• Many solicitors work in High Street firms and are employed.

Question 16

The type of work undertaken by solicitors depends on the type of firm they work in: name the types of firms solicitors may work in

Answer 16

• In a small high street firm
• In a large commercial firm
• Niche firms

Question 17

Explain the type of work undertaken by solicitors in small high street firms by solicitors and examples of cases they may take on

Answer 17

The type of work undertaken in a small high street firm may be quite general and solicitors will advise clients on a whole range of topics such as consumer problems, housing and business matters and family problems

Question 18

Explain the type of work undertaken by solicitors if they practice in large commerical firms or niche firms

Answer 18

Although many solicitors are general practitioners, it is especially common in large commercial firms or niche firms for solicitors to specialise in one particular area of law, for example intellectual property, mergers and acquisitions or construction.

Question 19

What are the average annual incomes for solicitors (depending on where they work, what they do etc…)

Answer 19

The amount of money earned by solicitors depends on the type of firm and their status within the firm.

In big London firms, the top earners can receive 500,000 a year whereas at the lower end of the scale solicitors in small firms may earn less than 30,000

Question 20

Provide solicitors general role or what they have to divide their time up between

Answer 20

• interviewing clients and negotiating on their behalves.
• probate
• writing letters on behalf of clients or to clients

-drafting contracts, leases or other legal documents

• conveyancing
• divorce proceedings and issues concerning tasks

-gathering evidence and documents for Barristers

• Advocacy

Question 21

What are solicitors rights of audience

Answer 21

All solicitors can act as advocates in the magistrates court and county court - this is their ‘‘right of audience’’

Their rights of audience in higher courts used too be very limited as this role really separates the work of solicitors and barristers. although in recent years this divide is breaking down.

Question 22

What act provides solicitors with the right to represent clients in higher courts and what is required in order to do so

Answer 22

Since the Courts and Legal services Act 1990, solicitors may be seen in higher courts representing clients if they have been granted an advocacy certificate based on experience, a training course and exams.

Question 23

What act was the solicitors expansion of right of audience extended by after the first act and what did this change

Answer 23

This was extended by the Access to Justice Act 1999 which means soon new training requirements will be introduced in the future so that potentially more solicitors have full rights of audience.

Question 24

How many solicitor- advocates are there in the UK

Answer 24

Currently however, despite the access to justce act 1999, there are only around 6500 solicitor-advocates in the UK.

Answer 25

solicitors may act as deputy distrcit judges

Question 26

How much advocacy do solicitors do

Answer 26

Although advocacy is usually thought of as a role mainly fulfilled by barristers, solicitors (even without the advocacy certificate) actually do more advocacy than barristers

Question 27

How many criminal cases do solicitors deal with

Answer 27

97 percent of criminal cases are dealt with in the magistrates court where both the prosecution and defence are solicitors

Question 28

How do solicitors assist barristers in court

Answer 28

Where barristers are instructed to represent a client in court, the solicitor still has important work to do such as handling various procedural aspects of the case, gathering evidence and keeping the client and witnesses informed of developments

Question 29

In a law firm,, the newly qualified solicitor will initially be what

Answer 29

An associate or assistant solicitor. They will hope to progress to be a partner in the firm.
initially, this is likely to be a non-equity partner or junior partner which means they don’t ‘‘buy in’’ to the firm, but equally they do not receive a big share of the profits like equality partners do.
The most senior position in a solicitors firm is to be an equity partner

Question 35

Barristers: ROLE
Where do barristers work

Answer 35

Are self-employed but usually work from a set of chambers sharing administrative costs and facilities with between 15 and 20 other barristers

Question 36

Who do they employ and what do they do

Answer 36

They will employ support staff including a clerk to manage the chambers by booking in cases and negotiating fees

Question 37

If barristers cannot work in chambers, what do they do instead

Answer 37

It is very difficult for newly-qualified barristers to find tenancy in chambers, so many ‘‘squat’’ as an unofficial tenant in the chambers where they are trained until they get a place.

Question 38

Do you have to use chambers

Answer 38

Technically, a tenancy in chambers is not essential and barristers may practise from home but the best way to build up a successful practice is in chambers

Question 39

How many employed and self-employed barristers are there and who are they employed from

Answer 39

There are about 12,700 barristers who are self-employed in England and Wales
But also around 3000 barristers employed by organisations such as the CPS, businesses, local government and the civil service.

Question 40

What are barristers known as collectively

Answer 40

Collectively they are known as ‘‘The Bar’’

Question 41

Who are barristers controlled by

Answer 41

They are controlled by their own professional body - the General Council of the Bar.

Question 42

All barristers must must also be a member of one of the four inns of court; name these four courts

Answer 42

Lincolns Inn
Inner Temple
Middle Temple
Gray’s Inn
All of which are situated near the Royal courts of justice in London

Question 43

What do they concentrate or specialise in (barristers)

Answer 43

Most barristers concentrate on advocacy although some who specialise in tax and company law may rarely appear in court

Question 44

What are barristers rights of audience

Answer 44

Barristers have rights of audience in all courts in england and Wales.

Question 45

Explain how a barrister might become a KC

Answer 45

After a barrister has practised for at least 10 years, an application can be made to a kings counsel (KC).

Question 46

If appointed what happens or changes

Answer 46

They take on more difficult and complex cases and can charge higher fees.

Question 47

barristers still do some paperwork - elaborate

Answer 47

They write opinions on cases for solicitors and clients
Sometimes give advice and draft documents for using in court.
They must also draft their opening and closing speeches
and familiarise themselves with all the details of the case.

Question 48

KC: kings counsel
How many are KC

Answer 48

About 10 percent of barristers practising at the bar are kings counsel

Question 49

What is barristers practising at the Bar are King Counsel known as

Answer 49

This is known as ‘‘taking silk’’.

Question 50

What do KCs have with them sometimes

Answer 50

Often KCs will have a junior barrister or a team of them to assist with the more challenging cases they take on.

Question 51

How was the selection of those who should become kings counsellor changed in 2004

Answer 51

It was changed in 2004 to an independent panel rather than just the Lord Chancellor - the old system was criticised as less than 10 percent of KCs were female and a very small number were from ethnic minorities. As judges are often chosen from KC’s, this had a knock on effect on the judiciary .

Question 52

Since these changes were made, what changed

Answer 52

Since these changes, the diversity of KCs is improving with now around 15 percent being female and 7 percent from ethnic minorities

Question 53

How do Barristers apply to become a KC

Answer 53

Barristers must apply to become a KC and pay an application fee of 2,800 and if they were successful, an appointment fee of 3840.
They must provide references and will be interviewed by the panel who will then inform the Lord Chancellor who they wish to appoint, and they will be formally appointed by the Lord Chancellor

Question 54

How do barristers get involved in cases

Answer 54

The most popular way for barristers to be instructed is by a solicitor who briefs the barrister and refers the case to them if necessary.
As this can be costly to pay two lawyers, barristers can be briefed directly without a solicitor if the clients are certain professionals such as accountants or surveyors for example

Question 55

How do barristers get involved in criminal cases or family work

Answer 55

Direct access is not available for criminal cases or familywork.

Question 56

How can barristers get direct access

Answer 56

To do direct access, work barristers must undertake additional training. This also applies to anyone who wishes to directly instruct a barrister in a civil case.

Question 57

What does it mean when it says barristers are under the ‘‘cab-rank’’ rule

Answer 57

Barristers must accept any case referred to them provided it lies within their legal expertise, the appropriate fee has been agreed and they are free at that time to accept the brief.

Question 58

What does this mean barristers cannot do in accordance to the cab-rank rule

Answer 58

They therefore cannot refuse cases on the grounds of their own beliefs, the nature of the case or character of the defendant on whose behalf they are instructed.