LS3: The personnel of the English Legal System Flashcards
The legal profession in England and Wales is divided into which 3 branches?
Chartered legal executives
Solicitors
Barristers
Who are Chartered Legal Executives represented and regulated by?
Represented by Chartered Institute of Legal Executives (CILEX) and regulated by CILEX Regulation.
Where do chartered legal executives usually work?
In law firms as partners or employees, directly with clients as fee earners.
In legal departments of companies, local councils, government.
What must CILEX or SRA regulated companies do with client money?
Keep it in a separate account to the firm’s money.
What rights of audience do chartered legal executives have in the civil courts?
Civil litigation:
Once the Civil Litigation Pathway in CPQ is completed, CLEs can represent clients in County and High Court.
Once the additional civil proceeding advocacy course is completed, they can represent clients in:
- Open County Court
- Magistrates’ court
- Tribunal hearings
- Coroner’s Court
What rights of audience do chartered legal executives have in the criminal courts?
With criminal proceedings advocacy skills + Criminal Litigation Pathway in CPQ:
- Magistrates’ Court
- Youth Courts
- Crown court or High Court - chambers hearing for bail applications
- Appeals to the Crown Court or committals for sentencing in the Crown Court
- Coroners’ Courts
What rights of audience do chartered legal executives have in the family court?
On completing additional family proceedings advocacy skills course, CLEs who have completed the Family Litigation Pathway in CPQ can represent clients in Family Court.
How do you qualify as a solicitor?
Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE)
1) Degree in any subject
2) SQE1 (legal knowledge)
3) SQE2 (practical legal skills)
4) Qualifying work experience (two years and traditional period of recognised training at a law firm)
5) Admission as a solicitor (added to solicitor’s roll)
Where do solicitors work?
Partnerships (also called firms)
Limited companies
Limited liability partnerships
ABSs, alternative business structures, one-stop shops for services
Large companies
What are the rights of audience for a solicitor?
All solicitors are able to represent their clients in:
○ Magistrates’ Court
○ County Court
○ Family Court
○ Intellectual Property Enterprise Court
○ Tribunals
○ Coroner’s Courts (which determine the cause of a person’s death)
Solicitors specialising in litigation may obtain Higher Rights of Audience Qualification and become solicitor advocates. 2 assessments (1 written, 1 practical) need to be completed in civil or criminal advocacy. They cover evidence, procedure and ethics, provided by various institutions.
Solicitor advocates can represent clients in:
○ Crown Court
○ High Court
○ Court of Appeal
○ Supreme Court
What is the main focus for barristers?
Advocacy (representing clients) in the courts.
How do you qualify as a barrister?
5 stages
1) The academic stage (2:1 in law degree, graduate deiploma or mini-pupillage)
2) Admission to an Inn of Court
i. Middle Temple
ii. Inner Temple
iii. Gray’s Inn
iv. Lincoln’s Inn
3) The vocational stage (Bar course before applying to the vocational course at a uni and 12 qualifying stages at their Inn of Court)
4) The Call to the Bar (can call themselves a barrister after this ceremony at Inn of Court)
5) Pupillage (year of pupillage i.e. practical training, under the supervision of an experienced barrister, known as pupil supervisor. 1st 6 months shadowing, 2nd 6 months appear in court.)
What is a barrister’s clerk?
Allocates work and negotiates fees on behalf of barristers.
What is the King’s Counsel?
Experienced barristers can apply for appointment as King’s Counsel (KC). Also referred to as silks, because they wear silk gowns. Non-KCs may be referred to as Juniors in court, even thought they may be very experienced.
What are the rights of audience for a barrister?
Full rights of audience in all the courts of England and Wales.
What kind of judge can a chartered legal executive become?
After judicial-appointment eligibility condition for 5 years can apply to be District Judges and Deputy District Judges.
What is the criteria for a District Judge (and District Judge - Magistrates’ Court) appointment and in which courts can they sit?
Has met the judicial-appointment criteria for 5 years
County Court (replaced by Magistrates’ court for the latter type)
Family Court
What is the criteria for a Recorder appointment and in which courts can they sit?
Has met the judicial-appointment criteria for 7 years
Crown Court
County Court
Family Court
What is the criteria for a Circuit Judge appointment and in which courts can they sit?
Has met the judicial-appointment criteria for 7 years
Or is a Recorder already
Or has served as a District Judge (+ Mag Judge) for 3 years already
Crown, County, Family
What is the criteria for a High Court Judge appointment and in which courts can they sit?
Has met the judicial-appointment criteria for 7 years
Or has served as a Circuit Judge for 2 years
High Court, Divisional Court of the High Court, Crown, Family
What is the criteria for a Lord Justice of Appeal appointment and in which courts can they sit?
Senior judges with lengthy judicial experience
Court of Appeal
Divisional Court of the High Court
What is the criteria for a Justice of the Supreme Court appointment and in which courts can they sit?
Very senior judge with lengthy judicial experience
Supreme Court
What are magistrates also known as?
Justices of the Peace (JPs)
Which qualities must a Magistrate possess?
○ Good character
○ Understanding and communication skills
○ Social awareness
○ Maturity and sound judgement
○ Commitment and reliability
Which occupations are excluded from being able to be a Magistrate?
Police officers or CPS lawyers
What age must a Magistrate be?
18 to 70 years old (no applications after 65)
Who formally appoints a Magistrate?
Lord Chief Justice, who delegates task to Senior Presiding Judge of England and Wales.
Who helps the Magistrates with matters of law?
Justices’ clerk (court legal advisors) who do management functions but also advise on changes to the law and sentencing.
How many days are Magistrates expected to work?
26 half-day sittings each year - unpaid but expensed.
What are the pros and cons to Magistrates?
- Advantages:
○ Cost, cheaper than paid judges
○ Community justice, drawn from local communities and local knowledge provides credibility.
○ Local knowledge, expected to live within 15 miles of their courts.
○ Greater diversity, far more woman and members of ethnic communities than among professional judges.
- Disadvantages
○ No legal training, could lead to bad decisions
○ No legal knowledge, could lead to inappropriate reliance on legal advisors.
○ Still a middle-class bias, with few young magistrates
○ Too trusting, too ready to believe police and convict defendants
○ Become too case-hardened
When are juries used?
Primarily in the Crown Court for indictable-only offences.
Occasionally in civil cases where defamation (libel or slander) is alleged.
In the Crown Court, the judge deals with one key decision and the jury with the other. What are they called?
Fact-based decisions: Jury
Law-based decisions: Judge
What happens if there is a serious danger of jury-tampering (threatening or bribery of jurors)?
The judge can order a Crown Court trial without a jury.
Thanks to s4 Criminal Justice Act 2003.
What criteria must a juror meet to be selected?
○ is aged 18–75;
○ is on the electoral register (entitled to vote in local and parliamentary elections); and
○ has been resident in the UK since the age of 13 for at least five years.
What will the juror be disqualified for?
○ he or she is detained under the Mental Health Act 1983 or has lost mental capacity;
○ he or she has ever served a prison sentence of five or more years; or
in the past 10 years:
○ has been imprisoned (for any length of time);
○ has served a suspended prison sentence (a form of punishment in the community where failure to comply with certain conditions means a prison sentence will apply); or
○ has received a community punishment order.
What is the process of how the court chooses people to be jurors? (Not criteria)
Computer selects eligible people from electoral register.
On day of trial, ballot is drawn for 12 people.
Prosecution and defence can ask questions to determine bias.
They can ask for a juror to stand by, meaning they return to panel.
They can also challenge the whole jury panel if they suspect bias by the court official summoning it.
Judge can remove a juror due to physical or mental incapacity.
Can police officers or a CPS lawyer sit on a jury?
Yes, unless the presence of such a juror was perceived to give the appearance of bias.
Why should jury discussions be secret?
So convicted defendant don’t threaten jurors.
Also free and open discussion can be had.
Unless juror suspects another juror of contempt of court or a possible offence.
What are the pros and cons of juries?
+ Independence against police and state
+ Trial by your peers
+ Ordinary people in justice system
+ Confidence in jury system
+ Occasional acquittal of harsh law cases
- Cost
- Bossy individuals
- Waste of time for skilled people
- Difficult to understand legal concepts
- Publicity
- Secrecy of jury discussions
- Risk of jury-tampering