Solicitors Flashcards
Solicitors
There are over 120,000 solicitors practising in England and Wales,Solicitors are generally the first port of call for individuals seeking legal advice. As such, solicitors may deal with a wide variety of legal issues, Many solicitors, particularly in larger firms, are specialists in particular fields. Solicitors are permitted to practice in partnerships: the vast majority do so, although some work in local authorities, governmental institutions, or
‘in-house’ in large companies.
Law Society.
The Law Society is the representative body for solicitors in England and Wales. Its aims are to ‘help, protect and promote solicitors across England and Wales’. It does this by negotiating with and lobbying the profession’s regulators, the government and others, and by offering training and advice.
Solicitors Regulation Authority.
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) is the independent regulatory body of the Law Society, dealing with all regulatory and disciplinary matters, and setting, monitoring and enforcing standards for solicitors across England and Wales. Formerly known as the Law Society Regulation Board, it acts solely in the public interest.
Work
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. Over 30,000 solicitors are employed. A solicitor in private practice may work as a sole practitioner or in a partnership. There are some 10,000 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. The type of work done by solicitor will largely 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 negotitating on their behlf, 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 glatfs, houses, office buildings and land) The solicitor may also, if he wishes, act for some of his clients in court. Standing up in court, 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.
Courts and Legal Services Act 1990 and the Access to Justice Act 1999.
Solicitors have traditionally been able to do advocacy work in the magistrates’ court and the County Court, but not generally in the higher courts. This situation was changed by the Courts and Legal Services Act 1990 and the Access to Justice Act 1999. These Acts put in place the mechanics for equalizing rights of audience between barristers and solicitors. Now all barristers and solicitors acquire full rights of audience when they are admitted to the Roll (an official register of qualified lawyers entitled to practice), though they will only be able to exercise these rights on completion of the necessary training.
Solicitors and Barrister being one
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 particular area of law. 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 Omrod Committee was in favour of a common education for all prospective lawyers. Again 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’.
Neither recommendation was implemented. However, in 2012 another review of legal education and training took place and this may lead to changes.
Training to become a solicitor
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 (CPE), or Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL). The next stage is Legal Practice Course (LPC), which 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, e.g. keeping accounts. The LPC can be done as a one-year full-time course or a two-year part-time course. The part-time course allows students to work part-time in order to help with finances.(Typically two years) as a trainee solicitor within a firm.
Training contract
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.
Key points about solicitors’ training:
Can be undertaken in certain other legal organisations (e.g. Crown Prosecution Service), the legal department of a local authority, or a solicitors’ firm.
Paid not at the same rate as a fully qualified solicitor.
Do his own work, supervised by a solicitor.
Have to complete a 20-day Professional Skills Course (builds on the skills learnt in 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.
Criticisms of the training process
- TUITION FEES
- NON-LAW GRADUATES
- OVERSUPPLY
What are the three training routes to become a solicitor?
A levels or equivalent
Law degree
Legal practice course(one year)
Two year training period
A levels or equivalent Degree in another subject Common professional examination Legal practice course Two year training period
Institute of legal executives professional diploma
ILEX high professional diploma
Legal practice course
Either become a professional ilex(must have worked for 5 years)
OR
two- year training period
=Qualified as a Solicitor
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 specialize in one particular field.
The firm itself may handle only certain types of cases (perhaps only civil actions) and not do any criminal cases, or a firm may specialize 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 specialization, 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 firms, with the top earners on £500,000 or more, while at the bottom end of the scale some sole practitioners will earn less than £40,000.
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 1985 which 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, by 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 of audience 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.
Until 1986 solicitors had no rights of audience in open court in the High Court, though they could deal with preliminary matters in preparation for a case.
The Lord Chancellor and the senior judges in each division of the High Court issued a Practice Direction, allowing solicitors to appear in the High Court to make a statement in a case that has been settled.
Certificate of Advocacy
The first major alteration 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 shot training course and passed examinations on the rules of evidence.
The first certificates were granted in 1994 and by the beginning of 2013 over 6,000 solicitors had qualified to be advocates in the higher courts.
Solicitors with an advocacy qualification are also eligible to be appointed as queen’s Counsel and also to be appointed to higher judicial posts.
The Access to Justice Act 1999 (section 36) 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.
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. Other people affected by the solicitor’s negligence may also have the right to sue in certain circumstances.
It used to be held that a solicitor presenting a case in court could not be sued for negligence. However, in Hall v Simons (2000), the House of Lords decided that advocates can be liable for negligence.
