Revision notes
Barristers
•Bewigged lawyers who appear in court
•10,000 of them have the rights of audience in all courts in England and Wales
•Their work includes advocacy, writing counsel’s opinion for solicitors and drafting legal documents
•Self-employed
•Collectively they are known by the term The Bar.
•They communicate with a solicitor and this is called the brief.
•Should never refuse the cab rank rule ( where barristers must take the next case that comes along)
•Most are based in London
They are specialist advocates
Training/ Qualifications
There are 3 levels of training
•The academic stage- can be a law degree, can be any degree together with Common Professional Examination (CPE) <a conversion degree for areas of law.
•The vocational stage- tests skills, such as advocacy- Bar vocational course.
•The professional stage- pupillage, shadowing a practising barrister (pupil master) for 2 periods of 6 months.
The first two stages = a qualified barrister and is called to the bar
Complaints
Complaints can be made to their Inns, the Bar Council or to a complaints commissioner to investigate. In extreme cases it is possible for the senate of the Inn to disbar a barrister!
Barristers can be sued for negligence. They would be disciplined if they failed to maintain the standard of their code of conduct.
A Legal Services Ombudsman was established to handle the complaints by the Bar Council.
Law
Solicitors
•There are 70,000 of them in the England and Wales
•Their work commonly includes:
Drawing up documents for wills,
Preparing a case for trial (litigation)
Tax issues
Conveyancing
Commercial contracts
Divorce proceedings
•They work in private practice
•They have first contact with clients
•They may well be advocates in they lower courts. (Magistrates and County) An Advocacy certificate (set up by LC 1990) =they may now appear in higher courts.
•The work of solicitors is split up into contentious work (court cases) Non-contentious work (everything else)
Training/Qualifications
There are 3 levels of training
•The academic stage- can be a law degree, can be any degree together with Common Professional Examination (CPE) <a conversion degree for areas of law.
•The vocational stage- tests skills, such as client counselling- Legal Practice Course.
•The professional stage- 2 year training contract in a solicitors’ office is required before entry on the roll of solicitors
Complaints
Complaints can be made to the office for the Supervision of Solicitors, which is run by the Law society. In extreme cases it is possible for the Law Society to remove a solicitor from the role!
Solicitors can be sued for negligence. They would also be disciplined if they failed to maintain the standard of their code of conduct.
There is a contract between a solicitor and client. If there is a breach of contract the client has the right to sue the solicitor.
A Legal Services Ombudsman was established to handle the complaints by the Law Society.
Criticisms
•The training process is criticised as it causes financial problems for students. The fees of LPC =£6000.
•Students from poor families can’t afford this, so this prevents them becoming a solicitor even though they have a law degree.
•One in three people who pass the solicitors training examinations will be unable to qualify as a solicitor because of the shortage of places in firms.
The Advantages and Disadvantages of the fusion of barristers and solicitors
Advantages
•Less cost for legal work
•Profession is more efficient and there is chance of the duplication of tasks.
•Removes the two tier ranking between solicitors and barristers allowing solicitors to access higher appointments.
•More logical in education. Students would have the same foundation training, gaining the same types of skills.
•Clients would get used to dealing with one lawyer, instead of having two lawyers that have differing skills, agendas and interests.
•Generally better for the client
Disadvantages
• There would be fewer court specialists and would encourage lawyers to be ‘all rounders’
•The existing system is established and working, so why is there need for change?
•There is a difference between office skills and advocacy, but to expect lawyers to be skilled in both might reduce the overall quality of service.
•Loss of the Cab rank Rule resulting in no guarantee of representation for the client.
•The fusion may lead to the creation of huge law firms at the expense of smaller firms.
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