Everyone is exactly know what "LAWYER" mean in their country. The term lawyer is a generic term used to describe anyone who is a Licensed Legal Practitioner qualified to give legal advice in one or more areas of law.
I. Have you ever heard "Barrister" or "Solicitor"?
The term is coming from UK. It can be said they are a lawyer too but they may have different power and roles. Let us find out all together.
II. Solicitor
A solicitor is a qualified legal professional who provides expert legal advice and support to clients.
Most solicitors in the UK are primarily litigators, although many solicitors specialize in specific areas of law and some do their own advocacy cases.
Solicitors are good advisors. They work directly with clients and although specific work. They typically involve conversing with clients to establish their firm, taking the client’s instructions and advising them on the law and legal issues .
Solicitors are very good at all the paperwork and communication involved with their clients' cases, such as writing documents, letters and contracts; ensuring the accuracy of legal advice and procedure, and preparing papers for court. They deal with personal injury cases, family law issues such as children law and divorce, criminal law and wills probate and the general administration of estates.
Solicitors are also great negotiators. They work to secure agreed objectives, gather evidence, supervise the implementation of agreements, calculate claims for damages, compensation, loss of earnings, maintenance etc., and co-ordinate the work of all parties involved in the case.
Solicitors play a role as a representative to his/her clients in disputes and represent them in court if necessary except in complex disputes.
Solicitors rarely appear in a court, except they are requested to refer the work to a barrister or specialist advocate for expert advice or to instruct them to appear in court to represent the client.
III. Barrister
A barrister is a specialist who provide legal advice and represents individual people and organizations in courts and tribunals, through written legal advice.
Barristers usually specialize in particular areas of law such as criminal law, chancery law (estates and trusts), commercial law, entertainment law, sports law and common law; which includes family law and divorce, housing and personal injury law.
They will typically advise clients on the law and the strength of their case and provide them with a written ‘opinion’.
The specialty of Barristers is the full capacity of advocate on behalf of their clients and the client’s solicitor in court, presenting their case, examining and cross-examining witnesses and giving reasons why the court should support the case. They will then negotiate settlements with the other side.
Over 80% of barrister are self-employed. They work in offices known as Chambers which they may share with other barristers. After completing their training, many gain permanent positions known as tenancy in a ‘set’ of Chambers.
As barristers within a chambers are all independent from one another they can often act on different sides in the same legal dispute. In contrast, solicitors working at the same law firm would be prevented from doing the same as there would be a conflict of interest.
Barristers are kept independent and prevented from picking and choosing the cases they want to work on by what is known as the Cab Rank Rule. The Cab Rank Rule prohibits a barrister from refusing a case if, for example, they found the nature of the case objectionable or if they think the client has unacceptable conduct, opinions or beliefs or simply due to the source of the funding.
IV. Who is Who?
The last trump card that is considered as the most powerful for barristers is that they can also do solicitors' job. No kidding. But they don't usually do it. Why?
According to Slater Gordon Lawyer (2021), barristers in England & Wales are generally hired by solicitors to represent a case in court and only become involved once advocacy before a court is needed. It can be shown how smart solicitors are and why solicitors can exist till today.
Reference(s):
1. Slater Gordon Lawyer, (2021), Differences between a lawyer, a solicitor & a barrister, retrieved from https://www.slatergordon.co.uk/newsroom/difference-between-a-lawyer-a-solicitor-and-a-barrister-explained/ retrieved on 11/05/2021
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