Legal Profession - Work of Solicitors and Barristers

Solicitors work

• Over 100,000 solicitors in UK who are supervised and represented by Law Society
• Private practice in a solicitors firm, this is where majority are, 8700 firms
• Sole Practitioner (rare) - very specialised e.g. simply conveyancing
• For an existing partnership - small firm, several kinds of work, criminal family
  • Interviewing clients
  • Negotiating on their behalf
    • writing letters
    • drafting contracts
    • drawing up wills
• Existing partnership (large firm, no limit to number of partners even > 100)
• CPS - Prosecution criminal actions in court
• Local government - land law, employment law
• National government department - education law, educational law
• Legal advisers in commerce/industry - business law

• Conveyancing
• Advocacy
  • Can speak in magistrates and county courts
  • Can now speak in high court
  • Can appear in higher courts if they gain certificate of advocacy
  • Be appointed QC
• Multi-Discipline Partnerships
  • Solicitors may form partnershi[s with e.g. accountants
  • Allowed by law but only recently in Legal services bill 2006 by Bar Council and…