Legal Professions

Legal Executives

• Most firms of Solicitors employ legal executives who do much of the basic work of Solicitors - especially conveyancing and probate
• Their qualifications are laid down by ILEX. This requires trainee legal executives to pass Parts I and II of ILEX, and then to work for 5 years in a firm of Solicitors or other legal organisation in order to become a Fellow of ILEX.
  
• Legal executives work in Solicitors' firms, where they specialise in probate or conveyancing work under the supervision of solicitors. They also have limited rigths of audience in County Courts.It was announced in June 2006 that they would receive limited rights of audience in Magistrates' Courts for certain criminal cases, including bail applications
• Legal Executives can also appear in the Crown Court for bail applications.

Comparison Between The Work of Solicitors and Barristers

• Solicitors are allowed to form partnerships and work for other solicitors, whereas Barristers have to be independent and self - employed. Even though they join with other Barristers in sets of chambers and share expenses, they do not share income
• Solicitors work across the country and there are solicitor's firms on most high streets. However, Barristers' chambers are concentrated in one small area of London and in central areas of large cities that have Crown Courts
• Solicitors deal directly with members of the public, whereas Barristers are a 'referral profession'. This means that members of the public have to consult a solicitor first
• Solicitors are often described as 'general legal advisers'. They carry out huge variety of office based work - writting letters, drawing up documents, negotiating with other people on behalf of the client and completing the preparatory work for cases that will end up in court
• Barristers, on the other hand, are usually thought of a 'specialists' who spend their time either on advocacy in court or writing counsels' opinions - advice to clients and their solicitors on specialist areas of law
• Barristers have rights of audience in all the courts, whereas solicitors ususally onlu have rights of audience in Magistrates' and County Courts
• Barristers traditionally are appointed as superior Judges, whereas solicitors rarely achieve higher judicial office than circuit judges. Most solicitors who become judges are appoined as district or deputy district…