Law In Practice- Coursework 1 PDF

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Coursework based on the 'role of solicitors and barristers' and the 'Advantages and Disadvantages of the role of solicitors and barristers'....

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Law In Practice Coursework 1) Explain the role of Solicitors and Barristers in England and Wales Solicitors and Barristers are the main strands of the legal professions which are divided within the English legal system which have their own separate training requirements, customs of practice and traditions. Both professions cover individual and business law. Individual law covers crime, family, personal injury/ clinical negligence, residential property, commercial, human rights etc. Business law includes business immigration, banking/finance, technology media telecons, shipping and so on. Solicitors tend to be employed in practice by law firms where they will have the responsibility to deal with the full spectrum of legal work which consists of litigation and transactional work. Solicitors will work on cases from start to finish while working precisely with clients. The services of a counsel such as a barrister is required when the solicitor is in need of a particular specialism or litigation. Solicitors organise themselves as a distinct profession as they are not admitted to the inns of court. Traditionally solicitors have been able to advocate within Magistrates and County court1 and not in higher court but due to the Legal service Act 19902 and the Access to justice Act 19993, it has allowed equalising rights of audience with solicitors and barristers. Solicitors typically work within law firms that can vary from High street to local firms such as Duncan Lewis and Hine Solicitors. Mid-city and west end firms including BP Collins and Howard Kennedy. International and city firms such as Linklaters and Clifford Chance. National and large regional firms such as Blake Morgan and Charles Russell and specialist law firms. Other organisations such as Local authorities, In house, Government legal departments and the crown prosecution service (CPS). The training to become a solicitor is as follows, the individual is required to have a standard Law degree followed by a one year course known to be the Legal Practice Course (LPC) which will then be continued with a two year traineeship such as a training contract. If an individual has taken the route of a Non law degree, they would have to complete a Law conversion course or graduate Law degree then proceed as a law graduate which will allow them to go onto a traineeship. A trainee solicitor then can apply to the Law society to be admitted to the profession by a firm they chose to apply too. The law society states that approximately 5,700 training contracts were registered. The majority of Barristers work in Chambers and are at the self-employed Bar. Barristers have the specialist skill of advocacy, by which the barrister puts their client’s case forward to court. Barristers have specialist opinions which allows them to perform key functions such as drafting court orders. Barristers work for the self-employed bar which include super sets, mixed sets, the chambers which can either be in London or regional sets and finally Specialist Chambers. Just like 1

Catherine Elliott and Frances Quinn, English Legal System (18th edn, Pearson Educated Limited 2017)

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Courts and Legal Service Act 1990 Access to Justice Act 1999

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solicitors, Barristers work for other organisations which include law firms, Local authorities, in house, Government Legal departments and the Crown prosecution service, along with many more organisations that seek their help. Generally, professional barristers perform all advocacy for the prosecution and defence in criminal cases, within civil cases it would be for the claimant or the defendant. All established barristers tend to specialise in particular areas of work. When training to become a barrister, an individual is required to have a law degree then go onto professional training known to be the bar Practice Training Course (BPTC) leading to the Bar examinations. However, a non-law graduate is still able to study for the common professional examination, if successful, they can then go onto the Bar examination. After completing the above steps, to be an aspirant barrister they must register with one of the four Inns of court4 in London. The student is then called to the Bar by the Inns of court where the student has to undertake a pupillage to junior counsel. The Bar standards board states that approximately 425 1st 6 pupillages were registered. Benchers, who are senior members (QCs and Judges) are the ones responsible to administrate the Inns of court along with administering the dining system to then call upon students to the Bar. The status Senior barristers of special merit known to be the Queen’s Counsel is conferred upon roughly 45 barristers each year.

2) Explain and critically analyse the arguments for and against having a unified system, in which no distinction between solicitor and barristers is made. Within England and Wales the legal profession is divided into two, being solicitors and barristers who perform roles separate from each other due to the qualification and different training system they undertake to become either a solicitor or barrister, as described above solicitors mainly deal with non-contentious work such as conveyancing, probate and preparation of court cases. Barristers have the role to act primarily as advocates in court. However, in some countries such as Canada, New Zealand, and some Australian states the legal professions are unified which allows all lawyers to hold the title of both ‘barrister and solicitor’ and to act as both. Advantages: Expense- In the interests of the clients and the country, there is an advantage to the unified system as with the profession divided the client have to pay both the solicitor and barrister. When hiring a barrister, the cost of a solicitor preparing the papers for that barrister is also added onto the cost as that is the job of a solicitor. However, if the system was merged, the client would not have to pay the expenses of hiring the solicitor to handle the paperwork and no need for a barrister to be paid to present the case in court, it would all be done by one person. 5

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David Kelly and Gary Slapper, Sourcebook on English Legal System, (2nd edn, Taylor and Francis group, 2012) Catherine Elliott and Frances Quinn (n2) page 226

Another advantage to a unified system is the idea that solicitors and barristers training would only have one system of training. Rather than there being separate and quite different ways of qualifying as a legal professional, there would be one route to become an overall lawyer. This makes qualifying as a lawyer more logical within education as students aspiring and training to be a lawyer would all have the same foundation training which allows all trainees to gain the same type of skills to make the field more equal. If the English legal system were to have a unified profession of solicitors and barristers, it would give the advantage of no duplication of work. Duplication of work can be avoided due to there being just a lawyer taking on a client’s case, there would be no need for a solicitor to work on the case the pass it to a barrister to further work and present the case. Two different lawyers going through a case can cause there to be some misinterpretation or some missed facts, with one person handling the case this will not happen.

Disadvantages: Importance of good advocacy- The British legal system ensures that the preparation and presentation of oral evidence is the utmost important thing. Judges have no powers to investigate which means they reply solely on the lawyers to present the case correctly. The fusion is believed to lead to a decrease in the quality of the advocacy6. Arguing before a jury holds greater skills and expertise which is unlikely for a solicitor to gain enough practice to further develop these skills. Inefficiency- The work of solicitors and barristers may be duplicated due to the ununified system. The solicitor will prepare the case with no input from the barrister who will then go onto argue the case in court. The majority of the time, clients will see their barristers for the first time on the morning of the trial, this can lead to important information to be misunderstood or not passed over. Loss in expertise -Another disadvantage is the loss in expertise. Even though solicitors and barrister are considered to have a similar profession they do in fact hold vastly different jobs. Their everyday roles differ from each other as they handle separate issues. A solicitor specialises within a certain area which requires training then they will pass on the case they have been working on to a barrister who would then continue their work at a higher level. They are a partnership and ultimately support each other in their line of work. The overall standard of work would drop if the fusion were to take place as two people performing separate roles will produce a better result than what just one person would. If the professions were to merge, then the ‘Cab-Rank’ rule for barristers would be difficult to adhere to. From the above information it can be concluded that the idea of a unified system can be both an advantage and a disadvantage. The information weighs more in the favour of a unified system as it can be seen to be performed in various other countries whereby, they have a successful unified legal profession system.

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1979 Royal Commission on Legal Services

Bibliography: Books: •

Catherine Elliott and Frances Quinn, English Legal System (18th edn, Pearson Educated Limited 2017)

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David Kelly and Gary Slapper, Sourcebook on English Legal System,(2nd edn, Taylor and Francis group, 2012)

Websites: •

John Bolch, ‘Solicitors and Barristers-two sides of the same coin’ (Stowe, 3rd October 2013) accessed 1st December 2020

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‘Solicitors and Barristers’(Lawaspect.com, 2020) < Solicitors and Barristers (lawaspect.com)> accessed 1st December 2020

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‘Difference between Solicitor and Barrister’ (The Lawyer Portal, 2020) < The Difference Between Solicitor and Barrister - The Lawyer Portal> accessed 1st December 2020

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Statutes: •

Access to Justice Act 1999

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Legal Service Act 1990

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1979 Royal commission on Legal Services...