Solicitor

Solicitors are generally restricted to countries utilizing the UK based system of common law and so appear in England, Scotland, Ireland, Australia etc.

In the English legal system solicitors have traditionally dealt with any legal matter apart from the conducting proceedings in court (advocacy). Barristers have traditionally carried out that function and advised on complex areas of law. Barristers would not deal with the public direct.

In the UK this system has been partially broken down and solicitors frequently appear in the lower courts and (subject to passing a test) increasingly appear in the higher courts too (such as the High Court of England and Wales and before the Judicial Committee of the House of Lords). Firms of solicitors now employ their own barristers and solicitor-advocates to do the work, taking it away from the private groups 'sets' or 'chambers' of barristers who formally did the work. Barristers in turn are now directly instructed by certain organisations such as trade unions.

This breakdown is expected to go further in the next few years, with the government pressing the Bar Council (the Barrister's union/regulator) to allow barristers to deal directly with the public. Solicitors are increasingly taking advantage of their increased rights and so it is to be hoped that the old system (never very efficient) will be swept away in the coming years.

The post of solicitor in its modern form dates from the 19th Century which was a time of significant reform in the English Court system. The courts were split between those administering the law of equity and common law and the church courts had far more power. At the time there were a variety of similar jobs, such as advocate, attorney-at-law, proctor, solicitor etc. all of which were entitled to appear before different courts. In the reforms all these posts were swept into one, the solicitor. Accordingly solicitors have a wide power of audience (i.e. they have the right in law to appear on behalf of another and speak on their behalf, even if the individual judges are not keen) and appear before mainstream courts, as well as disciplinary hearings and in courts martial.