Solicitor or barrister?

What’s the difference between Solicitors and Barristers in England and Wales?

Let’s start with some context - in the United Kingdom there are three separate legal systems: England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Just focussing on the position in England and Wales, there are currently 3 branches of the legal profession:

  1. Barristers (who are regulated by the Bar Standards Board (‘BSB’) and who are represented by the Bar Council)

  2. Solicitors (who are regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (‘SRA’) and represented by the Law Society)

  3. Legal Executives (regulated and represented by the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives)

So what is a Solicitor and what do they do?

You can only apply to call yourself a solicitor (aka ‘being admitted to the Roll of Solicitors’) if you have satisfied the SRA’s requirements, which for graduates are:

  • passing the required centralised assessments to demonstrate your broad legal knowledge and a wide range of practical skills (SQE 1 and SQE 2);

  • completing the required two year period of ‘on the job’ training (QWE); and

  • passing the Character & Suitability requirements (this helps to maintain trust in the legal profession).

NB: If you don’t have a degree, it is possible to become a Solicitor by completing an apprenticeship.

There are about ten times as many solicitors than barristers! Most solicitors are employed by organisations such as law firms (often referred to as being in ‘private practice’), but some are employed by companies (known as being ‘in-house’), Charities or even for the Government Legal Department (which provides legal services to the majority of central government departments on a wide variety of areas including parliamentary and advisory work, litigation, commercial law, employment law and bona vacantia (a latin term meaning ownerless property which by law passes to the Crown)). There are many different types of law firm and they often focus on different areas of practice, so do some research online to explore the types of legal areas that you might be interested in.

Solicitors are trained to have direct access to members of the public and are licenced and insured to protect their clients regarding the advice and representation offered.

Despite the SRA’s requirement to show you have acquired all of this broad knowledge and skills, in reality most solicitors choose to specialise in just one specific practise area when they qualify, and they then develop more specialist knowledge and expertise in the years after qualification (you’ll see this referred to in job ads as ‘PQE’ or post-qualification experience).

The type of work that solicitors do largely depends on the practise area in which they choose to specialise - for example corporate solicitors tend to spend much of their time drafting and negotiating documents for complex transactions, whereas criminal defence and family solicitors frequently interview vulnerable clients and represent them in court.

Solicitors can personally represent their clients (referred to as having ‘rights of audience’) in lower courts (i.e. Magistrates’ courts, County Court and tribunals), but it is also possible for a solicitor to undertake further training (aka ‘Higher Rights of Audience’) which allows them to represent their clients in higher courts (i.e. Crown Court, High Court, Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court).

So what is a Barrister and what do they do?

Being a Barrister in England & Wales is regulated, which means that you can only practice as a Barrister once you have satisfied the BSB’s requirements:

Four Inns of Court shields
The Inns of Court

  • You must have a law degree (or non-law degree plus GDL);

  • Join one of the Inns of Court and complete at least 10 ‘qualifying sessions’ (educational events that complement your legal training) organised by your Inn;

  • Complete a Bar course; and

  • Complete a 12 month period of ‘on the job’ training called a Pupillage.

Barristers have rights of audience in all types of court, and typically provide advocacy services and/or specialist written and/or oral advice. Most barristers do not work directly with members of the public, instead they receive their work (or ‘Instructions’) via a solicitor, although ‘direct access’ is possible for barristers who have completed additional training. Most barristers are self-employed, but they operate in a in a shared working environment called ‘Chambers’. It is also possible to be an employed barrister, for example, with the Government Legal Department.

When a solicitor identifies the need for further specialist advice and/or advocacy services, they then contact a set of Chambers to engage a Barrister to do this work for their client. The barristers in the Chambers collectively employ ‘Clerks’, who distribute work from solicitors to barristers according to their expertise and availability.

The type of work undertaken by a barrister depends largely on the practise area that they specialise in, but for many barristers their day-to-day work is providing advocacy services in courts and tribunals. Some practise areas involve less advocacy and instead involve providing written and or oral advice (referred to as giving an ‘Opinion’ and holding a ‘Conference’ respectively).

Finally, the legal profession is heavily technologized, so whether you are thinking of becoming a solicitor or a barrister, both roles require good digital skills and the ability to adapt to continual changes in how legal services are delivered.