Unit 10
LEGAL PROFESSION: SOLICITORS,
BARRISTERS, JUDGES
Inglés para Juristas
Prof. Moisés Almela Sánchez
The main sources for the contents and the teaching materials used in
these slides are:
Naranjo (2009), Ch. 11
Brown and Rice (2007), Ch. 9, 10, 12
Inglés para Juristas – Univ. Murcia – Prof. Moisés Almela
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Unit 10. Table of Contents
• The thousand names of a lawyer
• Barristers vs. Solicitors
• The career as a solicitor
• The career as a barrister
• Judges
o Senior judges
o Superior judges
o Inferior judges
Inglés para Juristas – Univ. Murcia – Prof. Moisés Almela
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The thousand names of a lawyer
• Various terms in English: lawyer, attorney, barrister, counsel, etc.
• Lawyer: a qualified specialist in law (jurista).
– Legal practitioner: if they actually practice as a legal expert
• Terms for legal practitioners: depend on geographical area and
situation
§ England and Wales: solicitors and barristers
§ Scotland: solicitors and advocates
§ USA: attorneys
+ Counsel: in the context of a court, when representing one party
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Barristers vs. Solicitors (in England and Wales)
• Solicitors tend spend most of their work in office settings.
– Offering legal advice to the public
– Preparing legal documentation and drafting documents
– Preparing the case for the barrister
+ They can represent clients in lower courts
Normally, solicitors work in partnership with other solicitors ->
law firms
Inglés para Juristas – Univ. Murcia – Prof. Moisés Almela
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Barristers vs. Solicitors (in England and Wales)
v Main difference with solicitors:
- Barristers have rights of audience (right to address the judge) in
higher courts: High Court of Justice, Crown Court, Court of Appeal.
- Barristers mainly undertake work referred to them by solicitors
* Origin of the term: bar (of court) = a barrier or partition separating the
seats of judges from the rest of the hall.
o Barristers are allowed to cross this line
* Recently, the dividing line has been blurred: solicitors can obtain higher
rights of audience
• Different professional bodies. For solicitors: The Law Society. For barristers:
Bar Council.
Inglés para Juristas – Univ. Murcia – Prof. Moisés Almela
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The career as a solicitor
Qualifying as a solicitor. Main pathways:
1a) With a law degree: Bachelor of Laws (LLB = Legum Baccalaureus)
1b) With a non-law degree + conversion course: the Graduate Diploma
in Law (GDL) (1 year full time, or 2 years part-time)
(Optionally, Master of Laws to specialise in a particular area of law)
2) Complete the Legal Practice Course (LPC): to develop practical skills
(full time for one year or part-time for two years)
3) Period of recognised training (usually two years): supervised work
as a trainee solicitor in an authorised firm
Inglés para Juristas – Univ. Murcia – Prof. Moisés Almela
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The career as a solicitor
• A law firm is usually specialised in areas
• Trainees may work in different areas to later choose their specialism
• Senior solicitors may be promoted to partners.
• Solicitors can be given the possibility to work on secondment (work
temporarily in a different headquarter)
Inglés para Juristas – Univ. Murcia – Prof. Moisés Almela
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Sánchez
The career as a barrister
• Main professional bodies for barristers:
a) Bar Council: representing barristers, providing professional support +
regulatory functions
b) Inns of Court: providing training and education. 4 historic institutions
based in London: Grey’s Inn, Lincoln’s Inn, Inner Temple, Middle
Temple.
• Qualifying as a barrister. There are currently several pathways. Three
components:
a) Academic: law degree or non-law degree + conversion course
b) Vocational: Bar Courses (former Professional Training Course (BPTC))
c) Work-based component: pupillage
Inglés para Juristas – Univ. Murcia – Prof. Moisés Almela
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The career as a barrister
• The call to the bar: conferral of the title of ‘barrister’ by an Inn of
Court. After completing training requirements
• Pupillage: apprenticeship (usually 1 year).
Ø Often preceded by mini-pupillage: short period of work with
chambers:
Ø To get an insight into what being a pupil is like
(Some chambers may expect pupils to have completed a mini-
pupillage)
Inglés para Juristas – Univ. Murcia – Prof. Moisés Almela
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The career as a barrister
• Pupillage: activities: learning rules and codes of conduct, drafting
pleadings and opinions, advocacy training, learning forensic
accountancy (financial issues in litigation)…
Two six-month periods:
1) The pupil shadows a pupil supervisor (they will not be practising
and will observe the activity of an experienced barrister)
2) The pupil will undertake their own cases, under supervision.
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The career as a barrister
• At the end of pupillage: full qualification certificate
• Tenancy = entitlement to continue to practice as barrister from a
chamber.
o Pupils may be offered a tenancy. Not all are invited to become a
tenant.
• Chambers = groups of self-employed barristers (sharing premises,
corporate identit, clerks, expenses…)
• Barristers may also work for employers (providing in-house counsel)
or for government departments (e.g. Crown Prosecution Service).
Inglés para Juristas – Univ. Murcia – Prof. Moisés Almela
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The career as a barrister
• Queen’s Counsel: a mark of excellence for senior barristers.
Appointed by the Queen as ‘’one of Her Majesty’s Counsel Learned in
the Law”
• Junior barrister: one who is not Queen’s Counsel.
Inglés para Juristas – Univ. Murcia – Prof. Moisés Almela
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Judges
• Multiplicity of judicial offices
• Standard forms of address in court: for senior judges: ‘My Lord/My
Lady’. For circuit judges: ‘Your Honour’. For district judges:
‘Sir/Madam’
• Various categories: senior, superior, inferior judges.
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Judges
• “Senior judges”: according to Constitutional Reform Act 2005,
Paragraph 60(1): Lord Chief Justice, judges of the Supreme Court,
Master of the Rolls, President of Queen’s Bench Division, President
of Family Division, Chancellor of the High Court (President of
Chancery Division of High Court)…
– Lord Chief Justice: head of the judiciary of England and Wales and,
since 2006, President of the Courts of England and Wales (after
Constitutional Reform Act 2005)
– Master of the Rolls. President of Civil Division of Court of Appeal.
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Judges
• Lord Justices of Appeal: 12 sitting in the Court of Appeal
• Puisne judges: paradoxically, term given to High Court judges:
because of lowest rank within the group of ‘superior’ judges.
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Judges
Other judges:
- Circuit judges: working as full-time judges in County Court or Crown
Court, after having served as barristers and as recorders.
- Recorders: practising solicitors or barristers working part-time as
judges in County Courts/Crown Court. Often, the first step in the
judicial ladder before appointment to circuit bench.
- District judges: working full-time in Magistrates’ Courts and County
Courts.
- Deputy judges: solicitors or barristers sitting part-time as district
judges; the most junior judicial position.
Inglés para Juristas – Univ. Murcia – Prof. Moisés Almela
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Judges
• Becoming a judge: no specific entrance exam to be admitted in the
judiciary (unlike Spanish system).
– General requirement: a minimum number of years of experience
as practising barrister > then climb up the ladder (experience in
lower courts -> promotion)
• Judicial College (former Judicial Studies Board): organisation
responsible for training judges.
Inglés para Juristas – Univ. Murcia – Prof. Moisés Almela
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Judges
• Steps in training:
– Appointee (chosen for a position) attends induction course.
– Period of sitting on the Bench under supervision
– Learn practical guidelines, collected in Bench Books (guides to
assist judges about legal procedures)
• Traditional apparel of judges: black or red gown, buckled shoes, wig
Meaning: representing the Crown’s interest, rather than individual
interests.
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