What is the difference between a solicitor and a barrister?

Answer 1

From the website of England and Wales The College of Law, website on Jan 2 08:

Although a comprehensive knowledge of the law is common to both professions, there are significant differences between the work done by solicitors and barristers, and between the training systems for the two professions.

Solicitors are normally employed by a firm or organization.

A barrister's working life will, in general, be much more governed by the demands of the courts than that of most solicitors. Your time will be split between working in chambers, or at home, and appearing in court. Be prepared to be briefed on a Friday for a court appearance on Monday, with consequent disruption to weekend social life.

Most barristers are self-employed, not salaried employees, and this is something you will need to consider if you are thinking of pursuing this route: payment for work done can be delayed, so a sympathetic bank manager and skill in controlling your cash flow will help, and you will need to arrange your own insurance, pension cover and tax, so a good accountant is also useful.

Some barristers are employed working in-house for companies, trade unions, government departments and other bodies. At the time of writing, they accounted for about 20% of all barristers.

The key difference

The key difference between a barrister and a solicitor, however, lies in the day-to-day nature of their work. A barrister is essentially an advocate speaking on behalf of his or her client, arguing the client's case, persuading the judge or jury to the advocate's way of thinking. If you think you would get a real buzz out of working in this way, then this could be the job for you.

For some solicitors, life may be very like that described above (e.g. for solicitors who specialize in litigation and who appear in Magistrates' and County Courts or at Employment and other Tribunals). For most solicitors, however, their office will be their principal place of work, whether employed as an in-house lawyer with a multinational company or as a partner in a small High Street practice. One-to-one with clients will be an almost daily occurrence, though for in-house and large City commercial firms, team work, often in multidisciplinary groups, will be the norm.

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A barrister is a legal professional who represents you in court.

A solicitor is a legal professional who gives me legal advice generally, and if it becomes necessary, will arrange for a barrister to represent me in court.

Solicitors can represent you in court, but only in lower courts.

If the case goes higher, then you need a Barrister (called an Advocate in Scotland) to fight for you in higher courts.