Business Law and Ethics: Legal Profession in UK

This report analyzes the legal profession in UK in relation to business law and ethics. It discusses the roles of solicitors and barristers, the comparison with other countries, and the issue of expensive legal fees.

BUSINESS LAW AND
ETHICS

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Legal profession in UK...............................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Business law is referred to as the rules and regulations which the company and other
organizations has to follow in order to manage the working of the business (Fort and Haugh,
2020). On the contrary the ethics are the moral values which the company has to include within
the working so that the working of company in correctly done on basis of the ethical values.
Thus, the present report will analyse the legal profession in UK in relation with the ethical
perspective and different cases and argument related to the business law and ethics.
MAIN BODY
Legal profession in UK
Meaning
The legal profession is the field which works for the providing justice to the people who
are suffering from many different types of problems and other legal issues. It is very essential for
the countries to have a strong and fair and ethical legal system within the country. This is due to
the fact that if the legal system will not be good then the people living within the country will not
get proper justice and they will not like this. This profession is very essential as this works for
the betterment and solving of the legal issues of the sufferer. For this there are different system
and different types of courts being set up by the governing and regulating body. All these people
and courts are directed towards providing of justice to sufferer in ethical and morally correct
manner.
Difference between two types of lawyers
The major type of legal profession being followed in UK is the Solicitor and the
Barrister. These are very essential for the legal system of UK as they work in the direction of
providing justice to the people who suffer from any of the legal issue. Both the solicitor and
barrister are necessary to work in proper and ethical manner as if the legal system is not good
and they both not perform their activities in good and effective manner (Cowton, 2017). There
are many difference between the working criteria of both of these legal professional which is as
follows-
Solicitors Barristers
These are the qualified practitioner which are
responsible for the preparation of the legal
On the other side the barrister is the one who
are qualified legal professional who offer for

documentation for the court case. legal advice and advocates in the the court.
In against of this for becoming a solicitor the
vocational training of 1-2 year under the course
of Legal Practice Course is required.
For becoming the barrister need to complete
the course of Bar Professional Training
Courses (BPTC).
These are the junior level lawyers and the
people having issues can contact the solicitors
directly without any permission.
On the flip side for the small and straight
forward cases the public cannot directly go to
the barrister.
Comparison with other countries
The legal profession is referred to as the person building up their career in the field of law
in form of becoming a lawyer (Wood and et.al, 2019). In UK the legal profession is divided in
two different part that is Solicitors and Barrister. But in the remaining other countries there is
only one system of legal profession. But in the other countries the legal profession includes only
one type that is only the lawyer. In case of UK the Solicitors are the junior lawyers which are
very versatile and they have to pass a four to five- year training to become the solicitors. On the
other side the Barristers are the senior lawyers who are mainly involved in working with the high
courts. Also, they are hired for giving speeches, legal advice to the companies and many other
different things. The use of two legal professions in UK is helpful as the country is very big and
it is not easy for the country to manage the large number of cases in short period of time. Thus,
the concept of two lawyers is used as the small cases are handled by the Solicitors and for the big
and tough cases the Barristers are approached.
But in against of this in New Zealand there is only a single system of legal profession that
is lawyer. This is majorly because of the reason that this is smaller country as compared to UK.
Also, in addition to this the country has less number of cases in comparison to UK and because
of this reason that country has a single legal system. Also, this is because of the reason that in the
case of less cases the single lawyer can only handle the case and there is no requirement of the
two or more cases. Thus, this will be much easier for the people in getting justice in smaller time
as this will assist the lawyers in managing the cases and solving them in less time. This is
majorly because of the reason that when the cases are less than the lawyers also get time in
managing and solving the case in proper and successful manner. But in case of UK the

population is large and also the number of cases are also high and because of this the legal
system of solicitor and barrister is being used.
Customer getting real access to justice or are reaped off by unwarranted expensive legal fees
The legal fee is the amount of money which the person pays to the lawyer for fighting for
the case of the person (Arsalidou, 2018). This is the legal fee which is charged by the lawyer for
assisting the person or the sufferer in getting justice. Many a times the lawyers charge high fee
and then they do not provide for the services in accordance with the charged fee which is not at
all ethical on part of the lawyer. This situation will be ethical if the lawyer works hard for the
person and provide them with the required justice. But in case if the lawyer just takes the fee and
not work in the direction of getting justice for the case then this is not at all ethical. Hence, for
this it is essential for the lawyer to not charge high fee and even if they are charging then provide
the matching services to the sufferer.
It is the moral and ethical duty of the lawyer and the people involved in the related
services to make sure that the consumer or people suffering gets the justice. This is because of
the reason that if the sufferer will not get justice then this is not at all good for the person. But the
lawyer will be happy as they will get their fees in full without the fulfilment of the contract with
the client. Thus, this is wrong on the terms of moral and ethical values. In case of UK as there
are two different types of legal profession being followed the person has the choice of going to
the other in case one in not working efficiently. For instance, if the solicitor is not working as per
the requirement then the person can go to the barrister as well. Thus, this will make sure that if
one legal professional is not working as per the standard then the person is having an alternative.
But in case of other countries like in New Zealand and others where there is compliance
with only single legal profession then in that case the lawyers can have unwarranted expensive
legal fees. This is basically due to the reason that here they know that there is only one system of
providing law is there then the lawyers can have a monopoly and it is possible that they might
charge high unwarranted fee and the sufferer in order to get justice has to give the lawyer the
fees which they demand whether be it high or low. This is not at all ethical working as the lawyer
is mistreating the person who has come to the lawyer for getting justice (Carey, 2018). Also, the
lawyer by charging high fee will not take proper care of the case and will not work in in direction
then the person will not trust the legal system of the country.

CONCLUSION
From the above discussion it is summarised that it is very essential for the business to
comply with all the laws and regulations which are made for ensuring proper working of
company. Also, it was seen that the ethics are also necessary to be followed by the companies in
order to manage the work in more proper and effective manner. The report also listed out the fact
that in UK there are two legal professions which are being followed that is Solicitor and
Barrister. The major difference between both of them is that the solicitor is the junior lawyer and
the Barrister is the senior lawyer. Also, it was seen that in other countries the single legal
profession is only followed and in some of the countries also unwarranted expensive legal fee is
charged from sufferer.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Arsalidou, D., 2018. Educating Bankers on Law, Ethics and Social Values: A Perspective from
the US, the UK and Europe. European Company and Financial Law Review. 14(4).
pp.569-608.
Carey, M., 2018. Comments on “Ethics Versus Ethos in US and UK Megabanking” by Edward J.
Kane. Journal of Financial Services Research, 53(2-3), pp.227-231.
Cowton, C., 2017. Business ethics in the UK. In Encyclopedia of Business and Professional
Ethics. Springer Verlag.
Fort, T.L. and Haugh, T., 2020. Cultural Foundations of Peace: How Business, Law, Ethics, and
Music Can Provide Infrastructure for Social Harmony. Berkeley Bus. LJ. 17. p.194.
Wood, G., and et.al, 2019. Codes of ethics content: UK and Australian corporations. European
Business Review.