Comparative Analysis of UK Legal System: Solicitors and Barristers

This report provides an in-depth analysis of the UK legal system, focusing on the distinct roles of solicitors and barristers. It begins with an introduction to the English legal system and its structure, highlighting the segmentation of lawyers into these two roles. The main body of the report critically examines the functions and responsibilities of solicitors, who primarily handle office work, client interactions, and paperwork, and barristers, who specialize in court advocacy. The report also compares the UK system with legal systems in other countries where a single-lawyer model is prevalent, discussing advantages such as similar training, cost savings, and increased efficiency. However, it also acknowledges the potential benefits of specialization and professional detachment within the UK system. The conclusion summarizes the findings, emphasizing the comprehensive nature of the two-tiered system in delivering justice and the importance of expertise, despite the associated costs. The report references various books and journals to support its analysis.

BUSINESS LAW AND
ETHICS

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................3
Analysis of the current legal system of UK involving two lawyers i.e. Solicitors and Barristers
.....................................................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
The English legal systems is a very comprehensive structured that has been formulated after
very advanced and carful deliberation of all the possible factors and aspects (Davies and Woo,
2018). The report will basically analyse the aspect that in the English law there is still the
segmentation of the lawyers into two different job roles f the barrister and the solicitor. The
report will analyse that whether the use of two lawyers is justified thing or not and the
comparison will be made with the legal system of those economies where the single lawyers
system is made applicable. The report will also critically analyse the resultant conclusion i.e. the
ascertainment of the major findings will be presented.
MAIN BODY
TASK 2
Analysis of the current legal system of UK involving two lawyers i.e. Solicitors and Barristers
The legal setup of UK was primarily established many yrs back and over the course of
time, there have been various modifications in the role and influence of different parties that
comprehensively form a legal system but yet there are certain roles that are still applicable in the
similar manner as they were when the law was initially established in England (Drewry, 2018).
The major aspect of the English legal system is that there are mainly two types of lawyer roles
that the legal system of England supports. The barristers and the solicitors, both the parties are
commonly categorized under the legal system of England and Wales as lawyers. There is a
significant difference between the roles of both the parities but there are various areas in which
there functions or duties overlap.
A solicitor is basically a person who is responsible for the majority of the office works
that is to be covered in the legal system. The solicitor is the person who prepares and drafts all
the paperwork related to the case in particular or the documents that have been specifically
required by the client (VanBuskirk and Filliter, 2020). Their area of duty involves the conferring
with the clients or giving them advice, drafting up all the documents that are to be prepared,
engaging in the negotiations with the clients and the involved third parties, preparing, completing
and updating all the paperwork that is related to the case trials and lastly the duty to retain the
barristers for obtaining any special advice related to special matters or even in the case of
advocacy before the higher courts. Additionally they also have the right to act as agents or
litigators in the court for the clients that they are representing and they can be deemed officers in
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the court as well but this can be done i.e. they might appear as advocates in the lower courts
only.
The barristers on the other hand are the advocates who appear before the high courts.
Their area of duty is mainly related to the fighting of cases and trials in the court and they do not
primarily indulge in the office work. The barristers collectively are referred as bars in their rank
and it’s only from the barristers that the judicial appointments are made in England (Hanretty
and Vaughan, 2017). The law students who have completed their pupilage i.e. the training and
have attended a specified number of dinners being the member of at least one of the four inns are
termed as barristers. A barrister must mandatorily take up any case that is offered to them against
the professional fee that is charged by them regardless of their feelings. Only when the interests
of their clients are in conflict can they take away the right to refuse a case that is being offered to
them.
UK is the only court where the solicitors and barristers are termed as separate parties and
in the remaining countries irrespectively of the fact that whether they are advocates, litigators are
not but everyone in other countries are referred as lawyers only. The entire training procedure,
the legal practice that they undertake is critical in ascertaining the law that is to be followed and
the different areas of categories of work but in other countries the work of solicitor and barrister
both is complied with by a single person i.e. lawyer. They do not find it necessary to segregate
the duties of the written and critical work into two different types of legal professions (Davies
and Woo, 2018). It depends entirely on the case or in accordance with the rule that is complied
with where they can become advocates it is necessary and are also allowed to perform all the
paperwork in their own and this relevant to the case. This is usually done in order to minimise
the legal formalities and quickening the process of decision making.
There are certain advantages that can be associated with the systems of using single
lawyers rather than having a barristers and solicitors. The major befit is that the training is
practically similar for the lawyers and the cost of repetitively engaging in almost similar training
sessions as well. This is a major advantage as it saves up the cost of training both the lawyers
separately and getting them engaged in different courses. Student who aims to be a lawyer can
pursue the normal procedure and hence become the lawyer with the power to do birth i.e. fights
cases as well as perform the paper work as and when the need for it arises (Sinenko and et.al.,
2020). There is an additional benefit of saving up the costs where the client would not have to
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pay separately for the barrister and the solicitor of the company as well. There is another major
aspect that can be presented i.e. the efficiency aspect can also be stated where the lawyers have
the right to present the case and when the need for it arises or even could do the paperwork if the
emergency situation exists. Therefore the enhanced efficiency as a lawyer is another added
advantages that proves that the existing system of legal hierarchy in the England is not very
accommodating and includes various flaws as well.
There are many aspects that are associated with the one lawyer concept that were
identified above and overall the benefits seems to be too many and the flexibility etc. that is
overridden by this kind of distribution shows that the existing legal system is a very
comprehensive one (Rackley and Auchmuty, 2018). However, the supremacy of the division of
the lawyers as solicitors and barrister’s has affected their overall process and learning.
The fact that the roles of barrister as well as that of the solicitors is extremely well
distributed where the loss of a specialist if the single lawyers system is adopted can be a majorly
significant factor (Hunter, Jacobson and Kirby, 2018). The client’s not able to receive the expert
guidelines related to the case so that they can be effectively used in the organisation. This is the
major outlook that is presented towards the reasons why the system of having lawyers and
solicitors rather than the single lawyers can be termed as a better aspect. The another aspect is
that the rule of the professional detachment can be lost if the fusion of the two different roles
take place where the solicitors i.e. the lawyers who are performing the office work develops
certain kind of attachment and this can create a problem in the case that is being fought.
Additionally the standard of the advocacy that is being implemented also gets reduced and this
all can affect the case ultimately as well as the chances of winning.
Overall it can be said that despite the increased proportion of cost that might be incurred due
to the multiple lawyers that have to be hired as per the legal system of UK, the overall quality of
justice that is being served along with the speed of such justice is much quicker and justifiable
for the people. Further, it can also be said that the expense are almost equal in case of a single
lawyer as well because there are a multiple number of expenses that have to be incurred and the
fees or penalties to be deposited thus making the amount spent more or less equivalent (Flint,
2017). The loss however mainly is the lack of adequate skills and proper coordination between
the judge and lawyers where he has to wait and the time required for case completion is also
higher. Therefore, it can be said that the existing system of legal assistance is not faulty or the
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different lawyers are not specifically designed to increase the overall cost incurred but it is done
in order to develop a more comprehensive legal system.
CONCLUSION
The research conducted in the report above is conclusive in proving that the existing system
of using two categorise of lawyers i.e. barristers and the solicitors is a more comprehensive
aspect of the legal justice and for main work rather than the use of two lawyers. The report also
included the comparison of the legal system with other countries so that it could be analysed in a
better manner.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Davies, G. and Woo, M., 2018. Navigating Troubled Seas: The Future of the Law School in the
United Kingdom and the United States. J. Int'l & Comp. L.. 5. p.43.
Drewry, G., 2018. Lawyers in UK Central Government: Key Specialists in a Generalist
Bureaucratic Culture. Osaka University Law Review. 65. pp.25-46.
Flint, E., 2017. ‘For now we see through a glass, darkly’: examining diversity disclosures by UK
law firms through a critical race perspective.
Hanretty, C. and Vaughan, S., 2017. Patronising lawyers? Homophily and same-sex litigation
teams before the UK Supreme Court. Public Law. 2017(3). pp.426-449.
Hunter, G., Jacobson, J. and Kirby, A., 2018. Judicial perceptions of the quality of criminal
advocacy: report of research commissioned by the Solicitors Regulation Authority and
the Bar Standards Board.
Rackley, E. and Auchmuty, R. eds., 2018. Women's Legal Landmarks: Celebrating the history of
women and law in the UK and Ireland. Bloomsbury Publishing.
Sinenko, V.S., and et.al., 2020. Legal Representation in Russia and the United Kingdom: a
Comparative Legal Analysis. Journal of Talent Development and Excellence. 12(3s).
pp.1291-1296.
VanBuskirk, K. and Filliter, G., 2020. An examination of the effectiveness of Readers’ Theatre
as a teaching strategy in legal education. The Law Teacher. 54(1). pp.129-148.
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