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Defining the term “legal profession”is more difficult than one may anticipate．It becomes apparent that the simplest definition is perhaps the most befitting．The legal profession is a vocation that is based on expertise in the law and in its applications．Those who pursue this vocation collectively form a body of individuals who are qualified to practice law in particular jurisdictions．The learned occupation of these individuals is to study, promote, uphold and enforce the collection of rules imposed by the authority．They thus form a “legal profession”.
There are essentially two main branches of the legal profession, namely, solicitors and barristers．Solicitors advise individuals and organizations on legal matters and ensure that their clients act in accordance with the law.
There are over 100,000 practising solicitors within the legal profession in England and Wales, governed by the Solicitors Regulation Authority．Barristers represent clients in court and give specialist opinions on complex legal matters．They generally receive instructions through solicitors.
There are around 14,400 practising barristers within the legal profession in the UK, governed by the Bar Standards Board.
The distinction between solicitors and barristers is not as clear-cut as it once was．Following the Court and Legal Services Act (CLSA) 1990 solicitors have the right to become certified advocates (i.e．represent clients in court)．Commentators suggest that barristers have consequently, lost their dominance over advocacy in courts．Although solicitors are taking on a more active advocacy role in the lower courts, barristers still maintain an unrivalled monopoly over the higher courts.
A consistent requirement for those intent on entering the legal profession is that of high academic achievement．This forms the basic criterion that the vast majority of candidates must meet, before any additional skills they may possess will be considered．Candidates will need a range of skills, which vary depending on the area of the legal profession they wish to specialise in．In order to become a barrister eloquence, excellent articulation, confidence, an analytical mind and persuasiveness are essential requirements．In contrast, the skills demanded of a solicitor lean towards an aptness for problem solving, an enquiring mind and a flair for generating new business and winning clients．It thus becomes clear that in spite of the enactment of the CLSA 1990, solicitors cannot rival or replace barristers given their very separate and distinct roles within the legal profession.
The legal profession is renowned and heavily criticized for its almost impenetrable nature．The first hurdle for many applicants hoping to enter the legal profession is to secure that all-important place at a “redbrick”university, to complete their law degree and then at an equally reputable institution to complete their Legal Practitioner's or Barristers Vocational Course (LPC and BVC)．The real competition begins, however upon completion of these two stages．The final hurdle before a student can qualify as a solicitor or barrister is to secure a training contract or pupillage．Of the 6,376 students who passed the LPC in July 2006, only 5,751 secured a training contract in that year．Obtaining a pupillage is substantially tougher．Only 17.5％ of BVC students who apply for pupillage are likely to secure one．Notably, the majority of these applicants meet and in some cases surpass the requirements demanded of those pursuing a career in the legal profession, i.e．a 2.1+ class degree, a handful of mini pupillages or vacation schemes under their belt and evidence of voluntary work or part time jobs in a legal environment.
Unlike in the U.S., where law is solely a postgraduate pursuit, many UK students study law as undergraduates, earning an LL.B．or a B.A．Others study a different undergraduate subject and then pursue a one-year conversion course—called the “Common Professional Examination”(CPE) or “Graduate Diploma in Law”(GDL)—that covers the basic areas of law: torts, contracts, criminal law, public law, equity and trusts, and European Union law．Next, aspiring lawyers must complete a one-year practical training course, followed by a period of on-the-job training.
The United Kingdom still maintains a distinction between barristers, who advocate for clients in court, and solicitors, who advise clients directly and do not usually appear in court．After their undergraduate law degrees or conversion courses, aspiring solicitors complete a Legal Practice Course．Some law firms cover candidates' LPC costs under training contracts, but many students incur significant debt to pay their own way．Would-be barristers take the Bar Professional Training Course．A mix of private law schools and public universities offer the LPC and BPTC, and some law firms send all of their trainees to one institution．Though top universities do not offer these training courses, some do confer LL.Ms.
After the requisite academic and vocational courses, solicitors and barristers pursue different training periods before qualifying for independent practice．Solicitors complete a two-year training contract with a law firm, while barristers undergo a one-year pupilage with practicing barristers．Placement into both training stages is competitive, with the number of applicants far outpacing available spots.
In addition to its largely inaccessible nature, the legal profession has long been regarded as one of the most closed sectors when it comes to employing ethnic groups．In spite of the rapid progression of a culturally rich Britain, the legal profession is significantly slower in “fostering ethnic talent”．Some purport that this is changing given that between 1990 and 2004 there was a 10％ increase in the number of students registered with the Law Society from minority backgrounds．This is an unsubstantial development however, considering that between these periods the minority population grew by 53％．Thus, ethnic minority groups remain underrepresented within the legal profession．Although there is evidence of a noteworthy change, there is ample scope for improvement.
In the growing age of technological advancements and the era of the credit crunch, the demand for some professions is decreasing．Some wonder whether the same can be said of the legal profession．Professor Richard Susskind at the University of Oxford argues that the “current market is increasingly unlikely to tolerate expensive [legal professionals] for tasks…that can equally or better be discharged, directly or indirectly, by smart systems and processes.”He states that “the jobs of many traditional lawyers will be substantially eroded and often eliminated.”With the increasing number of alternative methods available to those needing legal advice, the constant influx of graduates choosing to enter the legal profession, the declining demand for applicants and the increased constraints on our finances, “the market will determine that the legal world is over-resourced.”It will “increasingly drive out inefficiencies and unnecessary friction and, in so doing, we will indeed witness the end of outdated legal practice and the end of outdated lawyers.”Conclusively, in order for those within the legal profession to safeguard their jobs, they must focus less on maintaining their “fat cat”status and focus more on providing the services that people need at a reasonable cost.
The qualities of a good judge can be well illustrated by the words the Lord Chief Justice spoke at Equality in Justice Day, October 2008:
“[When taking the judicial oath, judges and magistrates swear] ‘To do right to all manner of people after the laws and usages of this realm without fear or favour, affection or ill-will'.
“Ponder the words．I hear them frequently, and they still send a shiver up my spine．It binds my conscience, as it binds the conscience of every judge who takes it.
“Many qualities are required of a judge…… He or she must of course know the law, and know how to apply it, but the judge must also be wise to the ways of the world．The judge must have the ability to make a decision.
“Decisions can be profoundly unpleasant: for example, to say to a mother that her children can be taken away from her, or to say to an individual that he is going to go to prison for the rest of his life.
“Judges must have moral courage–it is a very important judicial attribute–to make decisions that will be unpopular with the politicians or the media and the public, and indeed perhaps most importantly of all, to defend the right to equal treatment before the law of those who are unpopular at any given time.
“……But however you draw up the list, and in whatever order, gender, colour of your skin, religious belief, and social origins are all utterly irrelevant．It is you who is the judge.”
The Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) is an independent commission that recommends candidates for judicial office in the courts and tribunals of England and Wales and for some tribunals whose jurisdiction extends to Scotland or Northern Ireland.
Salaried positions have traditionally been full-time, but are increasingly open to part-time and flexible working as well．A legal professional who has taken a salaried role will not be able to return to legal practice.
Fee-paid (part-time) positions are usually similar to the equivalent salaried appointment, but may deal with the less complex or serious cases.
Fee-paid positions, including tribunal appointments, such as recorders and deputy district judges, are paid according to the number of sittings or days worked．The number of sitting days varies depending on the type of appointment, and will generally be at least 15 days a year.
Judicial appointments are open only to citizens, including those holding dual nationality, of the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland or a Commonwealth country.
There is no upper or lower age limit for candidates, apart from the statutory retirement age of 70 for all judges．However, applicants should be able to offer a reasonable length of service, usually at least five years．Applications from disabled people are welcomed, and reasonable adjustments will be made at every stage to ensure applicants are treated fairly.
Most judicial posts will require a relevant legal qualification that has been held for either five or seven years.
Government lawyers are eligible to apply for all judicial posts, but when sitting as a fee-paid judge they must not hear cases involving their own department.
For salaried judicial appointments, applicants must normally have served as a fee-paid judicial office-holder for at least two years or have completed 30 sitting days since appointment in a fee-paid capacity.
For anyone wanting to find out more about the role they are considering before applying, the Judicial Office runs a Work Shadowing Scheme.
For most shadowing opportunities the scheme is open to any eligible qualified legal practitioner with a minimum of seven years' post-qualification legal experience who may be interested in seeking judicial appointment, within the next two years．The scheme covers the following positions:
◆High Court Judge
◆Circuit Judge
◆District Judge (sitting in civil or family jurisdictions)
◆District Judge (Magistrates' Courts)
◆Tribunal Judge
A shadower will spend up to three days observing a judge's main duties including, as appropriate, preparing for trial, case management, presiding over court proceedings, hearing actions, sentencing, determining applications and giving judgments.
Appointments to tribunals are mainly through the Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC), on the basis of the statutory and non-statutory requirements for that specific post, as well as the qualities and abilities required in any good judge.
The JAC runs appointment competitions for a number of tribunals outside the new tribunal structure, for example, the Residential Property Tribunal Service, as well as for the new First-tier and Upper Tribunals, which absorbed the jurisdictions of a number of tribunals in 2008.
Tribunal office-holders are appointed to either the First-tier Tribunal or the Upper Tribunal, and then assigned to a particular Chamber, for example, Health, Education and Social Care．They may or may not sit in all of the jurisdictions within that Chamber.
Most tribunal appointments are fee-paid, with successful candidates usually expected to sit for at least 15 days each year．For salaried appointment, individuals must normally have served as a fee-paid judicial office-holder for at least two years, or have completed 30 sitting days in a fee-paid capacity.
As with the courts judiciary, tribunal appointments are open only to citizens of the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland or a Commonwealth country.
There is no upper or lower age limit, apart from the statutory retirement age of 70 for all judges．Applications from disabled people are welcomed.
As with the courts judiciary, most legally-qualified posts will require five or seven years of post qualification experience (the relevant legal qualifications for solicitors or barristers), and legal experience gained during that time.
However, tribunal judges need not always have been solicitors or barristers．The Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act (2007) widened the eligibility for many judicial posts, making them open to The Chartered Institute of Legal Executives (CILE), members of the Institute of Trade Mark Attorneys (ITMA) and the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys (CIPA).
Applications are also welcomed from non-traditional legal backgrounds, for example, legal academics.
The varied nature of tribunal work means that there are a number of positions available for non-legal professionals who have expertise in different areas, for example, Employment Tribunals have panel members from employees, or employers' representative backgrounds, and many tribunals include medical professionals.
Requirements for these positions are based on the nature of the tribunal, and candidates must be able to demonstrate the relevant professional experience.
◆Can be appointed from the age of 18, and retire at 70;
◆Are volunteers, and there are around 23,000 from all walks of life;
◆Do not need legal qualifications (they are assisted in court by a legal adviser);
◆Must be available to carry out at least 26 half-day court sittings a year;
◆Although unpaid, can claim expenses, typically for travel to and from court.
◆Good character;
◆Understanding and communication;
◆Social awareness;
◆Maturity and sound temperament;
◆Sound judgement;
◆Commitment and reliability.
Because of the need to maintain public confidence in the impartiality of the judiciary, people who work in certain occupations, for example, police officers, cannot become magistrates.
Before deciding whether or not to apply, you need to visit a magistrates' court to observe the magistrates sitting.
You will need to visit at least once but preferably two or three times when it is sitting in general session, in the 12 months before you apply．Once they have been selected, all magistrates take the judicial oath—the same oath as that taken by judges.
They are trained before starting to hear cases and throughout their careers as magistrates, and are appraised regularly.
Magistrates need to be able to commit at least 26 half-days per year to sit in court．Employers are required by law to grant reasonable time off work for magistrates.
Magistrates are not paid for their services．However, many employers allow time off with pay for magistrates．If you do suffer loss of earnings you may claim a loss allowance at a set rate．You can also claim allowances for travel and subsistence.
The Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) is an independent commission that selects candidates for judicial office in courts and tribunals in England and Wales, and for some tribunals whose jurisdiction extends to Scotland or Northern Ireland.
It selects candidates for judicial office on merit, through fair and open competition, from the widest range of eligible candidates.
The JAC was set up in order to maintain and strengthen judicial independence by taking responsibility for selecting candidates for judicial office out of the hands of the Lord Chancellor and making the appointments process clearer and more accountable．The composition of the JAC is set out in Schedule 12 of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005．There are 15 Commissioners, including the Chairman．Commissioners serve for terms up to five years.
Under the terms of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005, 12 Commissioners including the Chairman are appointed through open competition and three are nominated by the Judges' Council.
The Lord Chief Justice and the Senior President of Tribunals are convinced of the benefits of a more diverse judiciary and are committed to supporting the development of the judiciary in ways that support greater diversity.
Appointment to judicial office is based solely on merit．The independent JAC must, therefore, be able to select from the widest pool of candidates; and potential applicants must be assured that they will not be disadvantaged by factors such as ethnic origin, gender, disability, sexual orientation or background．They must also be confident that they will be treated fairly after appointment.
The judiciary is therefore committed, not only to encouraging suitable applicants to apply, but also to ensuring that principles of equality and fair treatment apply to all aspects of judicial life．It will therefore have regard to diversity in connection with deployment decisions wherever possible．It is also committed to developing the concept of a judicial career, as envisaged by the independent Advisory Panel on Judicial Diversity chaired by Baroness Neuberger in 2010 (the Neuberger Panel).
Much has already been achieved, including the implementation of many of the recommendations of the Neuberger Panel．The judiciary has long been engaged in an extensive range of activities, many of which are undertaken by judges in their own time, to inform the public about the role of a judge, to improve public confidence in the justice system and to encourage people from non-traditional backgrounds to consider the possibility of a judicial career．The judiciary is continuing to support this work within the resources available and with the goodwill of the individual judges involved.
There is further work to be done．The Lord Chief Justice and the Senior President of Tribunals have therefore commissioned a strategy for encouraging diversity within the judiciary of England and Wales．This will be developed by the Judicial Diversity Committee of the Judges' Council chaired by the Lord Chief Justice.
The direction and purpose of the judicial diversity strategy will be threefold．First, it will be aimed at serving office-holders, supporting those who wish to progress to the more senior levels of the judiciary; at the legal professions, encouraging suitable applicants from all backgrounds to consider applying for judicial office; and at law students and others who may be considering a career in legal practice and have the potential to become the judges of the future．Second, it will remind all judicial office-holders of their responsibilities for promoting diversity, both within their courts and tribunals, and as part of their outreach to the wider community．Third, it will support the work of informing the general public about the role of a judicial office-holder and the justice system so as to improve their understanding of and confidence in the rule of law.
The Neuberger Panel recognized that change must be implemented as a comprehensive package of reform, involving not just the Lord Chancellor, the Lord Chief Justice and the Chairman of the Judicial Appointments commission, but also the leaders of the legal profession (Bar Council, Law Society, and Chartered Institute of Legal Executives [CILEx]) and the Senior President of Tribunals．Responsibility for delivering change rests with these authorities acting individually and cumulatively．They must work together effectively if real progress is to be made.
The Diversity Committee, which is supported by staff in the Judicial Office, will report annually to the Judges' Council and to the Judicial Executive Board, the Senior President of Tribunals and the Tribunals Judicial Executive Board．Reports will include an overview of the costs of diversity initiatives (e.g．the work of the DCRJs)．Progress will be measured not simply by improvements to the overall diversity figures for the judiciary but also through analysis of data on trends and through the sharing of qualitative information collected from the Diversity Task Force and other sources．The strategy will be reviewed annually and reissued as appropriate.
The forms of address for judges vary from court to court, and some of them can seem quite archaic in the modern world．Here is a guide explaining what to call a judge, magistrate or member of a tribunal when you are speaking or writing to them.
Judges who sit in the Court of Appeal (Lords Justices of Appeal) are Privy Councilors．They are known officially as Lord Justices．They should be addressed as follows:
Members of the High Court are not usually Privy Councilors．Their official designation is as follows:
Some Circuit Judges, for example, The Recorder of Liverpool or Central Criminal Court judges, are referred to as “My Lord”or “My Lady”.
Court dress is a style of clothing worn by those in the legal profession when they are working in their official capacity．Though the exact style varies among different levels of the judicial system, long robes are a common basis of court dress．The style and color of the robes, as well as various accessories such as wigs or medallions, have all gone in and out of fashion throughout history.
In July 2007 the Lord Chief Justice announced reforms to simplify judicial court working dress in England and Wales．The changes, which included the introduction of a new civil gown, came into effect on 1 October 2008．Fashion designer Betty Jackson CBE worked on a pro bono basis as the design consultant for the new gown.
From 1 October 2008 High Court judges adopted a single set of red robes for criminal proceedings throughout the year, rather than different sets of robes for summer and winter．Apart from this there was no change to court dress worn by judges when sitting in criminal proceedings.
Court of Appeal and High Court judges no longer wear wigs, wing collars and bands when sitting in open court in civil and family proceedings; the new civil robe is worn.
Circuit judges in the County Courts or the Crown Court wear a violet robe with lilac facings, introduced in 1919．As well as a girdle, the judges wear a tippet over the left shoulder—lilac when dealing with civil business and red when dealing with crime．Since autumn 2008, circuit judges in the County Court have not worn wigs, wing collars or bands; however, circuit judges in the Crown Court retain the wig, wing collars and bands.
In civil and family hearings in open court, all other judges wear the new civil gown.
The design favoured by a judicial working group incorporates coloured bands to identify seniority．The chosen colours are:
◆Heads of Division and Appeal Court judges—gold
◆High Court judges—red
◆District judges—blue
◆Masters and Registrars—pink
These changes were reflected in the dress allowances made to judges and substantial savings resulted．Whilst the one-off cost of supplying the new civil robe to judges was estimated at about 450,000 it was anticipated that annual savings in the region of 200,000 would thereafter be made.
There are several different types of legal professionals, who can help you in different ways．This section provides a brief overview of the main duties and differences between legal professionals in England and Wales.
Arbitration and mediation are non-judicial and alternative ways to resolve disputes, without going to court．Arbitrators and mediators are neutral, which means they will not take sides and cannot provide advice．They are often experts in the field of what the dispute is about, and will reach a decision after hearing from both sides of the dispute.
Barristers are legal advisers and courtroom advocates．Barristers put legal arguments to judges, magistrates and juries．They cross-examine witnesses and otherwise attempt to sway the outcome of a court case．Barristers typically have no direct contact with the public．They appear in court when instructed by a solicitor．Only barristers or qualified solicitor advocates may represent clients in the higher courts．Barristers are highly trained courtroom advocates, dealing with the majority of serious and high profile court cases.
Both solicitors and barristers may be appointed as judges．Judges decide legal cases in certain circumstances or, if a trial involves a jury, judges rule over the proceedings to ensure fairness and that the jury has arrived at their decision in the correct way．The Judicial Appointments Commission selects candidates for judicial office on merit.
Law costs draftsmen ensure that a firm's clients are properly charged for work undertaken on the clients' behalf．They also help apportion costs between the two sets of legal advisers at the end of long and complex cases．In some instances, they represent clients in court when there is an issue over costs.
Legal cashiers usually work in solicitors' practices．They keep financial records and keep solicitors informed of the financial position of the firm.
A chartered legal executive can work in a legal office and has the option to later qualify as a solicitor through further vocational training．Fully qualified chartered legal executive lawyers can have their own clients and represent them in court, where appropriate．The main difference between solicitors and legal executives is that the training of legal executives is narrower．Legal executives have studied to the same level as a solicitor, but they have specialised in a particular area of law and completed fewer subjects overall.
Legal secretaries provide secretarial and clerical support to solicitors, barristers and the law courts．They deal with large quantities of correspondence and help prepare documents such as wills, divorce petitions and witness statements．Legal secretaries are specialists because legal documents are composed differently from other commercial documents．Positions can usually be found by contacting firms directly or checking with local recruitment agencies.
Notaries are qualified lawyers appointed by the Archbishop of Canterbury and regulated by the Master of the Faculties．Notaries practice under rules very similar to those of solicitors', including renewing a practicing certificate, keeping client money separate and maintaining insurance．Notaries authenticate and certify signatures and documents, and often also practice as solicitors.
Paralegals assist lawyers in their work．They undertake some of the same work as lawyers but do not give advice to consumers of legal services.
The paralegal is a relatively modern phenomenon in British legal circles．The role has transferred across from the U.S．where paralegals have operated in a support role in law firms for many years.
The duties of a paralegal will vary according to the type of firm and practice area that is worked in．Generic paralegal tasks may include research and drafting documents, attending client meetings and document management．They might prepare reports to help lawyers prepare their case．Some paralegals help to write contracts and mortgages and some help to prepare income tax returns and other financial documents.
Firms usually look for law graduates or non-law graduates who have completed the Common Professional Examination or Graduate Diploma in Law to fill paralegal roles．Some of the larger firms, however, will look for graduates who have also passed the Legal Practice Course.
Paralegal vacancies are generally not well advertised so a good approach is to submit your CV to firms or organizations which you are interested in working for．Publications such as the Law Society Gazette run advertisements for these positions.
Solicitors work in many different areas of law and offer many different services．Solicitors are confidential advisers and will often have direct contact with their clients, providing expert legal advice and assistance in a range of situations.
Everyday issues solicitors deal with include:
◆providing expert guidance on the issues people regularly face such as buying and selling houses, drawing up wills, and dealing with relationship breakdown;
◆promoting business, by helping businesses with the legal side of commercial transactions;
◆protecting the rights of individuals by advising people of their rights, ensuring they are treated fairly by public or private bodies, and that they receive compensation when they have been unfairly treated;
◆supporting the community by undertaking legal aid work or spending a portion of their time providing free help for those unable to pay for legal services;
◆representing clients personally in the lower courts (Magistrates' courts, County Court and tribunals) and with specialist training are also able to represent them in higher courts (Crown Court, High Court, Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court).
The Law Society represents, promotes and supports solicitors in England and Wales.
Ushers' duties include escorting judges to and from court and preparing and closing courtrooms．A large part of the job is the carrying out of court duties, which includes obtaining names of legal representatives, preparing court lists, maintaining order in the courtroom, administering oaths in court, and handing round exhibits.
There have been major changes in legal publishing in recent years．The venerable legal publisher Butterworths has been incorporated into LexisNexis, and the print publishing greatly reduced, academic titles having been sold on to Oxford University Press and many practitioners' titles to Tottel Publishing; Tottel has since been acquired by Bloomsbury and changed its name to Bloomsbury Professional．The other main UK legal publisher, Sweet & Maxwell owned by Thomson Reuters, continues to have an extensive print list.
Other law publishers include Hart, now part of Bloomsbury Publishing; Routledge, owned by Taylor and Francis; Cambridge University Press; Jordan; Palgrave Macmillan; and Wiley.
The leading specialist law publisher for Scotland is W．Green, owned by Thomson Reuters．Some of the UK publishers mentioned above also publish Scottish law titles.
SLS Legal Publications, based at Queen's University, Belfast, was a small publisher specializing in Northern Irish law, but closed at the end of 2012．Books on the law of Northern Ireland are published by Bloomsbury, Hart and other UK publishers.
The modern system of case law reporting in the UK dates from 1865．Listed below are the contemporary UK case law reporters that researchers are most likely to encounter, along with their corresponding citation formats.
The Law Reports ．This quasi-official series, published since 1865 by the Incorporated Council of Law Reporting (ICLR) for England and Wales, is widely regarded as the most authoritative．It is currently divided into four sub-series．Appeal Cases (AC) publishes decisions of the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal, as well as appellate decisions issued by the High Court．The remaining sub-series correspond to the three divisions of the High Court: Chancery Division Cases (Ch); Queen's Bench Division Cases (QB); and Family Division Cases (Fam)．The citation format is as follows: party names, [year], sub-series abbreviation, page.
The Weekly Law Reports ．This series, also published by the ICLR, appears each week in paperback．The first section of each issue includes cases that are deemed to be worth reporting even though they do not raise new points of law．These cases will not be republished in The Law Reports ．The second section includes cases of greater significance that eventually will be republished in The Law Reports ．The citation format is: party names, [year], section number (1 or 2), WLR, page.
All England Law Reports. This commercially published series has broader coverage than The Law Reports and The Weekly Law Reports ．Most practitioners consider the headnotes to be more helpful than the ones published in The Law Reports ．The citation format is: party names, [year], All ER, page.
In addition to the reporters listed above, there are many specialized reporters published by commercial vendors that focus on particular types of cases．As in the United States, cases often are published in more than one reporter．Citations should be made to most authoritative reporter in which a case appears, with a clear preference given to The Law Reports .
A．law B．specialist C．advocates D．barristers
E．distinction F．advocacy G．monopoly
H．Solicitors Regulation Authority I．the Bar Standards Board
J．legal
There are essentially two main branches of the legal profession—solicitors and
1_______．Solicitors, governed by the 2_______, advise individuals and organizations on 3_______matters and ensure that their clients act in accordance with the 4_______．Barristers, governed by 5_______, represent clients in court and give
6_______opinions on complex legal matters．The 7_______between solicitors and barristers is not as clear-cut as it once was．Following the Court and Legal Services Act 1990 solicitors have the right to become certified 8_______(i.e．represent clients in court)．Although solicitors are taking on a more active 9_______role in the lower courts, barristers still maintain an unrivalled 10_______over the higher courts.
1．Which of the following requirements are essential for those candidates who are intent to become a barrister?
A．eloquence and persuasiveness
B．excellent articulation
C．confidence
D．an analytical mind
2．In the sentence that “the final hurdle before a student can qualify as a solicitor or barrister is to secure a training contract or pupillage ”, the italic word “pupillage”means_______.
A．a minority
B．the condition of being a pupil or duration for which one is a pupil in primary school
C．in England and Wales, Northern Ireland and Ireland, the barrister's equivalent of the training contract that a solicitor undertakes
D．similar to an apprenticeship, during which students build on what they have learnt during the Bar Professional Training Course by combining it with practical work experience in a set of barristers' chambers
3．Which of the following is NOT true for the legal education in the UK?
A．Many UK students study law as undergraduates, earning an LL.B．or a B.A.
B．The United Kingdom still maintains a distinction between barristers and solicitors.
C．Solicitors and barristers pursue different training periods before qualifying for independent practice after the requisite academic and vocational courses.
D．Top universities confer LL.Ms and some offer these training courses.
4．Which of the following are NOT true about judges in the UK?
A．There is no upper or lower age limit for candidates for judges, apart from the statutory retirement age of 70 for all judges.
B．The Judicial Appointments Commission selects candidates for judicial office on merit.
C．Both solicitors and barristers may be appointed as judges.
D．Tribunal judges need have been solicitors or barristers.
5．Which of the following are true about different types of legal professionals in England and Wales?
A．Arbitration and mediation are non-judicial and alternative ways to resolve disputes, without going to court.
B．Paralegals assist lawyers in their work, the role of which has transferred across from the U.S.
C．Notaries are qualified lawyers appointed by the Archbishop of Canterbury and regulated by the Master of the Faculties．Notaries practice under rules very similar to those of solicitors'.
D．The main difference between solicitors and legal executives is that the training of legal executives is narrower.
1．What are the differences and similarities between being a barrister and being a solicitor in the UK?
2．What are the basic requirements for becoming a judge in the UK?
3．What criteria should a candidate for a magistrate satisfy in the UK?
4．What do you know about how to call a judge in court?
5．How is the legal profession divided in the UK?