Structure of the Legal Profession in the United Kingdom - Term Paper Example

Law for Business Law for Business Titus Rock Manickam Order No. 218092 16 April 2008 Table of Contents Introduction 3 One Nation Three Constituents..3 Structure of the Legal Profession in the United Kingdom.4 Professional Excursions.5 Fusion of the Legal Profession...6 Advantages and Disadvantages of the Fusion7 Efforts of the Lord Chancellor towards the Fusion7 Conclusion..8 Bibliography...9 Law for Business Introduction The legal system in the United Kingdom has evolved through historical and political developments in the country over the past three or four centuries. The root of the system's origin, undoubtedly, runs deeper in the annals of the nation's history. However, the UK legal framework, in its present form, is largely representative of the nation's historical and political developments of the past few centuries notably starting with the Treaty of Union, 1707, when Scotland became a part of Great Britain. The United Kingdom came into existence with the union of Great Britain and Ireland in 1801. However, the partition of Ireland in 1922 was a major turning point in the current state of affairs of UK's legal system. This event also influenced the religious leanings of each constituent according to the Catholic or Protestant majority as the case may be in each region. (The Legal Profession) One Nation Three Constituents There are basically three constituents in the nation's legal structure comprising England and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. Although England and Wales are two separate constituents, their legal structure is the same. England and Wales also have the same legal jurisdictions. Scotland's legal scripts are based on the ancient Roman laws. The Scottish parliament can enact and amend legislations on domestic issues, but not on national and external affairs such as defense and economy. (Sarah Carter) Structure of the Legal Profession in the United Kingdom Functionally, the legal profession in the UK is divided into two separate disciplines of barristers and solicitors. In England and Wales, solicitors outnumber barristers eight to one. Solicitors work behind the desk advising and preparing cases for the clients, whereas barristers represent the cases in the courts. Although diverse, the functions of solicitors and barristers are like two sides of the same coin. The basic qualifications necessary for these two branches are the same. It is only after graduation that those wishing to enter the profession as solicitors have to complete a Legal Practice Course according to the requirement of the Law Society, and those choosing to be barristers have to complete Bar Vocational Course franchised by the General Council of the Bar. Both these courses are of one year duration. (Legal Education in the United Kingdom) Barristers have the right of audience in the Supreme Court and in all other courts, and they specialize in different area of operations. Some barristers may specialize in concerning criminal law, while others may be experts in civil cases. Even within the criminal and civil divisions, there may be sub-divisions. For instance, one barrister may specialize in homicidal matters and another may practice on issues concerning fraud, etc. For the ordinary citizen, solicitors are the first point of contact for legal advice and opinion. The solicitors may then advise the litigant on the appropriate barrister who could pursue the case in a court of law. There is yet one more branch of notaries who are small compared to barristers and solicitors. Notaries are authorized to perform functions such as attestations, authentication, administration of oaths, and other legal roles that are not of the litigious nature. Professional Excursions With the complexity of modern times in social, economic, environment and human rights affairs, together with greater awareness of the general citizenry of the legal opportunities available to them, solicitors and barristers have increasing professional challenges. Solicitors and barristers need each other as they perform complementary roles for one another. The roles of these two legal disciplines are well defined and each has its own share of responsibilities and functions requiring qualifications, expertise and routine functions unique to its own field of operation. Nonetheless, the offices of solicitors and barristers are dependent on each other. Together, they perform a spiral role for the litigant enabling him to build a case and file it in the court. Indeed, the roles of solicitors and barristers are so crucial and interdependent that they have begun to make forays into each others territories due to sheer expedience and pressure. Barristers have begun performing additional functions of solicitors, and vice versa. These excursions of solicitors and barristers into each others' territories are not surprising and are bound to occur. Hence, the boundaries between these two professionals have blurred to a certain extent. (Frances Gibb and Hilary Heilbron) Already there are law firms offering the combined legal services as "barristers and solicitors." They have this nomenclature under their name plates, letterheads and business cards. The coordination between the two legal branches is professionally feasible and nobody except the two professionals is complaining. Given the useful and effective functions of both the disciplines, no one really wants an alternative. (Nina Goswami, Ben Moshinsky and Katy Dowel) Fusion of the Legal Profession The general nature of the solicitor's profession does not imply that the solicitor does not have the choice to specialize. Due to certain reasons, the solicitor may de facto turn out to become a specialist in one sphere of operation. For instance, if there is a region with high incidence of industrial disputes, the solicitor may eventually turn out to become a specialist in handling cases of industrial disputes. Now, under the Access to Justice Bill, solicitors too have right of audience in all courts subject to certain training requirement prescribed by the Law Society. (Lawyers) Similarly, the barrister may opt to take up cases directly from the clients instead of waiting for solicitors to hand over cases to him. He may even bypass solicitors and turn to professional lay people like doctors and accountants for information and instructions. The complexity of modern times owing to social, economic, environmental, human rights factors have provided the legal profession new challenges and opportunities. There are initiatives from governmental, academic and business sources to update legal affairs. Tremendous changes in business systems, economies, technology, globalization, and so on have rendered the old legal system ineffective in many areas to cope with the new developments. The aim is to make the legal content and prospects effective, relevant and accessible to corporations and individuals. The issue of separate identities for solicitors and barristers may cease to exist, or if it does the boundaries may be very soft and thin. Hence, the possibility exists for fusion of the legal profession. However, it is open to debate if at all fusion is necessary. (Alisdair A. Gillespie) Advantages and Disadvantages of the Fusion The divergence of the professional streams of solicitors and barristers came into being for the obvious need that existed for such an arrangement. Otherwise, without such a need the continuance of the two disciplines would not have been possible. Also, it is due to the overwhelming advantages of the dual approach that the arrangement has continued for such a long period of time. However, the advantages in the fusion are that the legal profession takes on a single window approach. This is important to the client because lot of time and effort is saved by dealing with only one individual or department. It also reduces the cost and amount of paper work and duplication of work. The disadvantages are that cutting edge expertise available with specialized barristers may reduce greatly enhancing cost for expert consultations. The fusion will also nullify the benefit of second opinion available with separate discipline of barristers. It is also important to allow the fusion to take place in due time without resorting to enforcement. An enforced merger could prove to be counterproductive as it takes time to settle down with the new dispensation. (Nina Goswami, Ben Moshinsky and Katy Dowel) Efforts of the Lord Chancellor towards fusion The efforts towards fusion actively took shape in 1979 with the formation of the Benson Committee as the Royal Commission on Legal Services. The Benson Committee was not in favor of the fusion citing deterioration in quality of the services provided by a single entity. The two disciplines of solicitors and barristers ensured a quality of higher order chiefly for two reasons. The solicitors served as an ideal discipline who not only handled the important aspect of paper work but also performed the crucial task of referring the ideal barrister for the client. As a separate discipline, the barrister was free from the shackles of time consuming paper work, follow up, and interactions with the client and mentally free to pursue the case more intelligibly. (Lawyer) The Lord Chancellor was caught in a bitter storm during the 1990s when at the height of the market metamorphosis thanks to technological advances the discipline of solicitors successfully made inroads in the domains of the barristers. The right of audience secured by solicitors in the courts which was the hallowed precinct of the barristers till then 1led to bad blood between the two disciplines and dragged the office of the Lord Chancellor with it. Ever since, the Lord Chancellor has been maintaining a conciliatory stance and wisely kept the issue of fusion open to debate. (Nina Goswami, Ben Moshinsky and Katy Dowel) Conclusion It is difficult to predict if fusion of the two branches of legal profession in the United Kingdom is possible in the foreseeable future. What can be said with some degree of certainty is the importance both these disciplines have assumed in the wake of the recent development in the global scenario in the areas of business, economy, academics and environment. The European Convention on Human Rights incorporated into British law in 02 October 2002 has already had a profound effect on the legal implications between the state and the citizen. (Alisdair A. Gillespie) The government's determination to modernize judiciary is a welcome step, and will necessarily address all the important issue in the revamp. As for the fusion, it appears to be more of a prestige issue and nobody must shed tears if it is not seen to be forthcoming. (Legal Education in the United Kingdom) Bibliography: Alisdair A. Gillespie, Barrister, JURIST UK Correspondent, World Law/United Kingdom, UK Perspective, 14 July 2000, http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/world/uk2.htm. Frances Gibb and Hilary Heilbron, Going Straight to the Bar, Law Teacher, The Times, 25 November, 1997, http://www.lawteacher.net/0044.php. Lawyers, Examination questions and syllabus entry, http://members.lycos.co.uk/lawnet/LAWYERS.HTM. Nina Goswami, Ben Moshinsky and Katy Dowel, 20 Years of The Lawyer: Litigation, The Lawyer.com, 16 April 2008, http://www.thelawyer.com/cgi-bin/item.cgiid=130278. Public Statement, The Notarial Profession In The United Kingdom, http://www.thenotariessociety.org.uk/public_statement.asp. Sarah Carter, A Guide to the UK Legal System, Published November 2005, Hauser Global Law School Program, GlobaLex, http://www.nyulawglobal.org/globalex/United_Kingdom.htm. Legal Education in the United Kingdom, Roger Burridge, School of Law, University of Warwick, United Kingdom, http://www.aals.org/2000international/english/uk.htm. Maya Goldstein Bolocan, Editor, Professional Legal Ethics, A Comparative Perspective, Legislative Assistance And Research Program, Central European and Eurasian Law Initiative, CEELI Concept Paper Series, 8 July 2002, http://www.abanet.org/ceeli/publications/conceptpapers/proflegalethics/professional_legal_ethics_concept_paper.pdf. The Legal Profession, http://www.helpwithlawexams.co.uk/legalprofession.html. Read More