What are the differences between lawyers, barristers, etc.?

Question

Lawyer / solicitor / barrister / attourney...what (if any) are the differences?

Answer 1

In England, Solicitors and Barristers are two seperate things.

They are both lawyers or attorneys. A Barrister has completed additional 'training' and has been 'called before the bar' meaning he is allowed to go through the gate that seperates the courtroom from the gallery to the area in front of the judges. The training is accomplished through becoming a member of an Inn, and requires such things as attending dinners and learning sessions associated with them. A judge will not recognize anyone but a barrister in full dress (robe and wig).

Solicitors are the ones that write wills, interview clients and do the up front work. When the case goes to trial, if it does, they hire a barrister to do the court work, providing them a brief.

The US does not distinguish.

Answer 2

In Britain there a two types of lawyers: Solicitors and Barristers.
Solicitors generally work in private practices and deal with members of the public on a daily basis. An ordinary person in need of legal advice etc. has to go to a solicitor. Barristers are then brought into the case if required by the solicitor. An ordinary person has no access to Barristers, only Solicitors can deal with them.
In general Solicitors deal with the paper work/ case work and can appear in some of the lower courts such as the Magistrates Court, which deal with petty criminal offences. Barristers alone have rights of audience in the higher courts such as the High Court, Crown Court and Court of Appeal. Basically a Barrister deals with the actual hearing of the case in court.
A simple sort of analogy is an equivalent in medicine with your G.P. (solicitor) and specialist or surgeon (barrister).
In addition Barristers must wear wigs and gowns whilst in most courts, with the exceptions being in the magistrates court, youth courts. Solicitors generally do not wear any gowns, and never wear a wig. (not a wig in this sense anyway!) Finally, Barristers in England, Scotland and Wales work out of practices known as 'chambers', which are groupings of barristers working together on a co-operative sort of base. In N.Ireland all Barristers are self employed but work out of a large building in Belfast called the 'Bar Library'. Hope that sheds some light on the question for you.

Answer 3

Lawyer is a generic term which covers those who practice law, though it is used more often in the US than UK

A solicitor is someone with either a bachelor's degree in law, or has taken the CPE, and then undertaken their articles with a law firm and has rights of audience in the magistrates and county courts, but not the high court or crown court.

An exception to this is solicitors with higher rights of audience who may appear in the high and crown courts, and they have undertaken an advocacy course in order to have this privilege, they will wear a gown in court, but will not wear a wig. They will be referred to by opposing counsel as my friend, whereas a barrister will be referred to as my learned friend. Similarly, in parliament, Barristers are referred to as the learned member for wherever, rather than honourable.

Barristers are those with bachelor's degrees in law or the CPE who have then taken the Bar Vocational Course. To practise as a barrister, one must undertake a pupillage with a set of chambers, whereby one is supervised by a senior barrister, however, as one is called to the bar on completion of the BVC, they are technically a barrister at that point. they wear wigs and gowns in court and are m'learned friends.

Both solicitors and barristers can become QCs but many more are barristers.

an attorney is a word used to refer to american lawyers, however, the Attorney-General in the UK is the chief law officer, and chief legal advisor to the cabinet

Answer 4

I love legal studies. But since finishing school a few weeks ago i've kinda made a concerded effort to forget everything i was taught. so sorry, but can't help you with this question because... well, simply bcoz i forgot.

PS: Ignore those people that say lawyers and barristers are the same thing - COZ THEY'RE NOT!!
I do remember however, that a Barrister represents people in court and
a LAWYER works in the office (does alot of paper work) <- that sorta stuff.

Answer 5

a Lawyer and an Attorney are the same thing and only have the authority to appear in the District and Sherrif Court whereby a Barrister or Advocate have the authority to appear in a High Court

Answer 6

Aggie80 is mostly correct. However, a UK solicitor can appear before a magistrate, he/she just cannot appear in a high court. Barristers are the ones that do that.

Answer 7

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Answer 8

Aggie is spot on...a Barrister takes the silk.

Answer 9

In the U.S. we use the words attorney and lawyer. They mean the same thing.

Answer 10

they are all lawyers,
only difference...which one can approach and talk to a judge,
and how much each charges,
they all get paid far more than is decent