Difference Between Lawyer Barrister and Solicitor (With Table)

Legal professions Barrister and Solicitor are some of the legal terms that people are not aware of them. These terms are often heard in law professions and sometimes in TV as well. Barrister and solicitor are both legal professions, but they are very different from each other, besides the qualifications and training processes are quite distinct from each other. 

Lawyer Barrister vs Solicitor 

The main difference between Lawyer Barrister and Solicitor is that Lawyer Barrister is a legal professional who offers specialist legal advice representing individuals, organizations, and tribunals to the court along with written legal advice. On the other hand, a Solicitor is a legal professional who offers legal advice and support to individuals, groups, private organizations, and private companies.

Lawyer Barrister is a legal professional who offers specialist legal advice, thereby representing individuals, groups, organizations, and tribunals to the court along with the written legal advice. Moreover, the most significant role of a barrister is to translate and structure the client’s view of events into a legal argument and persuade in such a manner that’ll bring out the best possible. 

Lawyer Solicitor is also a legal professional who offers legal advice and support to individuals, groups, private organizations, and private companies. The advice on the legal action is based on their legal expertise. Moreover, they deal with the legal paperwork tailored according to the client’s needs and prepare for the court. 

Comparison Table Between Lawyer Barrister and Solicitor

Parameters of comparison 

Lawyer Barrister 

Lawyer Solicitor 

Definition

Lawyer Barrister is a legal professional who offers specialist legal advice representing individuals, organizations, and tribunals to the court along with written legal advice, while 

Solicitor is also a legal professional who offers legal advice and support to individuals, groups, private organizations, and private companies.

Represents 

Lawyer Barrister represents a client in the court.

Solicitors cannot represent their clients in court. 

Expertise 

Barrister’s expertise in criminal law, chancery law, commercial law, entertainment law, sports law, and common law. 

Solicitor expertise in high-value commercial work, personal injury cases, children law and divorce, family law issues, and administration of the real estate. 

In court

Barristers are often hired by the solicitor for representation of court.

Solicitors cannot represent the case in the court, but solicitors are involved if advocacy is required in the court. 

Work

The barrister works as an advocate in the court.

The solicitor usually works in a legal firm or office setting. 

What is a Lawyer Barrister?

Legal professions can be hard to understand for people as Lawyer barristers and solicitors are very different from each other.  Lawyer Barrister is a legal profession that deals with legal works for individuals, groups, organizations, and tribunals and offers specialist legal advice along with written legal advice. 

The major role of the Lawyer Barrister is to translate and structure the client’s view of events into a legal argument and persuade in such a manner that’ll bring out the best possible outcome. Barrister also represents their client in the court, even represents advocates in the court. 

As for the specialization, there’s a specific area of law as a barrister’s expertise. And the expertise of barristers usually is criminal law, chancery law, commercial law, entertainment law, sports law, and common law. 

Moreover, the education is quite similar to other legal professions. A  law conversion course or LLB is studied first, followed by completion of vocational component bar training. After that, a year of pupilage is required for a fledgling barrister which includes shadowing an experienced barrister before practically working. 

Furthermore, a Barrister can work on a higher level than a solicitor. Although a solicitor may work almost equivalent to a barrister. And one of the significant differentiation is barrister work as advocates and represents a client in the court. Meanwhile, a solicitor works in a firm or a law organization and helps the client in the legal advice and written legal advice only. 

What is a Lawyer Solicitor?

Although a solicitor and barristers are legal professions, they are very different from each other. A solicitor is also a legal professional who deals with legal advice and support to individuals, groups, private organizations, and private companies. 

Similarly, a solicitor also has a specialized area of law. Therefore, a solicitor’s legal advice is based on his expertise. The significant role of a solicitor is to tailor the legal advice and legal paperwork according to the client’s needs and present them at the court. 

However, a solicitor doesn’t represent their clients in court. They usually require a barrister to represent their clients in court. But, a solicitor can represent his clients through ‘rights of audience’. Yet, it happens in some special cases only. Though, a solicitor hired a barrister to represent his clients in the court and briefly describe the whole event to the barrister. 

Moreover, the initial education to become a solicitor is quite similar to other legal professions. An LLB or GDL is required to be done and after completion, a 1-2 year vocational course is opted followed by a two-year training contract. 

Furthermore, a solicitor and barrister, both fall in the same category ‘Lawyers’. Now, solicitors are appearing in the court to represent their clients, while a barrister is conducting litigation. So, the roles are kind of overlapping with each other. 

Main Differences Between Lawyer Barrister and Solicitor 

If not familiar with legal terms, then Legal professions can be hard to understand by the people. There are different types of legal professions based on expertise and work. Lawyer Barrister and Solicitor are two different legal professions, their work and expertise are distinct from each other. Although, both offer legal advice and deal with paperwork. 

  1. Lawyer Barrister is a legal professional who offers specialist legal advice representing individuals, organizations, and tribunals to the court along with written legal advice, while Solicitor is also a legal professional who offers legal advice and support to individuals, groups, private organizations, and private companies.
  2. Lawyer Barrister represents a client in the court, while Solicitor cannot represent its clients in a court. 
  3. Barrister’s expertise in criminal law, chancery law, commercial law, entertainment law, sports law, and common law. Meanwhile, Solicitors expertise in high-value commercial work, personal injury cases, children law and divorce, family law issues, and administration of the real estate. 
  4. Barristers are often hired by the solicitor for representation of court, while solicitors cannot represent the case in the court, but solicitors are involved if advocacy is required in the court. 
  5. The barrister works as an advocate in the court, while the solicitor usually works in a legal firm or office setting. 

Conclusion 

Legal professions might be difficult to comprehend for those who are unfamiliar with legal terminologies. Based on knowledge and work, there are several sorts of legal professions. Lawyer Barrister and Solicitor are two separate legal professions with unique roles and responsibilities. Both, however, provide legal advice and handle the paperwork.

A lawyer, often known as a barrister, is a legal expert who provides specialized legal advice while also representing people, groups, organizations, and tribunals in court. Furthermore, a barrister’s most important function is to translate and shape the client’s version of events into a legal argument and convince in such a way that the best possible outcome is achieved.

A lawyer or solicitor is a legal expert who provides legal advice and assistance to people, groups, private organizations, and private businesses. Their legal competence is used to provide recommendations on legal action. Furthermore, they handle legal documentation that is suited to the client’s needs and prepares for court.

References 

  1. https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=_PWvfYSF_E4C&oi=fnd&pg=PP9&dq=Lawyer+Barrister+vs+Solicitor&ots=55GVxPRDM3&sig=Ezq6VMLpcFsoHAYDrlwdII31KZM
  2. https://heinonline.org/hol-cgi-bin/get_pdf.cgi?handle=hein.journals/jlsocty4&section=18