Lesson 04 - Legal Professions

I Legal Professions

A lawyer is a person who writes a 10,000-word document and calls it a "brief."-- Franz Kafka

1. Lawyers in different countries do not hold the same titles or share the same role and status. Read the following text giving an outline of legal professions in civil law countries and in England and the USA.

In which country/countries do solicitors, barristers, attorneys, notaries or advocates work?

People roughly acquainted with the legal profession in civil law countries may be tempted to make an equation between the two main strands found there, i.e. notaries and advocates, and the two kinds of lawyers existing in England, i.e. barristers and solicitors, but this is not the case, the latter being of quite a different nature. It is true that English solicitors may draw up various legal documents and make them official as their civil law counterparts do but their scope of work is by far wider. The English solicitors also prepare cases for barristers defending those accused of crimes in courts and may also defend themselves such persons in lower courts. The very term “notary” does not denote a separate profession in England or the USA. There, you can come across the term “notary public” which denotes a professional who has authority to witness and draw up only certain documents and make them official. In England this is performed by solicitors but in the USA this may be done by people who have not qualified as lawyers, or attorneys, as they are commonly referred to there. Otherwise, American attorneys are all-rounders doing all kinds of legal work. Regarding this variety of terms for denoting lawyers it is therefore safest, for the purposes of international legal English, to use neutral terms, e.g. lawyer with a kind of specification, such as lawyer for the defense, lawyer for the prosecution, conveyancing lawyer, etc.

However, as the international legal English naturally draws on the terminology of the Anglo-American legal system it is necessary to become familiar with it.

2. Solicitors and barristers - Listening

You are going to hear about the differences between the work of solicitors and barristers. Student A listens and notes down details for solicitors, Student B for barristers, and then share the information.

3. Qualifying for the profession

A. England

Fill in the letters to complete the words and describe similarities and differences in becoming a barrister and solicitor.

Barristers are mem _ _ _ _ of the Bar Council of England and Wales and they gener _ _ _ _ operate in sets of “chambers” but are not emp _ _ _ _ _ by a law firm as such. To bec _ _ _ a barrister you must first obt _ _ _ an undergr _ _ _ _ _ _ degree in law (LLB), or an undergraduate degree in any other subj _ _ _ followed by the conversion cour _ _. The sec _ _ _ step involves one-year Bar Professional Training Course. The last stage is completed by pupillage, i.e. one year spe _ _ as a pupil in barristers' cha _ _ _ _ _.