Ehsan Kabir lives in London and works as a professional lawyer. He is telling here about Legal Executives Facts.

1. Legal Executives Fatcs
Ehsan kabir

2. Lesson Objectives
 I will be able to describe the qualification, training and
work of barristers
 I will b able to describe the qualification, training and
work of solicitors
 I will be able to describe the qualification, training and
work of legal executives

3. Legal Profession
 Two main branches – barristers and solicitors
 These branches of the traditional ‘lawyer’ have rights of
audience (right to appear in and speak on behalf of
their clients in court)
 There are also legal executives who are usually
specialist employees of solicitors
 These executives might work in areas such as
conveyancing, debt recovery or wills – does not have the
same rights of audience

4. Barristers
 Used to be the only profession that had the right to
represent clients in the higher courts
 England and Wales is divided into regions or ‘circuits’
for the purposes of the administration of justice, and
barristers attach themselves to a circuit
 Bar Council is the professional body for barristers
 Responsible for regulating barristers (setting
qualifications and discipline)

5.  Barristers of at least 10 years experience may apply to become Queen’s
Counsel (QC)
 More important work and are referred to as silks – the gown they wear
 Solicitors can also apply to be QC
 QC is stepping stone to becoming a judge
 QC are made this due to recognition of their outstanding ability
 There are also honorary QCs who will not practise but deserve the
recognition

6. Q.C.
 May apply after 10 years as a “junior”
 About 10% of the Bar “take silk”
 QCs usually take on more complicated and high profile cases
 They command higher fees
 They will usually have a junior to assist
 Until 2004 QCs were appointed by LC
 But this was seen as too secretive
 Also fewer than 10% of QCs are women and very few are from ethnic
minorities
 As senior judges are usually chosen from QCs this affected the composition
of the judiciary
 Selection is now by selection panel, chaired by non-lawyer and including
other non-lawyers. Selection by interview. Applicants apply, pay £2500 fee
and provide references; panel recommends to LC who should be appointed
 NB solicitors can also now become QCs

7. QCs-Advantages and Disadvantages
Advantages
 Conspicuous brand
enhancing standing of UK
legal services abroad
 Publicly recognised mark
of quality of advocacy
 Resource for public
enquiries
 Promotes competition –
supplements market
information
 Promotes diversity –
solicitors and those from
ethnic minorities
 Election now by selection
panel
Disadvantages (OFT ‘03)
 QCs do not necessarily offer better
service
 Title is too generic – tells customer
nothing about specialisation
 System focuses on advocacy skills
whereas other skills may be relevant,
e.g. legal advice, case management
 No monitoring of quality after becoming
QC

8. Barrister’s Qualification
 3 stages
 Academic, vocational, pupillage
 Academic – minimum 2:2 at degree level – a qualifying law
degree is set out by the Bar Council and Law Society jointly
as required by the Courts and Legal Service Act 1990
 This is the minimum law content for a degree course (7 core
subjects)
 Tort, EU, Equity, Con + Ad (Public), Land, Contract, Criminal
 If a degree is not in law or fails to comply, they must do a 1
year conversion
 Common Professional Exam (CPE) or Graduate Diploma in
Law (GDL)
 This is so that when training begins, they all have the same
foundation level

9.  Before starting vocational stage they must join one of
the 4 Inns of Court: Lincoln’s Inn, Inner Temple, Middle
temple, Gray’s Inn
 The Inns are societies that provide activities and
support for barristers and student barristers
 Library, dining facilities, common rooms and gardens
 Inns have the power to call a student to the Bar
 Admission to an Inn is required before registration on
the Bar Vocational Course (BVE) – the main part of the
vocational stage of qualifying as a barrister
 BE ensures that student barristers acquire all the skills
and knowledge of procedure and evidence that will be
required for the more specialised training in pupillage
 The BE runs for 1 year full time or 2 years part time

10.  Pupillage – the barrister will undertake practical
training under supervision of an experienced barrister
 Divided into 2 parts – first is non-practising - months
where the student will shadow and work with their
superior barrister
 Second part – with supervisor’s permission, will carry
out legal services and have rights of audience in court
 There is lots of competition for pupillage and so a mini-
pupillage is a useful starting point
 Short period of work experience (usually 1-2 weeks) in
a set of chambers
 Some chambers require applicants to undertake an
assessed mini-pupillage as part of their recruitment
process
 All applicants to the Bar are advised to take at least
one mini-pupillage by the Bar Standards Board

11. To become a barrister
Law degree
One-year Vocational Training course
Pupillage: 2 x 6 months
Practise as a barrister
Degree in another subject
Common Professional Examination
(one-year Law course)
OR
Non-graduate mature student
Common Professional
Examination (two-
year Law course)
One-year Bar Examination Course
Occupation as
a non-
practising
barrister
Membership of Inn of Court
Attend an Inn – either dine or on course
Call to the Bar

12. Barrister Training
 Once BE is completed, they can be called to
the Bar
 Usually takes place towards the end of their
first 6 months of pupillage
 There is a requirement for continuing training
and updating as with most professions
 Barristers need to update and develop
specialist areas of knowledge and improve
their skills particularly as there is increasing
competition in the market for legal services

13.  The Bar Standards Board has set up an Education
and Training Committee – responsible for setting
the standards of education and training that people
must pass before being able to practise as
barristers – together with the further training
barristers must complete in their careers
 At present, in the first 3 years of practice, a
barrister must complete 45 hours of CPD – including
at least 9 hours of advocacy training and 3 hours of
ethics
 After the first 3 years of practice barristers are
required to undertake 12 hours of CPD each year
under the established practitioners’ programme

14. Barristers Pay
 Bar Council sets a minimum rate to be paid to pupils – 2006-7 this was no less
than £833.33 pm (£10,000 pa) plus reasonable travel expenses
 Once qualified a barrister will have typical earnings as a self-employed barrister
in a range of £25,000 to £150,000 gross within 5 years
 There are huge disparities in annual earnings at the Bar with some junior
barristers working in criminal law earning as little as £50 per day, and this is
before tax deductions and chambers’ charges
 Barristers rely on solicitors appointing them to pay the fee – the contract is
between solicitor and barrister, not barrister and person he represents
 The fee is agreed by their clerk and id often paid at the end of the trial
 This means work is done several months before payment
 Some solicitors used to be very poor at paying the barrister’s fee
 More recently the law Society has made it clear that solicitors should pay
promptly
 Many young barristers despite this, actually receive little or no income in their
first year of practice
 Barrister’s clerks were originally paid purely on commission – today the majority
of chambers offer a pay package – this is a mixture of salary and bonus based on
the income of the barristers
 This has to be paid for on a proportional basis by all the barristers in the chamber

15. Barrister’s Work
 Barristers usually self-employed
 Although an increasing number are employed
directly by large organisations and some who
work in law centres
 Barristers can now work for firms of solicitors
 Until recently it was not normally possible for
members of the public to go directly to a
barrister
 Barristers were, and still are, normally
accessed through a solicitor
 However, the Bar Council has relaxed its rules
relating to direct access and there are now 3
routes to accessing a barrister

16.  The first is professional client access – where a number of
people can instruct barristers on behalf of clients or as a
fellow professional
 This usually means solicitors but includes many overseas
lawyers
 The second is public access – where members of the public
and commercial and non-commercial organisations are now
able to instruct barristers directly on most civil matters
 This might be legal advice or involve drafting a document
such as a will
 Barristers do not have to accept any public access
instructions
 This is an exception to the ‘cab rank’ rule which is that,
subject to having the necessary expertise, a barrister must
accept any brief or instructions and act for anyone
 However, barristers who are willing in principle to accept
public access instructions must observe a non-discrimination
rule

17.  Finally, there are licensed access organisations that are suitable to
instruct barristers, because they have expertise in particular areas of the
law
 They can apply to the Bar Council to be licensed to instruct barristers
directly in those areas – typical examples of those with licensed access are
a firm of clinical negligence insurers and a financial services company

18.  Barristers are specialists, yet have a varied
work load including drafting documents and
giving legal opinions
 Barristers specialising in criminal law are likely
to spend a great deal of time in court, whereas
civil practitioners will probably attend court
less often
 With the more increasing use of ADR, barristers
may find that some time is spent in preparing
and advising on this
 The key benefit of the barrister is that he is
independent and objective and trained to
advise clients on the strengths as well as the
weaknesses of their case

19. Barristers’ work: 10 points
 Self-employed
 Usually work from a set of chambers
 15-20 barristers; share administrative expenses
 Employ clerk as practice administrator
 Booking in cases, negotiating fees
 Other support staff
 Finding a tenancy may be difficult
 May do a third 6-month pupillage, and then “squat”
 Technically possible to practise from home, but a tenancy is still seen as the way to success
 Building a reputation is long and hard
 Young barristers may be poor!
 Advocacy
 + Writing opinions, giving advice, drafting documents for use in court
 But some rarely appear in court
 Instead specialise in tax law or company law
 Direct access
 Since 2004, except for criminal or family law
 Cab rank rule
 Except where clients approach barrister direct
 Rights of audience in any court in England & Wales
 Practising barristers employed (by CPS or by solicitor) can now keep their rights of audience

20. Solicitors
 The usual first port of call when somebody needs
legal advice
 Solicitors are the general practitioners of the legal
world dealing with all kinds of legal problems
 Most solicitors are in private practice – working in
firms with hundreds of staff through to a small
high street office as a sole practitioner
 Solicitors, unlike barristers, can form partnerships
 Other solicitors can work in government, law
centres, the civil service, commerce and industry

21. Solicitors Qualification
 3 parts – academic training, vocational
training and training contract
 3 starting points
 Law degree - Same degree qualifications
as barristers – however, to qualify as a
solicitor, a person must achieve the
required pass mark for each of the
foundations of legal knowledge subjects –
40% regardless of the pass mark set by the
institution
 Degree remains valid for 7 years

22.  Non-law graduate – then completes CPE or GDL
 Non-graduate or Institute of Legal Executives (ILEX) – this is not available
to a barrister
 Non-graduate may be able to undertake a CPE or GDL if that person is a
mature student or holds certain other academic or vocational
qualifications – must be over 25 and have considerable experience in a
suitable area of work and a good general education
 Acceptance is at the discretion of the Law Society – also applies to people
who hold a non-UK degree

23.  ILEX – person must pass equivalent examinations in the foundations of
legal knowledge and a further legal subject
 Provided this person is an ILEX Member or Fellow, these examinations can
be taken within the ILEX framework
 This route may also exempt an ILEX member who wants to become a
solicitor from needing to undertake a training contract

24.  The second part is vocational training, which is
common to all those seeking to qualify as a
solicitor, whichever route they started from
 This is the Legal Practice Course (LPC) – which
provides the professional training for a solicitor
 The main purpose of the course is to learn how
to apply the law to the needs of clients
 At the end of the LPC, a trainee solicitor will be
able to enter a training contract with the
necessary knowledge and skills to undertake
appropriate tasks under proper supervision
during the training contract – the course
includes legal knowledge, skills and ethics

25.  The LPC has some compulsory areas of study:
 Business law and practice
 Property law and practice
 Civil and criminal litigation
 There are also topics known as pervasives which appear
throughout the course at appropriate times. These include:
 Probate and administration
 Professional conduct and client care and financial services
 Revenue law and Solicitors’ and Business accounts
 EU law and Human Rights
 There are also some optional or elective topics which vary
depending on the potential solicitor’s interests and the
specialisms of the institution offering the course
 The skills needed to be a solicitor are also part of the course
and include practical legal research, writing and drafting
documents, advocacy and interviewing
 The course can be taken on a full or part-time basis with a
number of providers across England and Wales

26.  The final part is the training contract – this is a period of practice-based
training
 The idea is that the trainee will gain practical training under supervision,
and learn to apply a range of skills through working in a solicitor’s office
or the legal department of another organisation
 As with a barrister’s pupillage, trainees are paid with minimum amounts
set
 This is normally 2 years full-time work but can be part-time over a longer
period

27.  On a training contract, the trainee solicitor will work in at
least 3 areas of law, such as:
 Personal injury law
 Conveyancing
 Company law
 Environmental law
 Criminal litigation
 These areas will depend on the nature of the firm or
organisation and the interests of the trainee
 Skills are developed through working on clients’ cases,
although with close supervision
 The trainees’ work will be regularly reviewed and as time
goes on the trainee will deal with clients and learn to handle
cases without supervision
 On completion of these 3 parts of training, the trainee will
be admitted as a solicitor and will get their practising
certificate
 This license to work as a solicitor must be renewed annually

28. To become a solicitor
A levels or
equivalent
Law degree
Legal Practice Course
(one year)
Two year training
period
Qualified as a
solicitor
Degree in another subject
Common Professional
Examination (one-
year Law course)
Legal Practice Course (one
year)
4 GCSEs
Institute of Legal Executives Part I
& Part II Exams
Be admitted as a Fellow of the
Institute of Legal Executives (must
be over 25 years and have worked
for 5 years in a solicitor’s office)
Legal Practice Course (one
year) OR
two-year training period
AND pass final exams
Qualified as a
solicitor
Work for two years in a solicitor’s
office
A levels or equivalent
Two-year training period
Qualified as a solicitor
NB How many years for each pathway?

29. Solicitors Training
 There is a requirement for CPD to be undertaken
 Designed to ensure they are up to date with law
and other essential matters
 The Solicitors Regulation Authority requires that
all solicitors complete at least 16 hours of CPD
activities a year. Examples could be:
 Tax law update
 Study of the latest anti-money-laundering
regulations
 Solicitors’ new code of conduct
 In addition, new solicitors must complete the Law
Society’s Management Course Stage 1 by the end
of their third year in practice – this is a 1 day
course that deals with basic aspects of
management that are essential to a solicitor

30. Solicitors Work
 Work in a wide range of roles and areas
 Over 68,00 ( vast majority) work in private practice (a firm such as
you see on the high street)
 These range from sole practitioners to multinational firms with
hundreds of partners and offices across the world
 Most solicitors in private practice work with individual clients: the
general public and local businesses
 A solicitor in a large firm will usually carry out work that is quite
specialised
 By contrast, one in a small firm may be involved in a great range
of activities
 Solicitors deal with a vast range of legal problems such as helping
to buy and sell property, personal injury claims, advising on
matrimonial problems such as divorce, or financial disputes
between partners and immigration problems
 They also represent people in court or instruct a barrister to
represent them

31.  Solicitors do more work in court than is often imagined – in civil matters
they represent their clients at most interlocutory hearings – that is
hearings before trial
 They also usually appear in court in enforcement proceedings, such as
repossession cases
 In criminal cases, they often represent their client in the Magistrates’
Court – this is the typical function of a duty solicitor – who will be the
representative who usually makes a defendant's first bail application

32.  Businesses need help and advice in areas such as
employment law, contracts and property leases
 Bigger clients may be involved in company mergers and
acquisitions
 Some firms of solicitors have offices overseas which
may involve advising local clients on English, EU or
foreign law or representing a UK person or business
abroad
 The vast range of work is affected by the public
perception of what amounts to a legal matter that a
solicitor should be dealing with – e.g. if a person has a
problem with the HMRC, a decision has to be made
whether to go to a solicitor, an accountant or other
adviser
 Other solicitors work directly for large businesses such
as banks and multi-national companies
 Others work for local authorities or central government
 Others work for the Court Service, CPS as a court clerk,
for a charity, the armed forces or in a law centre

33. Solicitors’ work
 Private practice in a solicitors’ firm (the majority) [8700 firms] -
 Sole practitioner (rare on qualifying) - very specialised, e.g. simply
conveyancing
 For an existing partnership (small firm, maybe half a dozen partners) -
several kinds of work, e.g. criminal and family, or conveyancing and
probate, or consumer problems and housing
 Interviewing clients
 Negotiating on their behalf, e.g.
 writing letters;
 drafting contracts, leases, etc.;
 drawing up wills;
 conveyancing
 Litigation (representing clients in court or tribunal)
 For an existing partnership (large firm, no limit to no. of partners, even
>100) - very specialised, usually commercial and business law, each
solicitor dealing in only one aspect of it
 Crown Prosecution Service – prosecuting criminal actions in court
 Local government – land law; employment law; Children Act 1989…
 National government department – education law; environment law,,,
 Legal advisers in commerce or industry (business) – business law

34. Special notes
 Conveyancing:
 The “bread and butter” of many firms
 But since the Administration of Justice Act 1985 solicitors no
longer have a monopoly – licensed conveyancers including
barristers
 Advocacy:
 Solicitors could always speak in magistrates’ and county courts
 But now they may :
 speak in High Court (Abse v Smith (1986) + Practice Direction);
 Appear in higher courts if they gain a “certificate in advocacy”
(Courts & Legal Services Act 1990);
 Be appointed QC (Access to Justice Act 1999)
 Multi-discipline partnerships:
 Solicitors may form parterships with e.g. accountants (Courts &
Legal Services Act 1990). Allowed by law
 But at first not by Bar Council and Law Society. This should
change following the Legal Services Act 2007
 See now the Legal Services Act 2007 (slide 11.8)

35. Legal Executives
 These are members of ILEX which was set up in 1963
with the support of the Law Society
 The aim was to provide a professional body recognising
the work done by non-solicitors working in a solicitor’s
office
 They are qualified lawyers specialising in a particular
area of law and have at least 5 years experience of
working under supervision of a solicitor
 There are currently around 22,000 legal executives who
are members of ILEX
 Their status as professionals is recognised throughout
the legal profession and the courts
 Whilst their right to appear in court is limited, Fellows
of ILEX with more than 4 years’ post-qualification
experience are equated with similarly experienced
solicitors in terms of assessment costs in court cases

36. Legal Executives
Qualification
 Most trainee legal executives combine
study for the ILEX qualification with
practical experience of working in a law
firm or legal department, usually being
given day release from work to study
 There are many starting points for
qualifying as a legal executive, the routes
varying depending on existing
qualification – the usual minimum is 4
GCSEs at grade C or above, including
English language

37.  There are 3 types of membership:
 The first is a student membership where
academic training is started by taking a series
of courses covering a range of the areas of law
and legal practice encountered in the legal
profession
 The second type is membership – students apply
for enrolment into this grade of ILEX on
successful completion of both parts of the ILEX
Professional Qualification in Law
 This takes on average 4 years part-time study
to complete
 Finally there is Fellowship – to achieve the full
qualification of Fellow, Members of ILEX must
have 5 years qualifying employment under the
supervision of a solicitor, including a minimum
of two years after passing all the examinations

38. Legal Executives Training
 For all ILEX Fellows, CPD is compulsory
 Systematic maintenance, improvement and extension
of professional and legal skills and personal qualities
are required on a continuing basis
 Each year a Fellow is required to complete a
minimum of 12 hours CPD, rising to 16 hours from
2008
 Members will also be required to undertake CPD: 8
hours from 2008
 At least half the requirement must be met through
events relating to their specialist area of work
 Failure to comply with these requirements is a
breach of ILEX regulations and may result in
disciplinary action

39. Legal Executives Work
 Legal executives specialise in a
particular area of law such as
Conveyancing, wills, matrimonial
matters or general litigation
 Their day-to-day work is similar to
that of a solicitor earning fees for the
firm of solicitors for whom they work
 Quite often all the work on a
particular matter will be handled by a
legal executive rather than a solicitor
 Legal executives are usually expert in
one field of work and concentrate
exclusively on that type of work

40. Legal executives
 Work in solicitors’ firms as assistants
 Must pass Parts I and II examinations of ILEX
 Must also have worked in a solicitors’ or similar firm (e.g. CPS) for
five years
 Will deal with straightforward cases
 May even head his/her own department, e.g. probate
 Have limited rights of audience in court, e.g. making applications
in county court where the case is not defended
 ILEX would like these rights of audience extended re:
 matters dealt with by district judges at the county court;
 applications to magistrates’ courts in cases started by complaint or
application, including family proceedings and licensing and gaming
applications;
 conducting cases in tribunals

41. Thanks