[1] In the jurisdictions of England and Wales and in Northern Ireland, in the Australian states of New South Wales, Victoria, and Queensland, Hong Kong, South Africa (where they are called attorneys) and the Republic of Ireland, the legal profession is split between solicitors and barristers (called advocates in some countries, for example Scotland), and a lawyer will usually only hold one of the two titles.
However, in Canada, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore and the remaining Australian states and territories, the legal profession is now for practical purposes "fused", allowing lawyers to hold the title of "barrister and solicitor" and practise as both.
The monopoly of the proctors in family, inheritance and admiralty law had been removed in 1857–1859, and the 1873 reforms further fused all three branches of the profession.
After 1873 the offices of "attorney" and "proctor" disappeared as terms relating to legally qualified persons, being replaced by "Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Judicature" (subsequently "of the Supreme Court of England and Wales"), except for the unique government offices of Queen's (or King's) Proctor (now called "HM Procurator-General", a title generally held by the Treasury Solicitor), and Attorney-General.
Conversely, the public may now hire and interact with a barrister directly in certain types of work without having to go to a solicitor first[6] as a result of the Courts and Legal Services Act 1990 removing the monopoly of barristers to act as advocates and granting solicitors rights of audience in specified circumstances.
He delivered his final recommendations in December 2004[7] which included proposals for a more unified regulatory system and new structures for cross-profession work.
The breakdown in the strict separation between barrister and solicitor was expected to go further following recognition by the Act of the so-called "Legal Disciplinary Practice" (LDP)[8] (from 31 March 2009) and "Alternate Business Structure" (ABS)[9] (from 6 October 2011) bodies, which allow more flexibly structured legal practices.
Prospective solicitors holding a qualifying law degree[10] proceed to studying the Legal Practice Course.
Those holding a non-law degree must in addition have completed a conversion course[11] prior to enrolling on the Legal Practice Course.
The SRA completed an extensive review of qualification routes into law that has brought about the introduction of the Solicitor Qualifying Examination (SQE).
[15] Lawyers qualified in foreign jurisdictions, as well as English barristers, can take the Qualified Lawyers Transfer Scheme (QLTS) assessment, a fast-track route for qualification as an English solicitor which can be completed in a shorter or longer period of time, depending on the legal background of the candidate.
The scheme is open to qualified lawyers in many common law and civil law jurisdictions, such as the US, Australia, South Africa, Nigeria, Brazil, Argentina, Turkey, Russia, China, South Korea, Japan, Singapore, India, Pakistan, all EU member states, as well as other countries.
Instead, individuals sit professional examinations which are set at degree level standard and undertake an intense apprenticeship programme.
The independence of most of Ireland in December 1922 as the Irish Free State was marked more by continuity with the British legal system than with change.
Another branch of the legal profession, Shihō-shoshi (司法書士), are specialists in registration procedures for real estate and incorporation.
With certification by the Ministry of Justice, they are also authorized to represent clients in civil suits filed in courts of summary jurisdiction (with claimed amount up to ¥1.4 million).
In 2006, their professional body, Japan Federation of Shihō-shoshi Lawyer's Associations (日本司法書士会連合会), proposed that, in English, Shihō-shoshi be called "solicitor" and their organization "Japan Federation of Solicitor Associations", announcing that they would approach the government and other relevant parties to promote the use of the new translations.
These states include Delaware,[26] Georgia,[27] Massachusetts, Maryland, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina and West Virginia.
[28][29][30] In the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the professional organization for government lawyers was formerly known as the City Solicitors and Town Counsel Association.
[31] In the US, "solicitor" is also used to describe a traveling salesman (with a pejorative connotation roughly equivalent to the British English word tout) as in the signed warning on public places of accommodation, "No Soliciting".