In Britain, lawyers are divided into senior lawyers and junior lawyers. A barrister is a lawyer who can defend in the high court, while a barrister can only appear in the lower court and engage in non-litigation legal affairs such as writing a complaint and answering questions for the parties. However, a barrister cannot directly accept the entrustment of the client or meet the client, and the client can only hire a barrister to defend in court through a small lawyer. All the preparations for barristers to appear in court are completed by assistant lawyers. Therefore, if a case is tried in the High Court, the parties generally have to hire three lawyers at the same time: barrister, trial lawyer and assistant lawyer.
The demand for lawyers is so great that naturally many people want to become lawyers, and the number of lawyers in Britain is certainly not small. What are the steps to become a lawyer? Mr. Edward said that to become a barrister in Britain, it only takes five years at the earliest, that is, three years of bachelor of laws and two years of internship in a barrister's office, and then you can practice barrister's business by passing the examination of the Legal Education Association. It is easier to obtain the status of barrister, and you only need to obtain the membership of the Law Society after you graduate from the Bachelor of Law. At present, there are more than 1 10,000 barristers and more than 50,000 barristers in Britain. According to the proportion of population, Britain has one lawyer for every 1000 people, which is definitely one of the best in the world.
It seems that being a lawyer in England is not as difficult as we thought. So, will the number of lawyers expand indefinitely? Mr. Edward shook his head and denied our question. He said that a barrister like him can't take the case by himself, but he has to wait for the case to come to his door, and all the expenses such as rent, office equipment, assistant salary, medical care and endowment insurance have to be borne by himself, which is not an easy burden for a new lawyer. Therefore, many people who originally wanted to engage in the profession of lawyers have chickened out. "Although I have been a barrister for 17 years, I am not as rich as you think." Mr. Edward said humorously. We asked, "Since it is not easy to be a lawyer, why do you have to work for so long?" "Because I am a barrister!" Mr. Edward's answer is full of pride. Indeed, in Britain, lawyers, especially trial lawyers, enjoy a high social status, and in daily life, the public also respects them as spokespersons of the law.
Strolling through the streets of London, you can see the signs of junior lawyers from time to time, but you can never find the shadow of barristers. This phenomenon has become a question mark in our hearts. When we asked Mr. Edward this question, he explained the reason to us. It turns out that in London, all barristers have to work in the London Hotel, Linsington and Chapel around the Royal High Court, and their names are hung at the entrance of every office building in the compound. If you don't enter these three hospitals, you are not qualified to accept cases. Barristers practice alone and have no partners. Mr. Edward said that this phenomenon was formed by history. As the Royal High Court of London has jurisdiction over criminal cases in most parts of the country, barristers have gathered around the High Court. After centuries of evolution, it has finally evolved into today's pattern. Barristers focus on their own work, which may also be an objective reason for this unique group of British barristers.
If it had been five years ago, the boundary between barristers and barristers in Britain would have been very strict and insurmountable. No matter in economic income or social status, it is difficult for small lawyers to compete with big lawyers. However, the ancient British lawyer profession is quietly changing today. We met a little lawyer in Manchester. This cheerful and enthusiastic young man is descended from Malawians in Africa. He told us that small lawyers often handle a lot of non-litigation business in real estate, securities and trade, and their income has greatly increased, and some of them can already compete with barristers. He also said that barristers also like this kind of non-litigation business now, after all, high fees are still very attractive. It seems to have a soft spot for non-litigation cases with large subject matter and high fees. At this point, British lawyers and China lawyers found "* * * the same language".