Solicitors

A solicitor is a legal practitioner who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally-defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and enabled to practise there as such. For example, in England and Wales a solicitor is admitted to practise under the provisions of the Solicitors Act 1974. With some exceptions, practising solicitors must possess a practising certificate. There are many more solicitors than barristers in England; they undertake the general aspects of giving legal advice and conducting legal proceedings.

In the United Kingdom, a few Australian states, Hong Kong, South Africa (where they are called attorneys) and Ireland, the legal profession is split between solicitors and barristers (called advocates in some countries), and a lawyer will usually only hold one of the two titles. However, in Canada, New Zealand, Singapore and most Australian states, the legal profession is now for practical purposes "fused", allowing lawyers to hold the title of "barrister and solicitor" and practise as both. Some legal graduates will start off as one and then also qualify as the other.

Before the creation of the Supreme Court of Judicature under the Supreme Court of Judicature Act 1873, solicitors practised in the Court of Chancery, attorneys practised in the common law courts and proctors practised in the ecclesiastical courts. 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 England and Wales", except for the unique government offices of Queen's or King's Proctor (now generally Treasury Solicitor which is co-held with the title), and Attorney-General. Since the replacement of the judicial aspect of the House of Lords with the Supreme Court the full title of a solicitor is "Solicitor of the Senior Courts of England and Wales".

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