Job Description of a Solicitor
Solicitors work as legal advisors in the United Kingdom. They differ from lawyers in the United States in that they do not conduct court proceedings, which are undertaken by a barrister. They provide a wide range of support and advice to clients who may be individuals, organizations or large businesses, and provide paperwork and documentation for court cases.
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Job Description
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The type of work a solicitor carries out varies depending on the type of practice he works for. Some deal with the everyday cases involving the community and can specialize in family law, personal injury claims, criminal litigation, or wills and probate. Others, known as commercial solicitors, specialize in giving legal advice to large businesses on corporate matters such as takeovers and mergers and acquisitions.
Qualifications
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Graduates from any discipline can become solicitors. Those who choose to study something other than law at the undergraduate level will need to take a conversion course called the Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL) or Common Professional Examination (CPE). This takes a year if studied full-time. Once completed, law graduates and those who have finished a GDL/CPE need to complete a Legal Practice Course (LPC) which again takes a year. Following this, graduates then attempt to get a two-year training contract with a legal firm.
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Training
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Once accepted into a two-year training contract, trainees will work in four different areas of law for six months at a time. During this time trainees have to attend and complete a course called the Professional Skills Course (PSC), which will be paid for by their employer. The Law Society of England and Wales also requires that its members undertake 16 hours of professional development courses a year. Some of these will be provided in-house by the larger private practice and commercial firms, whereas others will be taken off-site in accredited schools and colleges. Most of these courses are paid for by the employer.
Conditions
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Solicitors working for private practices work an average of 45 to 50 hours a week. However, during very busy periods it is not uncommon for a solicitor to work 12-hour days. Most of the work is office-based with the odd trip to court. Those working in a commercial setting also spend most of their time in the office. The normal week is 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., Monday to Friday, but additional hours may be needed when large deals are being negotiated. Commercial city solicitors working in the City of London will work very unsociable hours, with 12-hour days being a common occurrence.
Earnings
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According to Prospects, the average starting salary for a trainee solicitor in a private practice in 2009 was 18,500 pounds. This figure varied, however depending on where in the UK a trainee solicitor was based, with those in London earning more. The average salary for an associate solicitor in the UK was 42,000 pounds, rising to 50,000 pounds once they became a partner of the firm. For those solicitors working in commercial practices the salaries were higher with partners often receiving in excess of 100,000 pounds. Some partners in the large City of London firms received more than one million pounds a year in 2009.
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References
- Photo Credit solicitors sign. image by L. Shat from Fotolia.com
