ENGLISH LEGAL SYSTEM Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 3

ENGLISH LEGAL SYSTEM - Essay Example Solicitors were more concerned with office work such as the preparation of contracts for clients. Since 1991, solicitors with a little extra qualification have been allowed to act as advocates before the highest courts. On the other hand, barristers can now deal directly with professional clients without the intervention of a Solicitor. Many commentators believe that the two legal professions, once almost entirely separate, are slowly entering a state of gradual fusion as both are training and qualifying themselves to serve in the capacity of the other. Solicitors require a practicing certificate if they are to be involved in legal work. An exception is made for those in local government, commerce and industry. In 1996 there were 8702 firms of solicitors in England and Wales which earned at least  £15,000 per annum, with 4,377 of those firms classified as sole practitioners.1 There are also Legal Executives who qualify separately from both Barristers and Solicitors. Legal Executives carry out lower-level procedural or transactional work and must work under the supervision of a Solicitor. These functionaries are classified as paralegals in other countries. The practice of having Licensed Conveyancers started in 1986. They work separately from solicitors and are focused on domestic property transactions. The profession has its own system of qualification. The legal profession is largely self-regulated. The chief methods of regulation are; restrictions on entry, restrictions on advertising and other means of promoting a competitive process within the profession and restrictions on fee competition. The associations that regulate the practice of legal professionals are largely independent of government control. The main tool for regulation of the legal profession comprises the limitations imposed on who may enter into the legal profession. To become a solicitor one must take one of two degree routes or,