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Not to be confused with Barista.
Artist's rendition of an early 20th-century English barrister
Illustration of an early 20th-century English barrister
Occupation type
Activity sectors
Intellectual property
Education required
Bar Professional Training Course (and possibly Common Professional Examination)
Related jobs
Pupil barrister, advocate, judge

A barrister (also known as barrister-at-law or Bar-at-law) is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions with a split legal profession. Barristers specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in large tribunals, drafting legal pleadings and giving expert legal opinions. Often, barristers are also recognised as legal scholars.

Barristers are distinguished from solicitors or attorneys, who have more direct access to clients, and may do transactional-type legal work. Barristers are rarely hired by clients directly but instead are retained (or instructed) by solicitors to act on behalf of clients. In some legal systems, including those of Scotland, South Africa, Scandinavia, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, the British Crown dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man, barrister is regarded as an honorific title.

In a few jurisdictions, barristers are usually forbidden from "conducting" litigation, and can only act on the instructions of a solicitor who performs tasks such as corresponding with parties and the court, and drafting court documents. In England and Wales, barristers may seek authorisation from the Bar Standards Board to conduct litigation. This allows the barrister to practice in a 'dual capacity', fulfilling the role of both barrister and solicitor. [1]

In some countries with common law legal systems, like New Zealand and some states of Australia, lawyers are entitled to practise both as barristers and solicitors, but it remains a separate system of qualification to practice exclusively as a barrister.

Differences between barristers and other lawyers[edit]


A barrister's wigs, Parliament Hall, Edinburgh


There are other essential differences. A barrister will usually have rights of audience in the higher courts, whereas other legal professionals will often have more limited access, or will need to acquire additional qualifications to have such access. In countries where there is a split between the roles of barrister and solicitor, the barrister, in civil law jurisdictions is responsible for appearing in trials or pleading cases before the courts.


In most countries, barristers operate as sole practitioners, and are prohibited from forming partnerships or from working as a barrister as part of a corporation. (In 2009, the Clementi Report recommended the abolition of this restriction in England and Wales.[3]) However, barristers normally band together into "chambers" to share clerks (administrators) and operating expenses.[4] Some chambers grow to be large and sophisticated, and have a distinctly corporate feel. In some jurisdictions, barristers may be employed by firms of solicitors, banks, or corporations as in-house legal advisers.



In many countries the traditional divisions between barristers and solicitors are breaking down. Barristers once enjoyed a monopoly on appearances before the higher courts, but in Great Britain this has now been abolished, and solicitor advocates can generally appear for clients at trial. Increasingly, firms of solicitors are keeping even the most advanced advisory and litigation work in-house for economic and client relationship reasons. Similarly, the prohibition on barristers taking instructions directly from the public has also been widely abolished. But in practice, direct instruction is still a rarity in most jurisdictions, partly because barristers with narrow specialisations or who are only really trained for advocacy are not prepared to provide general advice to members of the public.


Justification for a split profession[edit]

Some benefits of maintaining the split include:


Some disadvantages of the split include:







Barristers around the world[edit]



Margaret Battye, 1930s Australian court dress


Generally counsel dress in the traditional English manner (wig, gown, and jabot) before superior courts, although they no longer robe for appearances in lower jurisdictions. Wigs are no longer worn in the highest civil court in New South Wales, the Court of Appeal. Wigs are still worn in the Supreme Court, while only robes without wigs are worn in the District Courts in civil matters. Robes and wigs are worn in all criminal cases.[10] In Western Australia, wigs are no longer worn in any court.






In France, avocates, or attorneys, were, until the 20th century, the equivalent of barristers. The profession included several grades ranked by seniority: stagiaire (pupil, student-at-law), plaignant (junior barrister), and consultant (senior barrister). Since the 14th century and during the course of the 19th in particular, French barristers competed in territorial battles over respective areas of legal practice against the conseil juridique (chamber-counselor) and avoué (solicitor), and expanded to become the generalist legal practitioner. After the 1971 and 1990 legal reforms, the avocat was fused with the solicitor and chamber-counselor, making the avocat (or, if female, avocate) an all-purpose lawyer for matters of contentious jurisdiction, analogous to an American attorney. French attorneys may specialize as litigators (trial lawyers) and legal consultants (advising lawyers), known respectively as avocat plaidant and avocat-conseil. All intending attorneys must pass a legal practice examination and two-year traineeship to be admitted to general practice and enrolled, but to have rights of audience at a given court, an attorney must join that court's bar (barreau) by passing its specific bar examination. Each bar is regulated by a Bar Council (Ordre du barreau).


In Germany, no distinction is made and lawyers may plead at all courts with the exception of the Federal Court of Justice (Bundesgerichtshof) to which fewer than fifty lawyers are admitted [13] as of 25 September 2007. See the list of lawyers admitted to the Bundesgerichtshof. Those lawyers may not plead at other courts, almost only deal with litigation, and are usually instructed by a lawyer who represented the client in the lower courts. However, these restrictions do not apply to criminal cases, nor to pleadings at courts of the other court systems (labour, administrative, taxation, and social courts, as well as the EU court system).

Hong Kong[edit]



In Hong Kong, the rank of Queen's Counsel was granted prior to the transfer of the sovereignty of Hong Kong from the United Kingdom to China in 1997. After the handover, the rank has been replaced by Senior Counsel post-nominal letters: SC. Senior Counsels may still, however, style themselves as silks, like their British counterparts.






In Israel there is no distinction between barristers and solicitors, even though the judicial system is based mostly on English common law, from when Britain administered what was then Mandatory Palestine from 1920 to 1948.


Japan adopts a unified system. However, there are certain classes of qualified professionals who are allowed to practice in certain limited areas of law, such as scriveners ("shiho shoshi", qualified to handle title registration, deposit, and certain petite court proceedings with additional certification), tax accountants ("zeirishi", qualified to prepare tax returns, provide advice on tax computation and represent a client in administrative tax appeals) and patent agents ("benrishi", qualified to practice patent registration and represent a client in administrative patent appeals). Only the lawyers ("bengoshi") can appear before court and are qualified to practice in any areas of law, including but not limited to areas that those qualified law-related professionals above are allowed to practice. Most attorneys still focuses primarily on court practice and still a very few number of attorneys give sophisticated and expertized legal advice on a day-to-day basis to large corporations.



New Zealand[edit]

In New Zealand, the professions are not formally fused but practitioners are enrolled in the High Court as "Barristers and Solicitors". They may choose, however, to practice as barristers sole. About 15% practice solely as barristers, mainly in the larger cities and usually in "chambers" (following the British terminology). They receive "instructions" from other practitioners, at least nominally. They usually conduct the proceedings in their entirety.






South Asia[edit]

Dr Allamah Muhammad Iqbal is regarded as one of the greatest South Asian barristers.



In Pakistan a graduated can qualify as a Barrister after completion of a Master of Laws degree, six months pupillage under a senior Barrister in his chambers and afterwards to go for Bar admission test, the Bar Council of the relevant province examine him that he is fit or not to become as an Barrister and is not convicted. After passing the multiple choice question examination and interview conducted by provincial Bar Council, the Bar Council will issue him the license for appearing before the Courts.

In Bangladesh, graduate lawyers have to seat for and pass the Bar Council Exam to become professional Barristers. By passing the Bar Council Exam, barristers are eligible to practice in the Supreme Court of Bangladesh and other courts. A license is obtained after successful completion of two year's practice in the lower courts by applicant, which is reviewed by a body of the relevant provincial Bar Council. Most applications after successful completion of the requirement, are accepted. [16]

South Africa[edit]


South Korea[edit]

There is no distinction between two branches. A person who passed the national bar exam, after 2 years of national education, would be able to become a judge, a prosecutor or a "lawyer" in accordance of their grades upon graduation. However, Korea has accommodated Law School System either. Now, there are two(2) ways to be a lawyer, the traditional but time limited way until 2017 and the other way to take a course on a law school and passing the bar exam. Under the current legal system, to be a judge or a prosecutor, lawyers need to practice their legal knowledge. A "lawyer" does not have any limitation of practice.


Spain has a division that somewhat corresponds to the division in Britain between barristers/advocates and solicitors. Procuradores represent the litigant procedurally in court, generally under the authority of a power of attorney executed by a civil law notary, while abogados represent the substantive claims of the litigant through trial advocacy. Essentially, Procuradores are court agents and their practice is confined to the locality of the court to which they are admitted. Procuradores are regulated by Royal Decree 2046 of 1982, which approved the General Statute of the Procuradores, and the Organic Law no.6 of 1985. The General Statute regulates the qualifications and conduct of the procuradores. Thus, obligations to act pro bono are laid down by Article 13.

United States[edit]

The United States does not draw a distinction between lawyers as pleaders (barristers) and lawyers as agents (or solicitors). All lawyers who have passed a bar examination and have been admitted to practice may prosecute or defend in the courts of the state where they are admitted. Historically, a distinction was made, and a separate label for barristers (called "counselors," hence the expression "attorney and counselor at law") existed in certain states, though both professions have long since been fused into the all-purpose attorney.[citation needed] Attorneys specializing in court procedure, combining advocacy and case preparation, are called trial attorneys or litigators.

South Carolina still requires attorneys to be licensed separately to plead in a courtroom. Additionally, some state appellate courts require attorneys to obtain a separate certificate of admission to plead and practice in the appellate court. Federal courts require specific admission to that court's bar to practice before it. At the state appellate level and in Federal courts, there is generally no separate examination process, although some U.S. district courts require an examination on practices and procedures in their specific courts. Unless an examination is required, admission is usually granted as a matter of course to any licensed attorney in the state where the court is located. Some federal courts will grant admission to any attorney licensed in any U.S. jurisdiction.

United Kingdom[edit]

England and Wales[edit]






Certain barristers in England and Wales are now instructed directly by members of the public.[18] Members of the public may engage the services of the barrister directly; a solicitor is not involved at any stage. Barristers undertaking public access work can provide legal advice and representation in court in almost all areas of law (see the Public Access Information on the Bar Council website)[19] and are entitled to represent clients in any court or tribunal in England and Wales. Once instructions from a client are accepted, it is the barrister (rather than the solicitor) who advises and guides the client through the relevant legal procedure or litigation.[20]



Some honorific suffixes to signify notable barristers may be Esquire.[21][22][not in citation given] Even though the term "barrister-at-law" is sometimes seen, and was once very common, it has never been formally correct in England and Wales. Barrister is the only correct nomenclature.[23]

Northern Ireland[edit]


Those barristers who are not QCs are called Junior Counsel and are styled "BL" or "Barrister-at-Law". The term "junior" is often misleading since many members of the Junior Bar are experienced barristers with considerable expertise.






Main article: Advocate



Crown dependencies & UK Overseas Territories[edit]

Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey[edit]



Gibraltar is a British Overseas Territory boasting a legal profession based on the common law. The legal profession includes both barristers and solicitors with most barristers also acting as solicitors. Admission and Disciplinary matters in Gibraltar are dealt with by the Bar Council of Gibraltar and the Supreme Court of Gibraltar. In order for Barristers and/or Solicitors to be admitted as a practising lawyer in Gibraltar they must comply with the Supreme Court Act 1930 as amended by the Supreme Court Amendment Act 2015 which requires, amongst other things, for all newly admitted lawyers as of the 1 July 2015 to undertake a year's course in Gibraltar Law at the University of Gibraltar. Solicitors also have right of audience in Gibraltar's courts.

Popular culture[edit]

See also[edit]


  1. ^ Isabelle Parasram. "Interview with an employment barrister". ShenSmith Barristers. 
  3. ^ "Clementi report". 2009-11-06. Retrieved 2012-03-12. 
  4. ^ Sunil Rupasinha, road traffic barrister. "Client Access to Barristers". ShenSmith Barristers. 
  5. ^ "Practice Direction" (PDF). Retrieved 2012-03-12. 
  8. ^ London: Waterlow Publishers Limited, 1986 (foreword by Sir David Napley)
  10. ^ "". Retrieved 2012-03-12. 
  13. ^ § 78 of the Zivilprozessordnung.
  15. ^ "Afschaffing procuraat per 1 September 2008 definitief". Nederlandse Orde van Advocaten. 22 August 2008. Retrieved 2012-01-04. 
  16. ^ "Students lock Bar Council". Retrieved 28 February 2015. 
  17. ^ Qualification details of English Bar,
  18. ^ Public Access Directory of The Bar Council Archived December 29, 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  19. ^ Archived March 22, 2010 at the Wayback Machine
  20. ^ Isabelle Parasram. "Employment Law Barrister". ShenSmith Barristers. 

Further reading[edit]

  • Levack, Brian. The civil lawyers (Oxford 1973)
  • Prest, Wilfrid. The Inns of Court (1972)

External links[edit]


UK and Ireland[edit]