Can any of our jurisprudence or Anglophile members explain the Brit system? Mrs M-11 and I watch a lot of BBC murder, mayhem programs and don't understand the concept of getting a lawyer/solicitor to represent you with a 'brief' who then represents you in court. But the brief is part of a 'chambers' from which both prosecution and defense may come. Other than creating more wealth, why? Really, we'd like to understand the system. Thanks

I'm not sure this helps, but let me give it a try.

In the US, any lawyer can research, draft or go into court and argue. The Brits generally specialize in either going into court and arguing or doing everything else a lawyer does. I don't know if its a class thing; some US lawyers specialize in one or the other side of the job as well.

For what its worth, the Brits have a longer and richer history of private prosecutions (as opposed to leaving prosecutions to the District Attorney's office) than we do in the US. Having said that, it's not impossible to have a private lawyer handle a criminal prosecution in the US.

In the UK, lawyers work out of "chambers" - it's a holdover from the day when every one of them were independent and they all rented "chambers" to work out of in places like the Inns of Court at the Temple in London. Another lawyer in the same chambers would be someone a lawyer knew and trusted well enough to recommend. Since they were independent, though, lawyers on both sides of a case might be working out of the same chambers. Nowadays they might be not only working out of the same set of offices but be working for what is the same law firm or partnership.

Here, lawyers work out of offices. Lawyers on both sides of a case may actually work for the same law firm provided the clients on both sides are aware of it and consent, and provided there are appropriate guarantees that the lawyers will hide their clients' information from each other. There's some tendency to get away from this in order to protect the clients and the courts have been likely to impose all kinds of restrictions for the same purpose, but it's certainly within the realm of possibility. This is particularly true in a highly specialized field like admiralty law or where one particular firm has developed a collective track record of expertise.

Ultimately lawyers tend to do things in much the same way around the world. Minor procedural details may differ, who handles what aspect of a case may differ, and the terminology will almost certainly differ, but the broad trends in methodology and outcomes tend to be roughly the same. This is more true between countries like the US and the UK, but also tends to be true between the US and, say, Germany or France.

Thank you, sir. Send me your bill!

Here's a little different summary...

http://www.ultimatelawguide.co...or-vs-barrister.html

-Rob

what shows are you watching?

wife and I watch a lot of UK shows via netflix etc,

Luther
River
Broadchurch

are our favorite police/murder/whatever type shows,

Wire in the Blood was excellent as well, but freaked the wife out a bit, she did not watch much of it

quote:

Originally posted by Il Cattivo:

Here, lawyers work out of offices. Lawyers on both sides of a case may actually work for the same law firm provided the clients on both sides are aware of it and consent, and provided there are appropriate guarantees that the lawyers will hide their clients' information from each other. There's some tendency to get away from this in order to protect the clients and the courts have been likely to impose all kinds of restrictions for the same purpose, but it's certainly within the realm of possibility.

I suppose you can't rule out lawyers from a single firm working on the same case, but it is so rare and so discouraged as to make practically impossible in the real world. In litigation, I think it is actually impossible.

I would never, ever risk it. Even if both clients consented, which would also be necessary. That is a live hand grenade, living on four the entire limitations period on malpractice claims.

quote:

Originally posted by lyman:
what shows are you watching?

wife and I watch a lot of UK shows via netflix etc,

Luther
River
Broadchurch

are our favorite police/murder/whatever type shows,

Wire in the Blood was excellent as well, but freaked the wife out a bit, she did not watch much of it

The Brief
Rumpole of the Bailey
and a briefcase load of others!

What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?