Merging of the Legal Professions

... down to the fact that if the professions were to merge it is potentially the barristers who would be worse off than they are currently.

The negative implications for barristers would firstly be that there is no distinction between barristers and solicitors and therefore they would both have equivalent amounts of advocacy and paperwork and would be of equal status. In the current system the ratio of lawyers to clients is 2:1 but if there was a merger they ratio would be 1:1 hence creating more competition for employment. This extra competition may also force lawyers to reduce their rates and as a result they would not make as much money. At the moment there a fewer solicitors who have gained rights of audience in higher courts than there are barristers, therefore barristers can charge however much they like as they have a monopoly on the profession. It is clear that barristers have vested interests as they would most certainly loose out if the professions were to fuse.

The amalgamation of the two legal professions would have major repercussions and there are coherent arguments both for and against it. The most significant advantage for the general public is that it would be considerably cheaper; instead of having to pay for both a solicitor and a barrister, clients would only have to pay fees for one lawyer. Michael Zander demonstrates this concept well, "To have one taxi metre running is less expensive than to have two or three." Expenses for the Legal Aid fund would be dramatically reduced by £1m per year, as suggested by the Legal Aid Scrutiny Report. Solicitors would benefit as they would earn more then they do currently but barrister´s earnings would most definitely fall, which would obviously be a disadvantage for them.

In the present system the client cannot directly contact or choose their barrister, it is done on their behalf by their solicitor. This means that the client rarely has any knowledge about the abilities and skill of their barrister. An advantage of fusion would be that clients are able to choose barristers themselves and do not have to make do with the one they would otherwis ...