Text: Solicitors and Barristers

Although many kinds of people working in or studying legal affairs are called lawyers, the word really describes a person who has the right to act in certain legal matters. Most countries have different groups of lawyers who each take a particular kind of examination in order to qualify to do particular jobs.

In Japan, a lawyer must decide whether he wants to take the examination to become an attorney, apublic prosecutor or a judge.

In England, the decision is between becoming a barrister or a solicitor. Barristers specialize in arguing cases in front of a judge and have the right to he heard, the right of audience, even in the highest courts. They are not paid directly by clients, but are employed by solicitors. Judges are usually chosen from the most senior barristers, when they are appointed they cannot continue to practice as barristers. Solicitors do much of the preparation for cases which they then hand to barristers, as well as doing legal work which does not come before a court, such as drawing up wills, and dealing with litigation which is settled out of court. Solicitors also have a right of audience in lower courts, but in higher courts, such as the Court of Appeal, they must have a barrister to argue their client's case.

In general, it can be said that a barrister spends most of his time either in a courtroom or preparing his arguments for the court and a solicitor spends most of his time in an office giving advice to clients, making investigations and preparing documents. Many people believe the distinction between barristers and solicitors should be eliminated in England, as has already happened in Australia.

1. Переведите и выучите следующие слова и выражения:

legal affairs/matters; an attorney; a barrister; senior/junior barrister; a solicitor; a judge; to argue a case; the right of audience; court; lower court; higher court; Court of Appeal; to settle a dispute; to eliminate; to employ; a jury; the accused.

2.Найдите в тексте эквиваленты следующих словосочетаний:

Судебные дела, сдать экзамен, приобрести опыт работы, быть специалистом по определенным правовым вопросам, иметь право выступать в суде, иметь дело с…, сохранить, разрешить проблему.

Text:The Legal Profession in Great Britain

The legal profession in England is divided into two main groups, barristers and solicitors. A popular definition of the distinction between solicitors and barristers is that barristers do the court work and solicitors do the office work. In practice, the major volume of court work is done by solicitors and barristers do much “office” work. At present no solicitors, however experienced, may represent a client at a full hearing in any of the higher courts. On the other hand, a barrister, however inexperienced, may represent clients in the House of Lords.

Being a solicitor does not simply involve acquiring knowledge of the theory and practice of the law. It also requires high standards of conduct and an onerous obligation to the courts. The full title of a solicitor is “Solicitor of the Supreme Court”. All solicitors are automatically officers of the court. They have duties to the court which sometimes override the duties to their clients. For instance, solicitors must not knowingly allow their client to tell lies in the witness box. If a client confesses their guilt to a solicitor, the solicitor would be committing an offence if he or she then called the client to give evidence that they were innocent.

 Many barristers, especially junior barristers, spend much of their time on paperwork, giving opinions, drafting pleadings and other documents related to court proceedings, but also drafting contracts, trust deeds, and other formal legal documents which are not immediately connected with litigation.

A person seeking to qualify as a solicitor can become a trainee solicitor after three years of university legal education and one extra year doing the legal practice course. As a trainee solicitor it is possible to obtain a paid position even before qualifying.

The young would-be barrister has much less chance of earning anything before he qualifies, must then obtain a seat in chambers from which he can try to build up a practice, knowing that, times will probably be hard for a few years. He has to meet his own expenses, cover his own holidays and buy his own (very expensive) sick-pay insurance. In return he gets the satisfaction of wearing a wig, and of being self-employed. Doubtless also, being a barrister still sounds a much more glamorous occupation than being a solicitor.

The concept of human rights has existed under several names in Euro­pean thought for many centuries, at least since the time of King John of England. After the king violated a number of ancient laws and customs by which England had been governed, his subjects forced him to sign the Magna Carta, which enumerated a number of what later came to be thought of as human rights. Among them were the right of the church to be free from governmental interference, the rights of all free citizens to own and inherit property and be free from excessive taxes. Magna Carta established princi­ples of due process and equality before the law and it also contained provi­sions forbidding bribery and official misconduct. The political and religious traditions in other parts of the world also proclaimed what have come to be called human rights, calling on rulers to rule justly and compassionately, and delineating limits on their power over the lives, property, and activities of their citizens. In the United States, a bloody war over slavery came close to destroying a country founded only eighty years earlier on the premise that, "all men are created equal."

The women's rights movement succeeded in gaining for many women the right to vote. National liberation movements in many countries suc­ceeded in driving out colonial powers. The modern human rights movement didn't invent any new principles. It was different from what preceded it pri­marily in its explicit rejection of political ideology and partisanship, and its demand that governments everywhere, regardless of ideology, adhere to certain basic principles of human rights in their treatment of their citizens. This appealed to a large group of people, many of whom were politically inactive, not interested in joining a political movement, not ideologically motivated. They were simply outraged that any government dared abuse, imprison, torture, and often kill human beings whose only crime was in be­lieving differently from their government and saying so in public. They took to writing letters to governments and publicising the plights of these people in hopes of persuading or embarrassing abusive governments into better be­haviour.