Solicitor, an officer of the Supreme Court of Judicature, who, and who only, is entitled to 'sue out any writ or process, or commence, carry on, solicit, or defend any action, suit or other proceeding' in any Court whatever (see (English) Solicitors Act, 1932, s. 45). 'Solicitor of the Supreme Court' was the title given by the (English) Judicature Act, 1843, s. 87, to all attorneys, solicitors, and proctors, and continued by (English) Solicitors Act 1932, s. 81. Prior to that Act, 'attorneys' conducted business in the Common Law Courts, 'solicitors' business in the Court of Chancery and 'proctors' ecclesiastical and Admiralty business; but it was the general practice, although any person might be admitted to practise as an attorney or solicitor only, to be admitted to practise as an attorney and solicitor also.
Solicitors practise as advocates before magistrates at petty sessions and quarter sessions where there is no bar, in County Courts, at Arbitrations, at Judges' Chambers, Coroners' Inquests, Under Sheriffs' and Secondaries' Courts, and in the Court of Bankruptcy. the Law Society is Registrar of Solicitors, and regulates the examinations.
The (English) Solicitors Act, 1932 (22 & 23 Geo. 5, c. 37), has now consolidated the (English) Solicitors Acts, 1839 to 1928, and other enactments relating to solicitors of the Supreme Court. see Cht. Stat., tit. 'Solicitors.'
No person may act as a solicitor unless admitted and enrolled (see ss. 3, 43 and 45). Before admission he must have been bound by a contract in writing ('articles') to serve as a clerk ('articled clerk') to a solicitor, and have passed certain examinations (see s. 14). The period of service as an articled clerk is five years, unless the articled clerk has been a barrister or a Scotch solicitor, or has passed certain examinations or taken certain degrees at certain universities, when the period may be reduced to three or four years (see Schedule I.). a practising solicitor must take out an annual certificate (see ss. 36 to 43). The Lw Society may refuse to renew the certificate of a solicitor who is an undischarged bankrupt (see s. 38).
No solicitor may have more than two articled clerks at one time (s. 17), nor any after discontinuing business (s. 18), although solicitors being in partnership may have two each [Ex parte Bayley, (1829) 9 B&C 691], and there may be a binding to a firm, which operates as a binding to each member of it [Re Holland, (1872) LR 7 QB 297]. If the solicitor become bankrupt, etc., the Articles may be discharged or assigned to another person by the High Court (s. 24), and if the solicitor die or leave off practice, or the Articles be cancelled by mutual, consent, fresh Articles may be entered into with another solicitor (s. 13). The clerk may not engage in any other employment without the consent in writing of the solicitor, and the sanction of a judge of the High Court (s. 21). The Articles must be produced to the Registrar after execution. This should be done within six months (s. 16).
Examinations of persons intending to become solicitors are held as fixed by ss. 26 to 39, as amended by the 1936 Act, ss. 6, 7, and the regulations of the Law Society under s. 26. They are three in number--the preliminary, the intermediate, and the final examination. The preliminary is held in each of the months of February, July, and October; the intermediate and final in each of the months of March, June, and November. As to conditions of exemption from the preliminary examination, see s. 28. Barristers of not less than five years' standing having been disbarred, and having obtained certificates of fitness from two benchers, are exempted from the intermediate examination (s. 34).
A solicitor is exempted from various offices requiring personal service, and cannot be compelled to serve on juries. [(English) Juries Act, 1870 (33 & 34 Vict. c. 77), s. 9]
A solicitor is liable to his client for negligence, and may be struck off the Roll for misconduct. S. 45 makes provision for penalties for wrongfully acting as a solicitor and s. 46 for prosecuting in a summary way any person not having in force a practising certificate who wilfully pretends to be a solicitor (see 1934 Act, infra). A solicitor cannot sue for (although he may set off) (see Brown v. Tibbetts, 11 CBNS 855) his bill of costs until one month after its delivery in the manner prescribed by s. 65. He has a general lien for his costs on the papers of his clients [Re Rapid Road Transit Co., (1909) 1 Ch 96). As to charging order for costs, see s. 69. Communications made to him in his professional character by a client are privileged; but the privilege is that of the client, not of the solicitor. Transactions between a solicitor and his client are subject to special scrutiny by the Hubbard, 1923 AC 673.
S. 59 enacts that the remuneration of solicitors in contentious business may be fixed by agreement, and a client who so agrees cannot recover [s. 60 (1) (i)] from another party any more costs than what he has agreed to pay his own solicitor. See, however, Gundry v. Sainsbury, (1910) 1 KB 99. The taking by a solicitor from his client of security for payment of his remuneration in contentious and non-contentious business is provided for by s 63 (2) and s. 56 (6), respectively. The taxing officer may, in determining the remuneration to be allowed to the solicitor for his services, allow additional remuneration for diligence in non-contentious business (Remuneration Order, 1882, Ord. VII.) and costs on the higher scale for particular items in non-contentious work (R.S.C. Ord. LXV., r. 10). The cost to be allowed to solicitors in contentious business in the Supreme Court are regulated by R.S.C., Ord. LXV. Rr. 8-27; in County Courts, by the County Court Rules, Ord. LIII., and Schedule thereto of Court fee and costs (see Annual County Courts Practice, 1934, Part II.). The remuneration of solicitors in conveyancing and non-contentious business is in general governed by 'the Solicitors Remuneration Order,' 1882, with reference to (inter alia) the amount of money to which the business relates, and the skill, labour, and responsibility involved therein on the part of the solicitor. The order of 1882 has been amended by the Remuneration Orders of 1919, 1920, 1925, 1926, 1932 and 1934. Part V. of the Act deals with the remuneration of solicitors. See also the Annual Practice, Part IV., Division III. Ss. 1 and 2 place the custody of the 'Roll of Solicitors' in the Law Society as Registrar of Solicitors, and provide that such Roll is to be open to public inspection without any fee. S. 16 provides for the registration of Articles of clerkship, and s. 3 for the admission of solicitors by the Master of the Rolls. A Committee of the Law Society investigates charges made against solicitors and may strike offenders off the Roll (ss. R to 8).
The (English) Justices of the Peace Act, 1906, provides by s. 3 (amendment by the Act of 1932) that a solicitor, if otherwise qualified, may be appointed a justice of the peace for any county. But a solicitor who is a justice of the peace for any county may not practise before any justices for that county (see s. 54 of that Act).
As to solicitors ('Law Agents') is Scotland, see the (English) Solicitors (Scotland) Act, 1933 (23 & 24 Geo. 5, c. 21).
As to the admission to the Supreme Court of solicitors of colonial courts, see s. 35.
The (English) Solicitors Act, 1933 (23 & 24 Geo. 5, c. 24), provides for the opening and keeping by solicitors of accounts at banks for clients' money, and the Solicitors Act, 1934 (24 & 25 Geo. 5, c. 45), prohibits bodies corporate from purporting to act as solicitors.
The (English) Solicitors Act, 1934 (24 & 25 Geo. 5, c. 45), passed as a result of the decision in Law Society v. United Services Bureau, (1934) 1 KB 343, which decided that 'person' in the 1932 Act meant natural person, so a corporate body could not commit the offence of pretending to be a solicitor under the 1932 Act, s. 46. Now, by the 1934 Act, bodies corporate are prohibited from purporting to act as solicitors on penalty on summary conviction of a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds.
The (English) Solicitors Act, 1936 (26 Geo. 5 & 1 Edw. 8, c. 35), makes certain amendments to the 192 Act. By s. 1 a solicitor is to practise five years before taking an articled clerk; (s. 2) evidence of character and suitability to be furnished by persons entering into articles; (s. 4) fee payable on registration of Articles is increased to twenty shillings; (s. 5) the Law Society has power to discharge articles in certain cases. Ss. 6 and 7 make amendments as regards examinations. Ss. 9 et seq. deal with registrars' grant of practising certificate and also proceedings before disciplinary committee, etc.
And see, further, INCORPORATED LAW SOCIETY; OFFICIAL SOLICITOR; CHARGING ORDER; COSTS; and Cordery on Solicitors; and the Annual Practice; Part IV., Division III, Solicitors.