Solicitors are lawyers, who prepare deeds, manage cases, instruct counsel in the superior courts, and act as advocates in the inferior courts. Their full title is Solicitors of the Supreme Court, and since 1st November 1875 the class includes attorneys, solicitors, and proctors at law. They are deemed officers of court, and the court exercises special jurisdiction over them, committing to prison such of their number as are guilty of misconduct, and in extreme cases 'striking them off the roll'—i.e. erasing their name from the official list of solicitors and so preventing them from practising. Action is now taken on the motion of the Incorporated Law Society, and after a preliminary investigation by that body, which also keeps the roll (Solicitors Act, 1888). Before a person is admitted a solicitor he must be articled to a practising solicitor for a term of five years (reduced to three years in certain cases). He must pass one general (preliminary) and two legal (intermediate and final) examinations. He must also pay about £120 in stamp fees. Solicitors in good practice also require a premium (often as much as £600) from each of their articled clerks. After admission a solicitor must take out an annual certificate enabling him to practise. He must pay for this from £3 to £9 annually; a solicitor of five years' standing may become a barrister on giving one year's notice, passing two legal examinations, and paying certain fees. Penalties are provided for unqualified persons acting as solicitors, and for qualified persons allowing them the use of their name.
Retainer and Authority.—A solicitor is employed by a Retainer (q.v.), which ought to be in writing to avoid after disputes. The exact authority differs in each cause, but includes power to compromise the dispute. If once employed in an action he has authority to manage it to the end. He is liable to his client for gross or crass negligence; he may often, but not always, protect himself by taking (and following) the advice of counsel. A solicitor is not allowed to make a gain for himself (save the ordinary profits of his profession) at his client's expense, so transactions between them, as sales of property, &c., are very narrowly looked into, nor can he generally take a gift from his client. He cannot be a justice of peace in the county where he practises. He has no right of audience in the supreme court save in bankruptcy matters, and that only before the judge in bankruptcy or a divisional court of Queen's Bench. He has certain privileges. Thus, he cannot be made liable for statements honestly made by him as an advocate, and he cannot be forced to reveal written or oral communications made to him by his clients. He is privileged from arrest whilst attending the courts, but this is now of little importance, for it does not extend to punitive attachment.
Remuneration.—The remuneration of solicitors is carefully provided for by various statutes, but often in practice much less than the allowed rate is accepted and much more is exacted. The Solicitors Act, 1876, allows a solicitor to make an agreement in writing for a lump sum or otherwise in lieu of the regular fees. The agreement must be in writing signed by both parties to be binding on the client, but a verbal agreement is binding on the solicitor. The amount agreed on is not payable till the agreement has been examined and approved of by the taxing-master, nor can any action be brought on it. It is enforced by motion before or petition to the proper court. These provisions apply to contentious business. The Solicitors' Remuneration Act, 1881, provides, as regards non-contentious matters, that solicitor and client may agree as to any mode of remuneration. The agreement must be in writing and signed by the party bound by it; it may be enforced by action, and reviewed under any order for taxation. A solicitor winning a case is entitled to two sets of costs—(a) those between party and party; and (b) those between solicitor and client (extra-judicial expenses in the terminology of Scots law). The first are usually taxed as a matter of course; the other may be taxed on application of either party. A solicitor cannot sue (but may counter-claim) for his costs till one month after he has delivered a signed bill, and except under special circumstances taxation will not be ordered twelve months after delivery of bill. The costs of taxation are paid by the solicitor when more than one-sixth is struck off his charges; if less, the expense falls on the client (see FEES).
Solicitors' Lien.—A solicitor has at common law a twofold lien: (1) a general lien on all deeds and papers which have come to him in his professional capacity—but this merely gives him a right of retention till his claims are satisfied; (2) a particular lien (made more effectual by the Solicitors Act, 1860) on property recovered or preserved by his exertions. It may be actively enforced by means of a charging order, which the court will grant him on such property. Collusive agreements between the parties to deprive him of his rights will be set aside. He is not, however, allowed to retain papers so as to prejudice the trial of an action. He must give them up to be held subject to his lien. In Ireland the law is practically the same on this subject as in England.
Scots Law.—In Scotland the term solicitor is so extensively used as almost to have superseded the old designation of writer. The legal expression is Law-agent. This includes Writers to the Signet, Solicitors before the Supreme Courts, and Procurators in the sheriff courts. They must have served five years as indentured apprentices to a law-agent, have passed examinations in law and general knowledge, and been admitted by the Court of Session. Writers to the Signet, &c. have still certain privileges not here necessary to be discussed. In all cases stamp-duties are paid on admission. Law-agents have a preference, in the nature of hypothec, over expenses of process, and also a right, similar to solicitors' lien, to retain property in their hands.
See Cordery's Law Relating to Solicitors; Begg, On Law Agents; and E. B. V. Christian, A Short History of Solicitors (1897).