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Barrister

A lawyer that restricts his or her practice to the court room; a litigation specialist.

A litigation specialist; a lawyer that restricts to, or includes within, his or her practice, the court room and trial, or who makes Court appearances on behalf of his/her clients (such as the Canadian fella who writes this website, info pictured).

Also known as a trial lawyer.

barrister business cardIn England and some other Commonwealth jurisdictions, a legal distinction is made between barristers and solicitors, the latter with exclusive privileges of advising clients, providing legal advice, and the former with exclusive privileges of appearing in a court on behalf of a client. In other words, solicitors don’t appear in court on a client’s behalf and barristers don’t give legal advice to clients.

Rober the BarristerIn England, barristers and solicitors work as a team: the solicitor would typically make the first contact with a client and if the issue cannot be resolved and proceeds to trial, the solicitor would transfer the case to a barrister for the duration of the litigation.

Lawyers in some states, such as Canada, sometimes use the title "barrister and solicitor" even though, contrary to England, there is no legal distinction between the advising and litigating roles.

Canadian lawyers can litigate or give legal advice, as is the case in the USA, where lawyers are referred to as "attorneys."


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Unless otherwise noted, this article was written by Lloyd Duhaime, Barrister, Solicitor, Attorney and Lawyer (and Notary Public!). It is not intended to be legal advice and you would be foolhardy to rely on it in respect to any specific situation you or an acquaintance may be facing. In addition, the law changes rapidly and sometimes with little notice so from time to time, an article may not be up to date. Therefore, this is merely legal information designed to educate the reader. If you have a real situation, this information will serve as a good springboard to get legal advice from a lawyer.

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