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A sole practitioner or solo practitioner is a professional, such as a lawyer or an architect, who practices independently. For instance a sole practitioner's law firm may include non-lawyer support personnel but does not include any other lawyers. [1]
In UK, a sole practitioner usually refers to either;
SRA regulated sole practitioners do not include the following lawyers, who may also work alone or as a sole lawyer with an organisation:
The above lawyers may also practice law and provide legal services alone subject to their specific regulators requirements, rules and any authorisation processes. For example, CILEx publish guidance and rules that apply to qualified Legal Executives who provide legal services alone. [8]
A sole practitioner would most likely be a sole trader under UK law, meaning that the lawyer is self-employed and would run the business as an individual, paying income tax on profits. [9]
As of 25 May 2016, solicitor sole practitioners are regulated under rule 10 of the SRA's handbook, which provides that subject to specific exceptions, regulated lawyers cannot set up their own law practice and provide legal services as a sole practitioner unless they have applied for and gained authorisation to do so from the SRA. [10]
Authorised sole practitioner law practices, known as "recognised sole practices" are recognised and authorised separately by the SRA from regulated Partnership and Company legal service structures. [11]
Sole practitioners in the U.K. are required to provide information on their website and on their engagement letters which clearly identifies who authorises and regulates their service, and their authorisation or professional identification number which can be checked with their regulator. [12]
American Institute of Architects survey found that sole practitioners make up approximately 30% of their membership. [13] The 2020 EntreArchitect Community survey showed 41% of respondents were sole practitioners. [14]
Unlike architecturally educated employees in larger architectural firms, sole practitioner architects usually must hold current registration to practice architecture within their jurisdiction (indeed often to use the term architect itself). [15]
Sole practitioner architects face many unique challenges in their professional environment, such as additional practice management, limited ability to work on larger projects, limited time to deliver projects, lower salary than large firm senior staff and limited opportunity for collaborative work. [16] As result, many sole practitioner architects are members of variety of networking groups that enable professional networking, exchange of information, sharing of expertise and direct cooperation between members. Internationally sole practitioner architects are represented by the International Small Practice Architects Association. [17]
A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching the philosophy, hypothesis and history of law, and giving expert legal opinions.
A solicitor is a legal practitioner who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally-defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and enabled to practise there as such. For example, in England and Wales a solicitor is admitted to practise under the provisions of the Solicitors Act 1974. With some exceptions, practising solicitors must possess a practising certificate. There are many more solicitors than barristers in England; they undertake the general aspects of giving legal advice and conducting legal proceedings.
A paralegal is the professional of legal science that performs procedures autonomously or semi autonomously, as part of a legal assistance system, and performs tasks that require understanding of the legislation for its proper execution. They also work in support or assist professionals related to the legal area of a consultative or judicial litigation nature. Its labor market is broad, including consultancies, companies that have legal departments or that perform legislation compliance activities such as: environmental, labor, controlled products, product registration, trademarks and patents, tax, bidding, among others. Legal offices and public bodies also have many paralegals in support activities although they do not yet use the correct name of the profession.
Legal ethics are principles of conduct that members of the legal profession are expected to observe in their practice. They are an outgrowth of the development of the legal profession itself.
In the United Kingdom, only an authorised or licensed insolvency practitioner (IP) may be appointed in relation to formal insolvency procedures.
The Legal Practice Course (LPC) – also known as the Postgraduate Diploma in Legal Practice – is a postgraduate course, the final educational stage for becoming a solicitor in England and Wales. The course is designed to provide a bridge between academic study and training in a law firm. It is a one-year, full-time course, and tuition fees range from £8,000-£17,300 a year. A small proportion of students may have their fees and some living expenses paid for by future employers under a training contract.
Legal executives are a form of trained legal professional in certain jurisdictions. They often specialise in a particular area of law. The training that a Legal Executive undertakes usually includes both vocational training and academic qualifications.
A licensed conveyancer is a specialist legal professional in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia or South Africa who has been trained to deal with all aspects of property law.
The Chartered Institute of Legal Executives (CILEx) is the professional body for Chartered Legal Executives in England and Wales and an examination board providing qualifications for Chartered Legal Executives, paralegals and legal secretaries.
An admission to practice law is acquired when a lawyer receives a license to practice law. In jurisdictions with two types of lawyer, as with barristers and solicitors, barristers must gain admission to the bar whereas for solicitors there are distinct practising certificates.
Solicitor advocate is a hybrid status which allows a solicitor in the United Kingdom and Hong Kong to represent clients in higher courts in proceedings that were traditionally reserved for barristers. The status does not exist in most other common law jurisdictions where, for the most part, all solicitors have rights of audience in higher courts.
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) is the regulatory body for solicitors in England and Wales.
In England and Wales, a claims management company is a business that offers claims management services to the public. Claims management services consist of advice or services in respect of claims for compensation, restitution, repayment or any other remedy for loss or damage, or in respect of some other obligation. Claims management services cover litigation, or claims under regulation schemes or voluntary arrangements.
Burges Salmon LLP is a law firm based in Bristol, England.
Harbottle & Lewis is a law firm based in London, United Kingdom which advises clients across the media, communications and entertainment industries.
The Courts and Legal Services Act 1990 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed the legal profession and courts of England and Wales. The Act was the culmination of a series of reports and reforms that started with the Benson Commission in the 1970s, and significantly changed the way that the legal profession and court system worked.
The Authorised Conveyancing Practitioners Board is the regulatory organisation and professional association for authorised conveyancers in the United Kingdom. Created in 1990 by the Courts and Legal Services Act 1990, the Practitioners Board oversees authorised conveyancers in the United Kingdom, advising the Lord Chancellor on conveyancing matters, regulating authorised conveyancers and preventing the creation of conveyancing monopolies like those that existed before the 1990 act.
Qualified Lawyers Transfer Scheme (QLTS) is a series of tests for the license to practice as solicitor in England and Wales designed for foreign licensed attorneys. QLTS supplants the Qualified Lawyers Transfer Test (QLTT). The QLTS system was designed to increase the number of recognised foreign jurisdictions for the examinations. These changes have opened up the English legal market to qualified lawyers from places as diverse as Korea, Japan and Russia.
The legal services sector of the United Kingdom is a significant part of the national economy; it had a total output of £22.6 billion in 2013, up from 10.6 billion in 2001, and is equivalent to 1.6% of the country's gross domestic product for that year. The sector has a trade surplus is £3.1 billion in 2013 and directly employees 316,000 people, two-thirds of whom are located outside London. The UK is the world's most international market for legal services. It allows virtually unrestricted access for foreign firms, resulting in over 200 foreign law firms with offices in London and other cities in the UK. Around half of these are US firms, with the remainder mainly from Europe, Australia and Canada. The UK legal market has a strong global position due to the popularity of English law. Some 27% of the world's 320 legal jurisdictions use English Common law.
Nwabueze Jaja Wachuku Nwokolo, a royal princess of Ngwaland, is a Nigerian United Kingdom based lawyer who is council member at Law Society of England and Wales; including being a director and board chair of Great Britain's BSN: Black Solicitors Network, the largest membership organisation of its kind in Europe. Nwokolo is a member of Law Society of England and Wales' Minority Ethnic Concerns Group. Also, she sits on the RAB: Regulatory Affairs Board of the Law Society.