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Solicitor

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Solicitor Career Details

Solicitors give advice and support to clients on legal matters by providing an interpretation and explanation of the law and researching past, similar law cases. They may represent or act for clients by appearing in court, or instructing a barrister/advocate to act for them.

Solicitors deal with a lot of paper work including writing letters, drafting contracts, preparing documents for court and keeping records.

Many solicitors choose to specialise in an area of law, such as:

company and business law - including contract law, tax, export law, employment law, patents,VAT legislation, and acquisition and sale of companies
conveyancing - the legal side of buying/selling businesses and domestic property
litigation - including civil law, debt, landlord/tenant disputes, family law, and breach of contract
probate - drawing up wills, administering estates, acting as property trustees
other specialist areas, including criminal law, personal injury/accident claims, human rights and mediation.

Solicitors can work in a range of sectors, including:

central and local government - advising on how the law affects services provided
Crown Prosecution Service/Procurator Fiscal (Scotland) - deciding whether cases should be prosecuted
private practice - offering a range of legal services to individual and business clients
commercial practice - specialising in a specific field of law, working for companies and organisations
in-house legal advice - dealing solely with an employer's legal affairs.

Working Environment

Solicitors are normally contracted to work 37 hours a week but longer hours are common. They may be on call at weekends and bank holidays. They may attend some evening court sessions.

Solicitors are office- based but travel is involved when visiting clients. Some may spend a large proportion of their time in court.

Solicitor Related Skills

As a solicitor, you should:

be able to assimilate and analyse large amounts of information
be confident and able to communicate with all kinds of people
think logically and pay attention to detail
be able to explain matters clearly, in speech and writing
be able to avoid becoming emotionally involved in distressing cases
cope well when working under pressure
be discreet - a lot of information must be kept confidential
be good with figures for property or financial work.

Solicitor Career Opportunities

Further Career Information

If you would like to know more about a career as an Solicitor related facts, statistics, articles and websites.

Career Steps

Not quite sure about a career as a Solicitor? Try our step-by-step career guide to reaching your chosen career.

Career Courses

Not quite qualified to be a Solicitor? Take a look at Training Solicitor courses, Training Solicitor courses, Postgraduate Solicitor courses, Undergraduate Solicitor courses, Adult learning Solicitor courses, our course browses or use our search form and find courses which will help you on your chosen career path.

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