A solicitor is the lawyer you deal with directly: they advise you, draft documents and handle the day-to-day legal work. A barrister is the specialist who is brought in to argue the case in the higher courts. Think of the solicitor as preparing the case, and the barrister as presenting it.
The core difference
A solicitor advises clients and handles legal paperwork, while a barrister specialises in arguing cases in the higher courts.
- solicitor — advises clients and handles legal paperwork: She hired a solicitor to handle the sale of her house.
- barrister — argues cases in the higher courts: She hired a barrister to represent her case before the High Court.
How to tell them apart
If you have ever bought a house or written a will in the UK, the lawyer you spoke to was almost certainly a solicitor. Solicitors deal with clients face to face, draft contracts, and manage most legal matters that never see a courtroom. When a case does need to go before a judge in a higher court, a solicitor will typically instruct a barrister, who has trained specifically to argue cases and is described as being "called to the bar".
A simple memory hook: solicitor sounds close to "solicit", as in seeking advice or approaching someone directly, which is exactly what you do when you first contact one. Barrister contains "bar", the traditional name for the legal profession admitted to plead in court.
