SOLICITOR, in England, an officer of the Supreme Court of Judicature qualified to conduct legal proceedings for his clients: see also ATTORNEY. It seems that until 1873 there was a dis tinction between the terms "solicitor" and "attorney." Solici tors appear to have been at first distinguished from attorneys as not having the attorney's power to bind their principals; subse quently the distinction was between attorneys as agents in actions at law, and solicitors in chancery. In practice, however, the terms were synonymous, for it was usual for attorneys to be admitted as solicitors also. The Judicature Act 1873 enacted that all per sons admitted as solicitors, attorneys or proctors of an English court should thenceforth be called solicitors of the Supreme Court.
Every person, before he can become a duly qualified solicitor, must serve an apprenticeship or clerkship to a practising solicitor for a term of years varying from three to five. Since 1922 he has been required during one of those years to attend a law school provided or approved by the Law Society (long known as the Incorporated Law Society). Service under articles therefore combines academic training with practical experience. The clerk must pass all the necessary examinations, he must be duly ad mitted, and must take out an annual certificate to practise. The organization of the profession is in the hands of the Law Society. Established 1827, and succeeding a society dating back to 1739, it was incorporated in 1831. The Solicitors Act 1922 transferred to the Law Society disciplinary powers long exercised by the courts. Its Discipline Committee may, after inquiry, strike off the roll or suspend from practice solicitors convicted of crime or found guilty of professional misconduct. In conjunction with the provincial law societies it has taken over the organization of the voluntary services of solicitors in the conduct of poor persons' cases. Apart from its judicial and administrative authority the Law Society has frequently exercised powerful influence by the attitude which it has taken towards proposed legislation. Mem bership of the society, which is not compulsory, is open to any duly qualified practising solicitor.
No person can be admitted as a solicitor unless he is a British subject, and has attained the age of 21 years. Though admitted
as a solicitor and his name entered on the roll, he is not at liberty to practise until he has taken out his annual certificate, the fee for which is larger for London than for country practitioners. The disqualification of women to become solicitors ceased in 1919.
Solicitors now have a right to practise in any court, i.e., in every division of the High Court, in every inferior court, in the ecclesias tical courts (see PROCTORS), in the court of appeal, in the Privy Council and in the House of Lords. Their right of audience, however, is restricted. They may appear as advocates in most of the inferior courts, as before justices, magistrates, coroners, and county courts. They have no right of audience, however, in the High Court of Justice (except in certain bankruptcy matters), nor in the Privy Council or House of Lords, where, from time immemorial, the right has pertained to the bar; but they have right of audience in chambers.
Solicitors have for more than two centuries done all kinds of conveyancing, which, at one time, was claimed to be the exculsive business of the bar and scriveners. The Conveyancing Act 1881 having made changes in the practice of conveyancing, the re muneration of solicitors was placed upon a new basis by an order which provided scales of fees based on the amount involved in the transaction, not, as was generally the case before, simply on the length of the documents perused or prepared.
All communications which pass between a solicitor and his cli ent are privileged ; so also is any information or document which he has obtained in his professional capacity on behalf of his client. The relation of solicitor and client disqualifies the former from dealing with his client on his own behalf, while it gives him a lien for his professional charges, over the deeds, etc., of the client in his possession. A solicitor's remuneration is minutely arranged by statute. He has no power of recovering more from his client than his statutory charges, and he is liable to be sued for damages for negligence in his client's behalf. Certain personal privileges belong to a solicitor. He is free from serving on juries, nor need he, against his will, serve as a mayor, sheriff, overseer or churchwarden.