How does the legal profession work in Australia?
In Australia, the legal profession works accross the nation in professional groups arranged around the supreme courts of each state. This means that lawyers are admitted in the Supreme Court of each state but that they can advise clients nationally as long as they are based in a particular state with professional indemnity insurance and have a valid practicisng certificate in the state concerned. The various states of Australia which have systems of legal professional regulation are New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania and the Nothern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory have their own systems as well. All of these jurisdictions have Supreme Courts which admit lawyers which then allows them to practice in Federal jusrisdiction as well.
What do solicitors do?
There is also the jurisdiction between barristers and solicitors. Most states retain the distinction between barristers and solicitors and some states of Australia have what is called a fused profession where there is no difference. However, generally a barrister is lawyer that specialises in court work by appearing in court cases, advising on litigation and drafting the documents which are used for litigation. A solicitor performs very different duties by advising the client, preparing the case, doing some of the documents and solicitors also do much more than simply litigation. They engage in many other areas of work which are laregly to do with giving advice and doing transactions. These areas of work can be as diverse as drafting contracts and terms and conditions for commercial transactions, to visiting a criminal in jail to advise them on their sentencing case or helping an indigenous group make a claim to land under native title legislation. It is a huge ares of possible work. It is necessary to find a lawyer who specialise particularly in your field of required expertise otherwise, it will be difficult for them to honestly say that they can assist you with the matter. We have solicitors online now available to chat to you. You can also enter your details into the contact form to the right or put a legal question into the bax below for an instant answer.
