What is a Lawyer?

The title "Lawyer" is reserved for those who have achieved the special status of membership of the "legal profession. It is not a straightforward matter, since many people perform legal tasks even though they rae not lawyers. For example, accountants may specialise in revenue law, trade union officials may appear regualrly before employment tribunals on behalf of their members, and solicitors may delegate work to legal executives and other para-legals. Conversely, many of the tasks performed by lawyers are not strictly "legal". Membership of the legal profession in England and Wales involves qualification as either a barrister or a solicitor. It is usual to speak of two branches of he profession, although historically it si more accurate to speak of two professions.

It is significant that it is accepted that lawyers are members of a "profession". Much has been written about the supposedly distinctive attributes of professions, and how and why occupational group seek such status. Medicine and law have been regarded as classic models, although there are important differences between them. A particularly significant difference is that, in medicine, discipline and representation of the profession lie with very different bodies, whereas the Bar Council, for barristers, and the Law Society, for solicitors, exercise both functions increasingly uneasily. The Office of Fair Trading has recently considered what is a profession and some of the consequences which may flow from professional recognition in a challenging statement:

The professions are entrusted with the delivery of services of considerable public importance. They work within a framework of law, but within that framework their governing bodies have imporant degrees of freedom to control rights to enter and practise the relevant profession. The exercies of these powers can have a significant impact on the economy, on the interest of consumers, and on society generally, especially where the professions concerned have exclusive rights to supply certain services. Restrictions on supply in the case of professional services, just as with other goods and services, will tend to drive up costs and prices, limit access and choice and cause customers to receive poorer value for money than they would under properly competitive conditions. Such restrictions will tend also to inhibit innovation in the supply of services, again to the ultimate detriment of the public.

Restrictions may be justified under competition law if they are in the public interest, if they serve economic progress, if the benefits are shared with consumers and if the restrictions do not go further than is necessary or eliminate competition. However, where they go beyond those boundaries, it is important that the competition authorities should be able to take action to free the forces of competition.

The Royal Commission on Legal Services had recognized... extracted from Smith, Bailey, & Gunn: page 139-140