Lawyers and Law Practice.
223
LAWYERS AND LAW PRACTICE IN ENGLAND AND THE UNITED STATES COMPARED. BY A LAWYER OF BOTH. I. SOME points of comparison or of con trast between law practice in England and in the United States will be of interest to American lawyers. More than twenty years spent in an extensive practice of law in England, and ten years' observation of it in different parts of the United States may entitle the writer to say, " I know whereof I speak," and with that introduction the "ego " of this article ends as well as begins. When we speak of the legal profession in England we must remember that it consists of two branches, which, though interdepend ent and essential to each other, are quite distinct and in many respects dissimilar. In addition to these there are some minor branches of it — " certificated conveyan cers " and " special pleaders not called to the bar " — but these are now so small that we need not stay to notice them here. The two great branches of it are called " the higher " and " the lower." The lower branch is that of the attorney or solicitor. " Solicitor" is now the proper designation, and the word "attorney " is almost discarded; but it will be better to use it in this article, for it is the more ancient and historic, and is better un derstood in the United States. Until the Judicature Act of about thirty years ago "attorney " was the designation of one who practiced at common law, and "solicitor" of one who practiced in chancery. The Ju dicature Act fused common law and chan cery into one " High Court of Judicature," and " solicitor" became the legal, as it 'was the preferred, description of those who con stituted the lower branch of the profession. No one now calls himself, or allows himself to be called, an attorney. The higher branch
is that of the barrister or counsel. Be tween these two branches " is a great gulf fixed, so that they who would pass " from the one to the other cannot, — by which quotation, however, I do not suggest con ditions in other respects like those that were parted by the gulf of the parable. But the gulf is a very real and deep one, and every attempt to bridge or narrow it has been sternly resisted. The higher branch only is called "the bar." No attorney or solicitor is ever spoken of as " a member of the bar." Socially as well as professionally he is the inferior, and language is made to em phasize the distinction. His (the attor ney's) legal rank is that of "gentleman," the barrister's is " esquire," and they are respectively so described in deeds and other legal documents. He is " admitted " to the rolls of the profession, but the barrister is "called to the bar." His place of business is his " office," that of the barrister is his "chambers." He is "employed" by his clients, counsel is "retained"; his re muneration is called his "costs and charges," that of counsel is his " fee." For ig norance or carelessness in the conduct of his cause the attorney is responsible in an action for negligence; counsel is under no such responsibility, however ignorant, or negligent, or careless. The terms " crassa negligentia," and "crassa ignorantia," are inapplicable to " the bar," and are the ex clusive privilege of the lower branch of the profession. The attorney cannot open his lips in any of the superior courts, even to ask for delay until the arrival of counsel, while counsel has audience everywhere, from a police court to the House of Lords.
