Posts Tagged ‘legal profession’

Difference Between Solicitors And Barristers

August 19th, 2010

Every country has its own regulation with regards to legal profession. The legal profession in England, New Zealand, Wales Australia and Canada is composed of two different groups which are the Solicitor and the Barrister.

The Solicitors are British lawyers who give legal advice and prepare legal documents and is considered Office Lawyers. Solicitors have served for two years under the management of a practicing Solicitor and meet other demands of the Law Society, which includes educational requirements, and must be admitted to practice. Several common law jurisdictions such as the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Australia and New Zealand excluding US call this type of Lawyers as Solicitors. They are involved in commercial work relating to business such as dealing with commercial transactions, corporate matters, land, share, other property dealings and also litigation.

The Barristers on the other hand are the Courtroom Lawyers who speak in the higher courts of law and who are reserved by Solicitors to advocate in a legal hearing or to render a legal opinion. Barristers are the lawyers who practice out of an office and are often referred to as Chambers. They provide opinions to Solicitors on difficult points of law and appear on court. But Barristers must pass the bar final exams and be admitted to “plead at the bar”, meaning they have been called to the bar and is allowed to appear in court to argue a client’s case. It is required in England that the Barrister has to be taken on by a practicing Barrister for a one-year pupilage which is same as internship. It allows the new Barrister to observe and assist his master in the execution and learn from the experience. The Barristers are easily recognized by their robe and wig which is referred to as the working garb.

What is a Commercial Law Solicitor?

Commercial Law Solicitors are lawyers that engage and specializing in handling cases affecting different business legal issues. Questions involving Tax law, Business Law and Labor Law are some of the issues that may arise out of this daily business activity.

When a person is interested to establish a new business, a Commercial Solicitor will help in determining the validity as well as the procedures one must observe. They can execute the necessary contracts to effectively carry out the business. They can also check the company organization if it complies with the basic rules and regulations and give the list of the necessary license requirements in putting up the business.

On decisions involving business name the Commercial Law Solicitor can discuss the implication of using one’s name in the business. The benefits of having trade name or business name can also be explain by the Solicitor including the conformity requirements that must be observed.

Even in securing the business location, Commercial Solicitor could be the best person around. They can review and draft the contract involving lease agreement, sub-lease agreement or any other agreement a client may want to engage in leasing any business premises.

Information with regard to financial matters like obtaining a bank loan, a mortgage loan or transaction to another company can be explained by the Commercial Law Solicitors. They will help the client to understand the benefits and the legal issue that may arise out of these transactions.

With respect to taxes, Commercial Solicitors will give advice on how to keep taxes to a minimum level. An advice on the insurance requirement to protect the business including the employees may also be explained by the Commercial Solicitor.

Legal obligations in giving products and services are also important matter that Commercial Solicitor can counsel a businessman on the right procedure to observe in compliance with the existing rules and regulations.

On dispute arising from employee-employer relationship the solicitor can also check all the validity of the claims arising from illegal dismissal or any other claims involving work-related problems. Generally a Commercial Law Solicitor acts for business of all trades and sizes.

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Web Marketing For Your Law Firm

April 6th, 2010

When contemplating marketing your law firm on the The web, do you understand precisely what you need to have to have a thriving Web marketing strategy? Many law firms fail to use all the essentials that are critical to successfully marketing your law firm on the Internet.

Website popularity relates to the overall visibility of your law firm website on the Web. Usually there are two means a possible client can find your site: Through a search engine (such as Google, Yahoo or MSN) or via directories and other legal websites. When it comes to the search engines, if your website does not make an appearance on the 1st or 2nd page of the most prevalent search critical phrases used by buyers when their online searching for a lawyer, your website is not going to be discovered. Usually consumers search by inputting in a geographic modifier, along with a practice area and then the word lawyer or attorney. Does your legal website appear at the top of the search engines for those styles of searches? Is your legal website shown in high traffic legal directories? If the answer is no, don’t expect to yield dependable business through the World wide web. A high Internet visibility is the single most crucial part in effectively marketing your legal practice on the Web.

One of the frequently unnoticed but unbelievably necessary aspects in productively marketing your law office on the Net is having a website design that is visually attractive. A customer will normally make a judgment concerning you and your website within three seconds of visiting your law firm website. If the site looks outdated, has text difficult to read, a navigation system that makes it difficult for a customer to locate what they’re searching for, poor color schemes, etc., well you can say goodbye to that visitor to your site. They will leave and go to the next site and now you’ve lost a potential client. It’s vital to have a visually attractive law firm website that is organized in a way that will make it easy for visitors to obtain what they are hunting for. It’s also necessary that your website is designed in a search engine friendly manner, as certain design elements can prevent the search engines from finding significant details on your legal website. Some of these elements include flash, Javascript, the use of frames and other code that can basically make components of your law firm website invisible to the search engines. Having a search engine friendly website design is a must if you want to be able to rank high in the search engines.

It’s not enough to simply have a couple of lines of text talking about your various practice areas. Customers are hunting for information and the more informative your site is to prospects, the more you look like the expert in your field. Your content must be compelling and basically needs to convince a visitor that you are the right law office to handle their legal matter. In addition, the more original content you have on your legal website, the more search terms your law firm website will potentially show up for. Search engines tend to favor sites with plenty of high quality content since those are the types of websites that are commonly most helpful to buyers.

Once a law practice website starts get good traffic, the question then becomes, “What can I do to increase conversion rates of those visitors?” Conversion in this situation is when you get a website visitor to call your office or send a case evaluation request via an email or web form on your website. Certain elements can help increase the conversion rate of your site.

Anything that can help convince a website visitor to contact you will help the conversion strength of your website. For example, a case results page that shows some of the results you’ve achieved for other clients or even a video on your website that tells people with regards to your legal practice and why they should call you. The bottom line is your law office site needs to sell your law law office to your website prospects.

Web analytics is the process of monitoring customer behavior of your law firm website visitors. It’s not enough to simply have a stat counter that tracks the total number of visits to your legal website. Your law firm website needs a web analytics program that can inform you of how many new prospects your website is getting, where those readers are coming from, how long they stay on your legal website, how many pages they are viewing on average, which websites are referring you traffic, which keywords someone typed in to obtain you and much more. Every firm should have a web analytics program installed as it can help you improve the overall performance of your firm’s law office site.

lawyer web marketing on the Internet requires technical skill, creativity, and scientific measurement. Learn how to effectively perform online lawyer web marketing methods.


A Quickguide on How To Become a Solicitor

April 3rd, 2010

Many new law firms in the UK are opening on a daily basis as it expands its dominance in Europe and internationally. The UK’s legal market is already large and is increasing in size on a daily basis. If you are interested in becoming a solicitor in the United Kingdom but do not have a law degree you can still do so. In fact, only about 50% of solicitors actually have a law degree. The rest have non-law degrees and/or transferred from a different career.

For anyone with a non-law degree there is an extra academic step to be taken when compared to those who do a law degree. Non-law students must do a law conversion course in the form of the Graduate Diploma in Law or the Common Professional Exam. This is a one year full-time course, or two year part-time course, which brings non-law students up to a similar knowledge base as those who have studied a law degree.

The Legal Practice Course is the next step in becoming a solicitor, and is the last course that must be completed in the process. It takes most trainee solicitors only a year to finish the Legal Practice Course if they go full time, and only two years if attended part time. It is a course that is used to make sure trainee solicitors have all of the skills needed to be a solicitor in the UK.

Lastly, the two year training contract is the final thing you must do to qualify as a UK solicitor. The training contract contains the Professional Skills Course, which is practice-based training that trainee solicitors must complete successfully. The training contract usually varies in format depending on what size firm trainees are with. Larger firms usually are more structured than smaller firms. A law firm does not have to offer trainee solicitors a training contract, but with experience and good academics trainees can greatly improve their chances of securing one.

Guidelines set by the Law Society state that law firms have to appoint a training principal is responsible for overseeing the work done by trainee solicitors. Training principals are also available to answer any and all questions, give guidance, and give feedback. They also must keep records to ensure trainees meet all of the Law Society’s requirements during their training contract.

Trainee solicitors usually work in different departments at the same firm during their training contracts in order to get a well-rounded experience. Trainees are required by the Law Society to spend time in at least three different departments throughout the course of their contract.

The process to become a solicitor in the UK may soon be changing; the Solicitors Regulation Authority are piloting new work based learning routes which may put an end to training contracts in 2011. These routes will allow paralegals to qualify as a solicitor.

To apply for a training contract, trainee solicitors must either fill out an application form or apply using a CV and covering letter depending on each firm’s preference.

Information and resources for students considering becoming a solicitor. For more information the necessary career path of a solicitor click here: Become a Solicitor.