Last week I gave the President’s Oxford lecture at the Saïd Business School. It was a great privilege to be able to address a very distinguished audience on the long-term future of our profession. I felt compelled to ask what implications the freedom of barristers and solicitors to practise together in partnership, under the new regulatory regime, might have for the future development of these two great, separate pillars of the English and Welsh legal system.

There are already 62 mixed solicitor/barrister practices providing advocacy services in courts and tribunals where a member or employee of a practice has rights of audience. Is the profession looking at fission or fusion?

It is worth noting that the barrister/solicitor division, which was originally based on higher court advocacy being reserved to barristers and the conduct of litigation (and some other non-contentious legal services) to solicitors, is unknown in the civil law world and increasingly anomalous in today's common law world, surviving in a handful of jurisdictions internationally. Solicitors in England and Wales have gained higher court advocacy rights, removing one of the key functional planks supporting the division of the profession by two separate titles.

Therefore, in the short to medium term, I expect to see more barristers practising in SRA-regulated entities, and more higher and lower court advocacy undertaken by the barristers and solicitor-advocates of the firm conducting the litigation. It is not unreasonable to expect to see more barristers undertaking their pupillages in such practices, and joining such a practice could be a more attractive way for an aspiring advocate to start his or her career than embarking on a pupillage in a set of chambers. It may also be useful to consider a common postgraduate training course, and for the period of prequalification experience of practice to have the capacity to prepare an aspirant lawyer for either profession. For mixed barrister/solicitor practices, this would seem eminently sensible.

I assume, however, that the two separate professional titles of barrister and solicitor will survive for the foreseeable future, if only because there is no strong current of opinion in favour of fusion. I also discussed how effective the twin innovations of the Legal Services Act, in the structure of regulation and the ownership and management of law firms, would be in preserving professional independence and standards. I concluded that there are sufficient safeguards in the act to be able to say that it can perform satisfactorily, but the behaviour of the regulators needs to be kept under close scrutiny, to ensure that the independence of the legal profession is not compromised. I emphasised how important it was that this should prove to be the case, in order not to damage the international standing of solicitors.

New Advocacy Section

I was joined by the lord chief justice, the master of the rolls, president of the Queen’s Bench Division and Lord McNally to launch the Law Society’s new advocacy section last week. The advocacy section is designed to provide solicitor-advocates with the necessary advocacy training, support and continuing professional development, and was heartily endorsed by the lord chief justice, the Crown Prosecution Service and the Solicitors Association of Higher Court Advocates.

Solicitors have acted as advocates in the magistrates’ courts and county courts for over a century. The ability of solicitors to gain higher court rights is much newer. I believe this was an important development, both for the profession and in widening the choice for the clients we exist to serve. I think it is one of the best things to happen to our profession in the 35 years I have been in practice, even though I have never sought higher court rights myself. However, like all professionals, solicitor-advocates must constantly renew their knowledge and skills. It is imperative that all solicitor-advocates are equipped with the necessary skills and confidence to appear on behalf of their clients in the courts.

We recognised the importance of supporting solicitor-advocates to achieve this and worked with them to design a service that would help our colleagues meet all of the challenges they face.

During our consultation, solicitor-advocates were clear that they wanted a ‘fifth inn’ that provided the sort of training, support and networking opportunities that barristers received. I believe that the Law Society’s new advocacy section will help meet those needs, maximise solicitor-advocates’ potential and enhance their career opportunities.

We also intend this service to create a platform whereby solicitor-advocates can collectively raise their profile and achieve an increased impact with the media, regulators, government, training providers and other stakeholders, and gain the full confidence of the judiciary. As I argued in my lecture at Saïd Business School, my vision of the future is that more and more of the advocacy undertaken by barristers, especially at the junior bar, will be undertaken be SRA-regulated legal practices, with the independent bar becoming weighted towards the more senior end of the spectrum, and with an increase in the appointment of solicitor QCs. I believe that the launch of the Law Society’s new advocacy section is a really positive first step towards that.

John Wotton is president of the Law Society