Who Does What: How Barristers, Solicitors and Legal Executives Work Together on a Case
Three different professionals can all call themselves lawyers in England and Wales, but understanding who actually does what helps you make sense of your bill and your case.
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Three professions, one system
Anyone dealing with a legal matter in England and Wales may end up working with more than one type of lawyer without quite understanding why. A solicitor takes your instructions, a barrister turns up to argue in court, and somewhere in the background a legal executive might be doing much of the actual casework. This isn’t duplication. Each profession has a distinct regulatory home, a distinct training route and, in practice, a distinct role on a case. Knowing the difference helps explain why a bill is structured the way it is, and why you’re sometimes introduced to someone new partway through a matter.
The solicitor as case manager
Solicitors are usually the first point of contact. They are regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), and their role is typically to manage the whole relationship with the client: taking instructions, gathering evidence, handling correspondence, negotiating, drafting documents and deciding strategy. For most disputes and transactions, a solicitor runs the file from start to finish.
Solicitors can also appear in court themselves, particularly in the lower courts and tribunals, and many obtain higher rights of audience that let them appear in the higher courts too. But for complex or high-value litigation, a solicitor will often bring in a barrister for specialist advocacy or advice, while remaining the client’s main contact throughout.
The barrister as specialist advocate and adviser
Barristers are regulated by the Bar Standards Board (BSB) and typically work as sole practitioners organised into chambers, sharing premises and administrative support rather than practising as a firm in the way solicitors do. Their traditional role is advocacy: presenting a case in court, cross-examining witnesses and making legal arguments before a judge. They are also often brought in earlier, to give a written opinion on the merits of a case, the right strategy, or the strength of evidence, drawing on a narrower specialism than a solicitor typically holds.
Historically, clients could only reach a barrister through a solicitor, who would “instruct” counsel on the client’s behalf. That’s still the normal route for complex cases, but many barristers can now also be instructed directly by members of the public or businesses under the Bar Council’s direct access scheme, cutting out the need for a solicitor in some more straightforward matters. Where direct access isn’t suitable, say the case needs extensive evidence-gathering or ongoing case management, a solicitor remains the better entry point.
The legal executive as qualified specialist
Chartered Legal Executives, regulated by CILEX Regulation, are qualified lawyers who specialise in a particular area of law, such as conveyancing, probate, family law or litigation, rather than training across a broad general curriculum before specialising later, as solicitors traditionally have. A Chartered Legal Executive can run their own caseload, give legal advice, and in some areas has rights of audience in court, though these are narrower than a solicitor’s.
Legal executives often work inside the same firms as solicitors, handling high volumes of a specific type of work. On a single file, it is common for a legal executive to do much of the day-to-day casework in their area of specialism, with a solicitor supervising or taking over for more complex elements. This division of labour is also one of the reasons firms are able to offer different pricing tiers: a legal executive’s time is frequently billed at a lower hourly rate than a solicitor’s, reflecting a narrower (though no less professional) scope of qualification.
Why the division matters in practice
For a client, the practical upshot is this: the professional you first contact is not necessarily the one doing most of the work, nor the one who ends up on their feet in court. A conveyancing matter might be run almost entirely by a legal executive. A commercial dispute might start with a solicitor, involve a legal executive handling disclosure, and bring in a barrister only for a final hearing. Understanding this division helps make sense of itemised costs, explains why you might meet several people over the life of one matter, and clarifies who to contact with which kind of question: the solicitor or legal executive for day-to-day progress, the barrister for a specific point of advocacy or opinion.
Checking who you’re dealing with
All three professions are subject to public registers. The SRA, the Bar Standards Board and CILEX Regulation each maintain searchable databases confirming whether someone is currently authorised to practise and whether any disciplinary history is recorded. Checking the register is a sensible step before engaging any legal professional, and it is free to do.
Key takeaway
The underlying question isn’t which profession is “better”, it’s which role is needed at each stage of a matter. Solicitors coordinate and manage, barristers bring specialist advocacy and opinion, and legal executives bring focused expertise in a defined area. Most cases of any complexity involve more than one, and that’s by design rather than inefficiency.