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Solicitor

Solicitor

Level 7 - Professional Occupation

Progressing legal matters and transactions, applying legal knowledge and commercial judgement to produce solutions which meet clients' needs.

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Summary

This occupation is found in law firms (private practice), central or local government, legal departments within organisations (in-house), the Crown Prosecution Service and law centres

The broad purpose of the occupation is to represent and defend the rights and interests of clients and provide advice and assistance to clients on a range of legal matters. Depending on the area of law and the type of organisation they chose to work in in this can include:

• Giving expert advice on legal transactions such as buying and selling property or making a will

• Representing clients in civil and criminal proceedings

• Assisting clients to understand or enforce the legal rights and obligations which arise in a particular transaction or agreement, for example in an insurance contract or an employment contract

• Ensuring individual rights are protected and they are treated fairly

• Advising businesses on commercial matters and transactions

A solicitor’s work can be divided into contentious an non-contentious legal work. Contentious work concerns resolving disputes, usually in a court or tribunal. Non-contentious legal work deals with the legal aspects of a client’s business or a personal matter, for example managing a company merger, or making a will.

In their daily work, an employee in this occupation interacts with the general public, clients, government agencies and other organisations such as the Courts Service, Police depending on their areas of practice. They may work in a large team and supervise others workloads and as a line manager. They may work in a small firm with little or no supervisory requirements.

An employee in this occupation will be responsible for leading and resolving legal matters and transactions working within the legal, professional and ethical frameworks administered by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA)

Typical job titles include:

Banking solicitor
Catastrophic injury solicitor
Charity solicitor
Civil liberties solicitor
Civil litigation solicitor
Clinical negligence solicitor
Competition law solicitor
Corporate tax solicitor
Criminal solicitor
Dispute resolution solicitor
Employment solicitor
Family solicitor
Immigration solicitor
Insolvency solicitor
Private client solicitor
Property litigation solicitor
Public law solicitor
Real estate solicitor
Residential property solicitor
Social welfare law solicitor
Tax solicitor
Environmental solicitoreco

Keywords:

Accounting
Client
Finance
Judge
Law
Law Agent
Legal
Legal Services
Solictor

Knowledge, skills and behaviours (KSBs)

K1: Core legal principles and rules to practise effectively as set out in the Solicitors Regulation Authority Statements of Functioning Legal Knowledge. This includes for example property law, contract law, criminal law, business law and special rules relating to property transactions, criminal proceedings and the resolution of disputes in proceedings relating to contract disputes and negligence claims.
K2: Solicitors Regulation Authority Standards and Regulations, Principles and Code of Conduct.
K3: Approaches to effective questioning and active listening.
K4: Approaches to legal research including identifying relevant sources, analysing, assessing information and identifying evidence gaps.
K5: Approaches to interpreting and evaluating information.
K6: Approaches to recording and presenting information accurately and clearly.
K7: Approaches to developing options, strategies and solutions.
K8: Approaches to identifying the client including their commercial and personal circumstances, needs, objectives, priorities and constraints.
K9: Approaches to developing and providing advice informed by appropriate and factual legal analysis.
K10: Principles of drafting documents from scratch and using precedents which address all legal and factual issues, complying with all formalities and using clear, accurate and succinct language.
K11: The requirements for effective spoken and written advocacy in court and outside of formal court hearings.
K12: Approaches to negotiation.
K13: Principles of workflow and case management, for example, case management systems and software packages.
K14: Principles of risk assessment.

S1: Obtain relevant facts by effective questioning and active listening.
S2: Find, analyse, and assess documents to extract relevant information including recognising when additional information is needed , interpreting and evaluating information obtained, recording and presenting information accurately and clearly.
S3: Recognise when legal research is needed and use appropriate methods and resources including identifying, finding and assessing the relevance of sources of law, interpreting, evaluating and applying research results, recording and presenting findings of research accurately and clearly.
S4: Develop strategies and solutions including an understanding of a client’s commercial and personal circumstances, their needs, objectives, priorities and constraints.
S5: Provide advice which is informed by appropriate and factual legal analysis and identifying the consequences of different options.
S6: Draft documents from scratch and use precedents which address all legal and factual issues, complying with all formalities and using clear, accurate and succinct language.
S7: Undertake effective spoken and written advocacy in court and outside of formal court hearings including: effective preparation by identifying and mastering relevant facts and legal principles, organize facts to support an argument or position, present a reasoned argument in a clear, logical, succinct persuasive way, make appropriate references to legal authority, comply with formalities, deal with witnesses appropriately, respond effectively to questions or opposing arguments, identify strengths and weaknesses from different parties’ perspectives.
S8: Negotiate solutions to clients’ issues including: identify all parties’ interests, objectives and limits, developing and formulating best options for meeting parties’ objectives, presenting options for compromises persuasively, responding to options presented by the other side, developing compromises between options or parties.
S9: Plan and manage legal cases and transactions including applying relevant processes and procedures to progress matters effectively, assessing, communicating and managing risk, bringing a transaction or case to a conclusion.

B1: Ethics - Act honestly and with integrity, in accordance with the law and the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s Standards and Regulations, Principles and the Code of Conduct including considering the principles of equity, diversity and inclusion.
B2: Professionalism and Judgement - Maintain the level of competence and legal knowledge needed to practise effectively, taking into account changes in their role or practice context and developments in the law and working within the limits of their competence and the supervision which they need, drawing on a detailed knowledge and understanding of their field(s) of work in order to practise effectively.

Duties

Duty D1

progress legal matters and transactions.

Duty D2

apply legal knowledge and commercial judgement to produce solutions which meet clients' needs and address their commercial or personal circumstances.

Duty D3

undertake research on legal matters.

Duty D4

interview and advise clients and stakeholders on legal matters and transactions.

Duty D5

advocate and negotiate on behalf of clients on legal matters and transactions.

Duty D6

draft and review legal documents.

Duty D7

communicate complex concepts to technical and non-technical audiences using a range of tools and approaches.

Duty D8

establish and maintain effective and professional relationships with clients and other stakeholders.

Duty D9

manage workloads and prioritise work effectively to meet timelines.

Occupational Progression

This occupational progression map shows technical occupations that have transferable knowledge and skills.

In this map, the focused occupation is highlighted in yellow. The arrows indicate where transferable knowledge and skills exist between two occupations. This map shows some of the strongest progression links between the focused occupation and other occupations.

It is anticipated that individuals would be required to undertake further learning or training to progress to and from occupations. To find out more about an occupation featured in the progression map, including the learning options available, click the occupation.

Progression decisions have been reached by comparing the knowledge and skills statements between occupational standards, combined with individualised learner movement data.

Technical Occupations

Levels 2-3

Higher Technical Occupations

Levels 4-5

Professional Occupations

Levels 6-7

Progression link into focused occupation.
This is the focused occupation.

Legal, finance and accounting