Solicitor

A solicitor is a lawyer who traditionally deals with any legal matter including conducting proceedings in court.

In the United Kingdom, a few Australian states, Hong Kong and the Republic of Ireland, the legal profession is split between solicitors and barristers (or, in Scotland, advocates), and a lawyer will usually only hold one title. However, in Canada, New Zealand and most Australian states, the legal profession is now for practical purposes "fused", allowing lawyers to hold the title of "barrister and solicitor" and practice as both. The distinction between barristers and solicitors is, however, retained. Some legal graduates will start off as one and then decide to become the other.