People working in the legal profession part 4 - solicitors' clerks
^ TOPUnqualified legal professional
There are qualified lawyers apart from barristers and solicitors. An example are legal executives - dealt with next week in part 5 of this series. Solicitors clerks are not qualified lawyers. They are a good illustration though of how non-qualified people can work within legal profession, and sometimes become qualified themselves.
^ TOPRole of a solicitors' clerk
A solicitor's clerk is completely different from a barristers clerk. The barristers clerk has a defined role organising the diary for the barrister and fixing his fees. For more details see the legal profession part 3. The solicitor's clerk is essentially acting as an assistant, although not acting as a qualified fee earner. This is to be contrasted with an articled clerk, which is what trainee solicitors used to be called during their training period after they had passed the professional exams but before they became fully qualified solicitors.
A solicitor's clerk with initiative and drive will always be useful to a firm of solicitors. Those who appear to have the drive and ability to go further may be encouraged to obtain qualifications so as to become a legal executive. However occasionally they may decide to become a solicitor themselves, or possibly a barrister.
^ TOPCareer progression
A solicitor of my acquaintance started as a teenage clerk working at a particular firm. At that stage I was a junior barrister, and this clerk would often be sent along in place of an instructing solicitor. He learned quickly and he learned well. He was also very good with clients. He was enormously valuable to the solicitor who employed him.
However the solicitor thought that these talents could be put to even better use. His employee was allowed time off to obtain a degree part-time. Then professional exams and a training contract, followed by a partnership a little later. In a different firm the clerk might never have been encouraged to go further, but this particular employer wanted the clerk to make the most of his abilities. Fortunately he did.
^ TOPFrom clerk to Judge
Another person who started as a solicitor's clerk at 16 subsequently studied for a law degree and qualified as a barrister. After some success at the Bar, he was appointed as a Circuit Judge. Now he is His Honour Judge X. One of his judgments has recently been referred to in The Times (not because there was anything wrong with it!). He is a good example of how far you can go if you have the ability and determination. He thought about what he wanted to do and how to go about it, not how improbable it seemed that the 16-year-old solicitor's clerk would end up on the bench.
Solicitors clerks will work under the supervision of a qualified solicitor. Don't necessarily therefore feel nervous if a clerk is helping out on your case. You never know, he or she could be a star of the future.