Court Lawyers may be generally divided into three separate categories:
- Court Solicitors | Attorneys | Advocates
- Barristers | Queen's Counsel | Senior Counsel | Junior Counsel
- Court Agents
Each category plays a distinctive role in the Australian Court system, summarised as follows:
- Court Solicitors (in some States called
"Attorneys") appear as advocates in all Courts, especially in the
"lower" Courts, such as Magistrates and Local Courts.
- Barristers
(either as "Queen's Counsel", "Senior Counsel", "Junior Counsel" or
simply "Counsel") appear as advocates in all Courts, especially in
"superior" Courts, such as Federal, Supreme, District, County and Family
Courts. They usually organise themselves into groups accommodated into Barristers Chambers.
- Court Solicitors also appear in Courts "instructing" or assisting Counsel in particular matters.
- Court Solicitors "brief" or instruct barristers
to advise and appear as Counsel in all Courts, especially in superior
Courts or in the more difficult or complex matters in lower Courts. Barristers
in their role of Counsel normally expect their instructing solicitors
to be present both in Chambers when conferring with clients and in Court
"instructing" or assisting them during the course of a hearing. 1
- Court Agents (in some States called "Town
Agents" or "City Agents") are solicitors who appear as advocates in
Courts on behalf of other practising solicitors, especially in short
matters and on an urgent basis, and in a special relationship of
"principal/agent". 2
- Court Agents also accept full referrals of Court
work from other solicitors in all Courts, especially from solicitors
who normally prefer not to make court appearances themselves.
For further information, read this article Types of Counsel.
1 Any member of the public
wishing to engage a barrister listed in this Directory should first
instruct a solicitor to "brief" or instruct the barrister for the
required court appearance. Alternatively, contact the barrister or
Chamber clerk for further assistance.
2 All Court Solicitors listed in this website accept instructions to act Court Agents.