Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 18.pdf/480

 THE LONDON COURTS neither his junior or his august leader ap pear, he may even close to the jury. The solicitor will be white with rage and chagrin, wondering how he shall explain to the liti gant the absence of the counsel whose fees he has paid, but the devil may win and so please the solicitor that next time he may himself be briefed as junior. This is one of the things he has read of in the lives of the Lord Chancellors. The devil is in no sense an employee or personal associate of the junior — which might look like partnership, a thing so ab horrent as not to be permitted. On the con trary, he often has his own chambers and may always himself at any time be retained as a junior, in which event his business takes precedence of his duties as a devil. He then describes himself as being "on his own." Therefore a solicitor's clients are the actual litigants while a barrister's are ex clusively solicitors. They are not his col leagues. When he speaks of his clients, he means solicitors only. He can never be consulted nor retained by the litigants themselves. He never goes beyond his dingy chambers in the Inns of Court, where, guarded by his faithful clerk, he either wearily waits for solicitors with their briefs and fees, or, more likely, gives it up and goes fishing, shooting, or hunting. And this furnishes the market for the alluring pla cards one sees in the Inns of Court; "Name up and letters forwarded for £5 per annum." But if success awaits him, then there lies before him great pecuniary rewards, fame, and perhaps a judgeship, or possibly an attorney-generalship, both of which, unlike their prototypes in America, mean very high compensation, to say nothing of the honor and usually accompanying title. Ordinary judges are paid £5000, the Lords of Appeal £6000, the Chief Justice £8000, and the Lord Chancellor £10,000. The Solicitor General's salary is £6000 with fees amounting to about £4000, while the Attorney General has a salary of £7000 fees of about £6000.

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The solicitor, on the contrary, is a busi ness man, not thinking of fame nor worry ing because he cannot become Attorney General or a Judge. His mind is intent upon the pounds, shillings, and pence of his calling. He may seek business, which the barrister cannot do. He is something of a banker and often a promoter. Some solicit ors, especially at Liverpool, are admiralty men, others are adepts in corporation or ganization and litigation and there are many other specialties; some are of the highest grade — particularly those employed by big companies or by families with large estates. The great solicitors of London are capital lawyers, have enormous businesses, requiring a staff like a modern bank, and enjoy handsome incomes, besides being men of much importance. Other solicitors are of a much lower class and seek business of a more or less disreputable character by devious methods. All, however, are edu cated as lawyers, have passed strict exam inations, and are amenable to a severe dis cipline for questionable practices. Solicitors often becomes barristers — sometimes eminent ones, for they have had an opportunity to study other barristers' methods and have acquired a knowledge of affairs. Of course they must first retire as solicitors and enter one of the Inns for study. The late Lord Chief Justice of England began his career as an Irish Solicitor. And it is quite usual, as part of the training of a young barrister, to put him in a solicitor's office for a year. But the old, broad lines persist; gentle men's sons enter the Army, Navy, Church, or Bar — i.e., become barristers — and this does not include becoming solicitors. It would be a mistake, however, to con clude that the Bar is an aristocratic body. On the contrary, some of its greatest orna ments are self-made men of the humblest origin. The best names of England are to be found, side by side, with quite unknown ones, and with East Indians, South Africans, Hebrews, Dutchmen, and what not — all on