In "A Fish called Wanda" (my only exposure to the British legal
system) the criminal seemed to have both a barrister and a lawyer.  Up
to that point, I thought a barrister was just a fancy lawyer.  What's
the actual difference?

Hi baerana-ga,

You have asked an interesting question. 

"Lawyer" is a term used to describe someone who has completed a
Bachelor of Law and post-graduate legal training (Practical) that is
employed to give advice, information and representation of a legal
nature. Lawyers, like doctors, often have specialist knowledge in
specific areas. For example, some operate in the Family Court; others
represent businesses in a civil court and some work in the area of
crime.

Definition from International Law Dictionary:
A lawyer is person who practices law; one who conducts lawsuits for
clients (also known as a barrister in England) or who advises clients
as to their legal rights and obligations in other matters (also known
as a solicitor in England).

Barristers are defined as "a legal practitioner (a lawyer) whose main
function is to act as an advocate in court". In short, a barrister is
a lawyer who is a member of the Inns of Court and who can practice
before the courts. They often have less interaction with clients than
solicitors. Barristers spend their working hours in Chambers where
they prepare their cases.


Source:
http://www.victimsa.org/articles/article002.html
http://www.lawnetworks.co.uk/barrister_home_page.htm
http://august1.com/pubs/dict/l.htm#lawyer

Search Strategies:
difference barrister lawyer
defination barrister 
defination lawyer

Hope this helps. Feel free to ask for any clarifications, if you have
any.

Regards
onlinexpert-ga

The answer from the expert wasn't very helpful, but the first comment was excelent!

The English legal profession (and that of a number of Commonwealth
countries whose legal system derives directly from the English one)
has two categories of qualified lawyer: barristers and solicitors.

A solicitor is entitled to represent a client in the County (Civil)
Courts and in Magistrates' Court (a lower court in the English court
system). They are also the main legal representation for the majority
of people and companies in England and Wales: if you were buying or
selling a house you would engage a solicitor to carry out the
necessary legal niceties; a solicitor could assist and advise in
will-making; and they may also initiate private prosecutions or assist
clients against either public or private prosecutions.

A barrister is a legal professional who is qualified to represent
clients in Crown Court or the Higher Courts -- they can be considered
roughly analagous to American "advocacy lawyers". Much of their
training and abilities will lie in the courtroom skills of
cross-examination and rapid thinking. Regardless of whether they
represent the prosecution or the defence, a barrister never deals
directly with his or her clients -- instead they will be briefed on
the facts of the case by the client's solicitor, although they are
free to allow the courtroom proceedings to carry on as they see fit.

The reason for this split between courtroom advocates and other
lawyers is (as with most things in the UK legal systems) to do with
the unique history of England and Great Britain. The origins date way
back to the feudal Norman French system introduced from the 11th
Century.

The academic and training route to each of these two main branches of
law differs, as do the professional bodies that oversee them. To
become a solicitor a law graduate must first study a Legal Practice
Course and then spend two years in practice working as a trainee (this
used to be called "taking articles"). The professional body that
regulates these courses is the Law Society. To become a barrister the
route after graduation is to follow a Bar Vocational Course followed
by a Pupillage in a firm of barristers (known as Barristers'
Chambers), and this side of the profession is controlled by the Bar
Council. The systems are constantly under review and reform, and there
are certain moves currently underfoot which would somewhat blur the
distinction between these two groups of legal professionals.

To summarise: in England and Wales the term "lawyer" is a catch-all
meaning simply "one who is qualified in the legal profession"
(although it would rarely, if ever, be applied to judges or
magistrates). Both barristers and solicitors could call themselves
lawyers; however the two professions have very different skills and
jurisdictions.

Obviously this is only a very brief introduction to what is a very
detailed subject. There is a wealth of information on the web if a
more in-depth discussion is required.

Regards
iaint-ga


Some further useful links:

The British Council's brief guide to the UK legal systems (useful for
prospective students):
http://www.britishcouncil.org/governance/jusrig/uklaw/routes/

An introduction to the English legal system for non-lawyers and
international visitors:
http://www.niknicol.co.uk/English/english.html

UK Legal, a useful site for all kinds of information about the UK's
criminal justice systems:
http://www.uklegal.com/uklegal.htm

The Law Society of England and Wales
http://www.lawsoc.org.uk/

The Bar Council
http://www.barcouncil.org.uk/


Search strategy

Much of this comes from personal knowledge, but to ensure I got the
facts right the following Google searches were performed:

barristers solicitors (on www.google.co.uk with the "Search pages from
the UK" option selected)
"english legal system"
british justice system barristers solicitors

For $4.50 I thought the paid  researcher did a great job. One star was
a mean -spirited response on questioners part in my opinion.  Keep up
the good work "onlineexpert"

In simple terms, "lawyer" is generic to include solicitors and
barristers. A solicitor is a legally qualified jack of all trades;
court work, buying and selling houses, company contracts etc. A
barrister is someone legally trained who specialises in appearing in
court, usually for the most serious matters, murder trials, high
profile libel cases etc.

I didn't think that onlinexpert-ga gave a complete answer and a much
more complete answer was given by iaint-ga.

Access to a barrister has to be via a solicitor!  The client can't go
directly to the barrister and the barrister is employed by the
solicitor (the client pays the fees though which is billed by the
solicitors!).

The barrister offers an opinion on the merits of the case and is more
learned in points of law and precedence (previous case law).  There
are various degrees of barristers and QC (Queen's Council) appear in
the highest Court.

Although barristers represent the client in Court, I believe that
British law has been relaxed to also allow a solicitor to represent
their client in Court (happened to me).

I've used solicitors and barristers in the past and would be happy to
research more detail for you.

Regards.