Lawyers: directory of firms

The two branches do different work. A solicitor is retained directly by you. They run the matter day to day, correspond with the other side, gather evidence, draft documents and often appear in tribunals and lower courts. A barrister is self-employed, works from chambers alongside other barristers, and is briefed for advocacy, for a written opinion on a hard point, or to act as a mediator or arbitrator.

Senior counsel, known informally as silks, are barristers recognised for sustained skill as advocates and advisers; they tend to be briefed on complex or high-stakes matters. Chambers usually have a clerk who manages diaries and fields enquiries, which is why solicitors ring a clerk rather than the barrister when they want availability.

In New South Wales a barrister may in some circumstances accept work directly from a person who is not a lawyer, which the Bar Association calls a direct access brief. Separate rules govern a barrister who takes fees in advance under that arrangement, including a dedicated trust money account and an annual external examination.

Under section 174 of the Legal Profession Uniform Law, a law practice must give most clients a written costs disclosure soon after it is engaged. It has to contain a genuine and reasonable estimate of the total legal costs, explain how costs will be calculated and that the basis can be negotiated, state that you are entitled to a bill and can ask for an itemised one, and tell you that you can take a costs dispute to the regulator. On a complex matter the estimate can be given stage by stage instead of as a single figure.

The duty does not end with the first letter. If the matter changes significantly, the practice must issue an updated disclosure in writing and check that you understand it. Before a litigation settlement is finalised you must be given an estimate of the costs you will have to pay, including any costs payable to another party.

There are teeth behind it. If a practice fails to disclose properly, its costs agreement is void and it cannot pursue the costs until they have been assessed or the regulator has determined the dispute. Smaller matters below a threshold set under the Uniform Law, and commercial or government clients, sit outside the disclosure requirement.

Each state and territory has a legal aid commission. They run duty lawyer services at court, give free advice on common problems, and grant funded representation in serious matters subject to means and merit tests. Community legal centres cover narrower areas, often tenancy, family violence, employment and social security, and are usually free.

A private practice charges you but chooses its own work, can act on any matter and can move quickly. Many people use both: legal aid or a community legal centre for the first advice, then a private lawyer once they know what the problem is worth and whether it is worth fighting.

Complaints go to the regulator where the lawyer practises, not to a national body. In New South Wales the Office of the NSW Legal Services Commissioner receives all complaints about lawyers. In Victoria it is the Victorian Legal Services Board and Commissioner, in Western Australia the Legal Practice Board, and in Queensland the Legal Services Commission.

Complaints divide broadly into consumer matters, which include disputes about costs and poor service, and disciplinary matters about a practitioner's conduct. Raise it with the practice first and put it in writing: many problems are a costs misunderstanding or a communication failure, and a regulator will usually ask what you did to resolve it directly.

Engaging in legal practice without a current practising certificate is unlawful, and regulators investigate people who do it. That is why a title search agent, a settlement clerk or a paid advocate is not a substitute for a lawyer once the question turns on rights rather than paperwork.

The boundary is drawn by subject matter. In Victoria, for example, a licensed conveyancer who is not a lawyer may prepare a transfer or a mortgage as part of a conveyancing transaction but may not start legal proceedings, apply for a grant of probate or letters of administration, prepare a testamentary instrument, create or vary a trust, or give investment or financial advice.