Lawyer registers compared: solicitors, barristers, state bars and law societies

Registers at a glance

England and Wales: two registers

The legal profession in England and Wales has separate regulators. The SRA describes its Solicitors Register as the definitive impartial source of information about the law firms and people it regulates ¹. The GOV.UK Regulated Professions Register lists the solicitor profession as licensed, with the SRA as primary regulator and the Law Society as an additional regulator ⁶. It lists reserved activities under section 12 of the Legal Services Act 2007, including the conduct of litigation and probate activities ⁶.

The SRA register uses its own labels. A firm marked conditions apply is one whose work the SRA restricts, and the restrictions appear in the firm's record under disciplinary decisions ². A person marked prohibited may not practise as a solicitor or work in an SRA-regulated firm ². The register includes Registered European Lawyers and Registered Foreign Lawyers, whom the SRA regulates ².

Barristers are on a different list. The Barristers' Register shows practising status, the legal services a barrister provides and whether they have been the subject of disciplinary findings ³. Disbarred or unregistered barristers with a current finding appear under a separate sanctioned non-practising tab ³. The BSB notes that updates can take up to an hour to show ³.

United States: state by state

In the US, the State Bar of California keeps the roll for California. Its status definitions show that out-of-state attorneys need a separate registration, such as Registered In-House Counsel, for limited practice there ⁴. California publishes status definitions for its licensee search ⁴. An active licensee may practise. An inactive licensee chose that status voluntarily and can return to active status after paying fees and completing any required fingerprinting ⁴.

A licensee shown as not eligible may not practise law in California. The State Bar gives suspension, involuntary inactive enrolment and unpaid fees as possible reasons ⁴. Disbarred means the California Supreme Court has ordered that the person may not practise. Resigned means the court accepted a resignation, with or without disciplinary charges pending ⁴.

Canada: provincial law societies

In Ontario, lawyers and paralegals are licensed by the Law Society of Ontario. The Law Society of Ontario says its directory can be used to confirm a legal professional is licensed in Ontario and to find contact and status information ⁵. Ontario licenses paralegals as well as lawyers, so the directory covers both ⁵.

Holding out and false titles

Using a lawyer's title without the licence can be a crime. Section 21 of the Solicitors Act 1974 makes it an offence for an unqualified person to wilfully pretend to be a solicitor or to use any name or title implying that they are qualified to act as one ⁷. The penalty on summary conviction is a fine not exceeding level 4 on the standard scale ⁷.

In other countries, check the body named on the lawyer's practising certificate or letterhead, then search that body's own register. A lawyer licensed in one place is not automatically licensed in another, as the separate rolls above show ^4,5.