Trials of strength: The reconfiguration of litigation as a contested terrain

The past 15 years have seen a significant attempt by governments in the United Kingdom to restructure the market for legal services. As a part of this program, in 1992 the English bar finally lost its exclusive jurisdiction over advocacy. Although solicitors could qualify to appear as advocates in the higher courts, few have so done. We explore the perceptions of legal professionals, solicitors, and barristers through a qualitative study. By examining the legal profession as a set of connected but differentiated and competing fields of practice, we show how change resonates with the legal marker. We find that institutional coherence and client service vie with the desire to become complete lawyers in the rationale for solicitor advocacy. The identification of institutional constraints on the pursuit of professional hegemony leads us to qualify the proposition that professionals are motivated purely by economic returns or market dominance.