LAD/PD Went to London, 2005
Mary LaRue, CP, Member, District 16,
El Paso
In April of 2005, a group of members of the Paralegal Division of the State Bar of Texas traveled to London, England for a week to learn about the British legal/governmental system and to take in some of the sights. It was an unforgettable experience for all those who went. The purpose of this report is to share some of what we learned and some of what we experienced while we were there.
Part One: The English Legal System
Even though the British legal system is the direct ancestor of our American legal system, and we are both Common Law countries, there are quite a few differences. Some of the most significant of those differences are:
* Constitutional Law: Both countries have an area of law known as Constitutional Law, but the particulars are quite different. While we in this country often refer to our Constitution as a “living document”, in England it really is living because their Constitution is people: the Parliament together with the Monarch. England has no written constitution. The Acts of Parliament, signed by the Monarch, and the centuries of custom, tradition and precedent that underlie them, are their Constitution. Unlike as happened in this country, where a group of people got together at one time and place and created our Constitution as a blueprint for how our system of government would be structured and run from that time on, the English system grew, developed and evolved over many centuries to become what it is today.
* Legal/Governmental Structure and Administration: Unlike in this country, there is no State/Federal split as we are so used to here. All English law is national law. The English court system does have the familiar lower, intermediate, and upper tiers as in this country. They also have the civil law/criminal law split that we are familiar with. The Law Lords (there are currently 15 of them) in the House of Lords are the court of last resort for criminal and civil cases. The Law Lords are roughly equivalent to our U.S. Supreme Court.
They do have juries, but only for criminal cases. Civil cases are decided by Judges, who take a very active role in trials, even questioning the witnesses and debating points of law and procedure in open court with the attorneys.
Again, since all English law is national law and they have no states as we do, there is nothing like our state legislatures and state supreme courts in England. Each county in England has local county courts and other types of courts, so that many matters can be handled locally. Finally, England, being part of Europe, (Though many Brits are reluctant to acknowledge it!) also has the European Community and all the laws and regulations that go along with it, as a part of what practitioners in its legal system often deal with.
Court decisions are reported in books called reporters just as they are here, and sometimes reported in newspapers. The Times of London often devotes a page or two to significant decisions and reports them in detail for the public to read.
Of course, two of the biggest differences between England and us are the fact that they still have a monarch, currently Elizabeth II, and that they have a parliamentary system of government, wherein the political party that wins the most seats in the Parliament is the party that runs the government until the next election. British subjects do not vote for Prime Minister as we vote for President – they vote for their local representatives who will sit in the Parliament in London, and the head of the party who wins the most seats in Parliament is invited by the Monarch to become his or her Prime Minister. The Monarch has little real power in England today, but does serve as a symbol of the nation and all the courts in England display the Royal Court of Arms above the Bench and justice is carried out in the Monarch’s name.
* The Legal Professions: You’ve probably heard about the fact that attorneys in England are either solicitors or barristers, but you may not be familiar with the difference. We learned that solicitors are the branch of the profession that has contact with the public. If you have a legal problem in England, you seek out a solicitor, never a barrister. If the solicitor determines that your case will involve civil trial or criminal proceedings, he or she will hire a barrister for that. Otherwise, the solicitor will handle all aspects of your case. This split in the profession goes back at least 500 years, although it was in the 18th century that the split really became entrenched. There is some, but not much, switching between being a barrister and a solicitor.
As in this country, solicitors and barristers must graduate from law school after they obtain their undergraduate degree and are licensed by the government. Practicing law without a license is illegal, as it is here. Attorneys there are largely self-regulated. The solicitors are all members of the Law Society, headquartered in London. The Barristers are all members of one of four Inns of Court – the Inner Temple, the Middle Temple, Lincoln’s Inn and Grey’s Inn – all also in London. These legal societies are a centuries-old part of the legal profession in England that doesn’t really have much of an equivalent in this country. These societies are part of the regulation of practicing attorneys and the education and supervision of new attorneys. There is more about the Law Society and the Inns of Court below in Part Two of this report. Solicitors and barristers are not turned loose to hang up a shingle right after they graduate from law school as they are here. They must spend at least a year or two being trained and supervised before they are allowed to go out on their own. And yes, barristers and judges still wear wigs (even the women) and black robes in court.
There are paralegals in England. They are called Legal Executives, although we found the term paralegal familiar to everyone we met who worked in the legal professions. The daily tasks of paralegals in England appeared to be quite similar to what we do: legal research, discovery, document and file management and client contact. Paralegals in England work in the private sector and the public sector just as in this country. They work for solicitors and for barristers. There are several websites that offer a wealth of information about paralegals in England. Just type “paralegals in the UK” or “Legal Executives” into your search engine for more information.
Their legal vocabulary is much the same as ours, with some interesting differences: trial notebooks are called “bundles, judges are addressed as “Your Lordship” and we learned to our surprise that the term “lawyer” is a broader, more general term in England, meaning people who work in the legal professions. Imagine our consternation the first time we were introduced as “a group of lawyers from America!”
Part Two: Sightseeing and Meeting People
Space does not permit a full description of everything we saw and everyone we met, but here are some of the highlights: We had the pleasure of entering the Royal Courts of Justice and “the Old Bailey” to watch a civil trial and a criminal trial. We were honored to meet with His Lordship Justice Newman in his chambers at the Royal Courts of Justice.
And we had the honor to be hosted for lunch at Middle Temple Hall, which is private and not normally open to anyone but barristers who belong to the Honorable Society of the Middle Temple. At Middle Temple Hall we were served a delicious luncheon upon the dais at the “high table” which was a gift to the Middle Templars from Elizabeth I in the mid-1500s, who reportedly enjoyed very much her visits to the Hall. Near the Hall is the round church (“the Temple”) built by the Knights Templar in the 12th century. Also near the Hall is the Temple Garden with its red and white roses that is the setting for Act II, Scene IV in Shakespeare’s “Henry VI” about the beginning of the long conflict known as the War of the Roses. We also got to enter the Law Society building and were treated to their hospitality as well.
And we got to see many of London’s famous sites such as Westminster Abbey, the oldest part of which was built almost 1000 years ago. Westminster Abbey is a beautiful and history-rich site. The Kings and Queens of England are crowned there and many of them are buried there, as are English notables such as Geoffrey Chaucer, Charles Dickens and many others. It is amazing to see and touch so many centuries of history in one place. London is filled with beautiful, historic churches, including Christopher Wren’s St. Paul’s Cathedral, which was built after the Great Fire of 1666 cleared much of the city. Near the Royal Courts of Justice you can see and go into some buildings still standing and still being used today that survived that fire.
The Tower of London, the oldest part of which is almost 1000 years old, is the home of the Crown Jewels of England, which are on public display there. It is also the site of the execution of Anne Boleyn, among others, and she lies buried in a chapel there to this day. The Tower is near a still-standing part of the ancient wall of the town of Londinium established by the Romans on the banks of the River Thames almost 2000 years ago.
Although the public is not allowed into Buckingham Palace, we were treated to a wave from the Queen and one of her Ladies in Waiting as they returned to the Palace from a public ceremony on the day we were there to see the Changing of the Guard. Some of us got another glimpse of the Queen and Prince Phillip as they arrived at Westminster Abbey for a memorial service. One would think that the Queen travels with a large security force, but she does not. She typically has, we were told, an escort of only six motorcycle policemen around her car who stop traffic briefly as she passes when she travels out in public for routine ceremonial events. Both the times we saw her, we were only a few hundred feet away from her with little or no security barricades or police between her and us. Quite different than the massive walls of security around our president and other high officials.
Since the national elections were approaching, and the campaign for seats in Parliament was in full swing while we were there, Parliament was closed, so we were not able to go inside the Parliament Building. Around Parliament, with its famous clock tower known as Big Ben, is the area known as Whitehall, the site of many large government buildings and the site of 10 Downing Street, the home of the Prime Minister. The MI5 building was very near our hotel, but needless to say, we did not get to go inside that building at all!
We were taken to the beautiful small city of Oxford outside London to the famous University there, and were able to tour Christ Church College, one of the many colleges that make up the University. Christ Church College was established in the time of Henry VIII. There we saw Christ Church Hall where many scenes in the Harry Potter movies were filmed and where a student known as Lewis Carroll entertained young Alice, the Dean’s daughter, with stories about her large orange cat and other residents of Wonderland.
We also traveled to the village of Windsor, the site of Windsor Castle, one of the royal residences. Her Majesty was home at the time we were there, and we got to watch as a small army of caterers set up tables in one of the unbelievably ornate state rooms for a banquet a few hours off. Also there at Windsor we got to see the chapel where many royals, including Henry VIII and his favorite wife (the one who bore him a son) are buried.
Some of us went to the British Library to see an original of the Magna Carta, and were treated to the sight of the Stamp Act. If you remember your American History classes, you’ll know the Stamp Act and other related Acts of Parliament was the fuse that helped ignite the American Revolution.
Due to the hard work of Norma Hackler and others of the Paralegal Division, and the people of The American Council of International Studies, especially Chris Relton, our Tour Manager, and due to the remarkable generosity of LexisNexis Butterworths, we had the experience of a lifetime in London. Words simply cannot express our gratitude to all those who had a hand in making our trip so special.
Everyone we met was polite and helpful and the City itself, although crowded and bustling, was clean and full of beautiful parks and fascinating historical sites. If you ever have the chance to visit London, do it. You’ll be glad you did. Just don’t forget your umbrella!
Mary K. La Rue, C.P., is a full-time paralegal at John M. Dickey & Associates in El Paso, primarily in the area of civil defense, and a part-time paralegal teacher at El Paso Community College. She is a member of the Paralegal Division of the State Bar of Texas, a member and Board Member of the El Paso Paralegal Association, a member of the National Association of Legal Assistants, and an Associate Member of the El Paso County Bar Association. She can be reached for comment at
mlarue@johnmdickey.com.
[Editor’s Note: Please note that this article was written six weeks prior to the tragic recent events which London has suffered, and Mary has asked that a note be added to this article prior to publication. Our London travelers relied heavily on the public transportation system, during our visit. Having had our own 9/11 tragedies, we can relate to the losses now being suffered in England. Kim Cantu, 2004-2005 PD President, has since received an email from our Lexis/Nexis (parent company Reed Elsevier) sponsors that they have suffered no fatalities in their staff, but some have suffered the trauma of witnessing the events close at hand. Sadly, that same company had two top executives that were passengers in the planes that went down on 9/11 here in the U.S. and was killed. PD sends our London sponsors our best regards and thoughts.]
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