A junior barrister is a

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and givin ...

who has not yet attained the rank of

King's Counsel In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel (post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of a queen, is a lawyer (usually a barrister or ...

. Although the term is archaic and not commonly used, junior barristers (or "juniors") can also be referred to as utter barristers derived from "outer barristers" or barristers of the outer bar, in distinction to King's Counsel at the inner bar. They may also be referred to as stuff gownsmen, in contradistinction to the silk gowns worn by King's Counsel (who are therefore also known as "silks"). When students are

called to the bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

in jurisdictions which maintain barristers as a separate profession, they are said to be "called to the Degree of an Utter Barrister..." on their certificate of call. This reflects that in English court rooms King's Counsel sits one row further forward than junior barristers (historically, the

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

sits one row further forward still, although the Attorney General appears so rarely in court in modern times that the convention has largely been abandoned in that respect). Because a relatively small proportion of barristers become King's Counsel, it is quite common for a "junior barrister" to be middle aged. Junior barristers who are over 10 years' call are sometimes referred to as "senior juniors".

Footnotes

Law of the United Kingdom Lawyers by type Barristers and advocates {{UK-law-stub

See also

Footnotes