What is the role and what are the functions of a lawyer in a criminal court ?
In the UK, there are two different types of lawyer; a solicitor and a barrister. On the side of the prosecution in a criminal court, the role of the solicitor in the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is to review the evidence which has been given to them by the police and determine whether there is enough for a trial. On the assumption that there is, it then gets passed to a solicitor advocate, or, in a serious crime trial, to a barrister who will present the evidence of a jury and challenge the defendant and any supporting witnesses. On the side of the defence, the solicitor and, where appropriate, barrister, have the responsibility of challenging the evidence put forward by the CPS to determine its reliability. A barrister only ever asks a client how he intends to plead, not whether he did it or not. Defence counsel doesn’t prove the innocence of the defendant (you can’t prove a negative); the purpose of legal representation for the defendant is, and always has been, to ensure that as
