I'm from the US and the legal system in this series puzzled me. In the states, private firms work on civil cases or defense in criminal cases. Prosecutors (DAs) all work for the state and only do prosecution.
In the UK, do private law firms handle both prosecutions and defense work? I saw Maggie prosecuting a case in the beginning and then defending Liam Foyle next.
Barristers (lawyers who advocate cases in court) can do both defense and prosecution work.
Queen's Counsels (QCs or referred to as having "taken silk") are not supposed to do work against the "Crown" (the State) without special permission, but that's mostly a formality. QCs are a step up from Barrister.
"QCs are a step up from Barrister." - This is incorrect a Queen's Counsel is a barrister, a senior one, barristers who are not QCs are junior barristers
shareCorrect. In the peerless British series "Rumpole of the Bailey" this is taken a step further. Two partners from the same firm are hired for the same case, Rumpole for the defence, and Ballard for the prosecution (in this episode a restaurant is being sued for hygiene breaches).
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