Solicitor/Barrister conmections

I''m just wondering if someone lives in a small district then how does it work with solicitors using barristers. Is there some kind of pecking order in so much as there will be very busy solicitors who have the best reputations.
Can barristers be influenced by the fact they will sometimes be up against their regular source of income. There seems to be a lot of discussion goes on between the legal bods which clients are not party to.
I wonder how often a top 500 solicitor loses to bargain bucket bottom end firms.

If you need a specialist service you need to go to a family law specialist, I made the huge mistake of thinking my ex would be fair so went to a local ''general'' solicitor. Biggest mistake of my life! It was a disaster he had a specialist my solicitor was not good. Fortunately for me I had a 2nd chance learnt by my mistakes went to one of the best in the country - over 200 miles away I''ve only been to their offices a couple of times everything else is email/phone. Such a different end result. Although the cost was astronomical but I guess you get what you pay for. The barrister at the first firm was awful I never met her until court and she hadn''t been informed on the case. The second time prior to court I met with the barrister on a couple of occassions and even the judge commented how good and knowledgable he was! Solicitors firms use their own chambers for barristers as far as I''m aware?
Get what you can afford but seek a specialist!
I learnt my lesson the hard way.

Unfortunately I''ve already made the mistake of going cheap and cheerful but what I do know is in a small district the solicitors are all using from a choice of very few chambers. My solicitor was a family law specialist on paper but like you I only ever met the barrister on the day, barrister totally disinterested, no discussion at all before the hearing began as I couldn''t find this stranger I had never met despite leaving messages where the signing in room is.
I don''t think it would have made any difference though as this barrister competes with all the others to be first choice of the very expensive solicitors being used by my ex:angry:
I really don''t trust the system at all and think the answer would have been to bring someone from outside this little bubble who is not looking for future employment from the local big cheese.
Hindsight and all that.

Solicitors have favourite barristers and I know that barristers prefer to work for some solicitors and not for others.

However, barristers use the cab-rank rule where they have to accept work in the order that it arrives so there is no preferential treatment. Once instructions are accepted the barrister cannot choose to reject the instructions in favour of another matter.

There has been some modification to the cab-rank rule where a person is in receipt of legal aid but otherwise the system is fair.

Charles

Yes, I''m sure they have their favourites but I wonder whether a barrister that normally works for the other sides barrister is going to be happy to fight tooth and nail for a solicitor he rarely gets work from or are even much regarded.

Barristers are self-employed and they become successful by doing their job well.

There is no better advertisement to a solicitor than being on the opposing side and making mincemeat of them. A solicitor who witnesses such work will undoubtedly want to instruct them for their other clients.

Conversely, fighting tooth and nail for a solicitor from whom a barrister gets little work is likely to result in more work from the solicitor.

The most successful barristers have work coming out of their ears as everyone wants to book them.

Charles

That sounds fine in theory but local loser outfit are always unlikely to win against the big cheese, if it were any other way then each firm would be as good as each other and there would be no discrepancy in pricing. I just wonder why a barrister who is generally the go-to man for the big cheese is going to thrash them in court, there are indeed plenty of other barristers to choose from.