The best solicitors in the UK, ranked city by city.

Lawyer is the umbrella word. A solicitor is the lawyer you hire directly: they advise, draft, negotiate and run your case. A barrister is a courtroom specialist, usually instructed by your solicitor when a case goes to trial, although some now take instructions from the public directly. In Scotland the courtroom specialist is an advocate.

No. A licensed conveyancer does property transactions only and is regulated by the Council for Licensed Conveyancers. A solicitor is regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority and can do property work alongside everything else. For a straightforward purchase either will do. The questions that matter are whether they are on your lender's panel and whether they publish a price.

It depends on the work and on who does it. Conveyancing, wills and settlement agreements are usually sold at a fixed fee. Family, commercial and dispute work is mostly charged by the hour, quoted after a first meeting. In England and Wales, firms must publish their prices for conveyancing, probate, immigration applications, employment tribunal claims, motoring offences and debt recovery, so a firm that will not tell you its price for those is already telling you something.

In practice, yes. A mortgage lender will insist on one, and a cash buyer still needs someone to run the searches, check the title and handle the money safely. The work can also be done by a licensed conveyancer, who is often cheaper for a simple purchase. Whoever you use, check they are on your lender's panel before you instruct, or you will end up paying for two.

Look the firm up on its regulator's public register: the Solicitors Regulation Authority in England and Wales, the Law Society of Scotland, or the Law Society of Northern Ireland. Regulated firms in England and Wales must show their SRA number on their website, usually in the footer. A firm that is not on the register is not a firm of solicitors, whatever its name says. Every firm on this site was checked there before it was listed.

Not for the divorce itself. Since no-fault divorce arrived in England and Wales in 2022 the application is an online form. You need a solicitor for the part that actually matters: the financial settlement and any arrangements for children, which are separate from the divorce and are where money is won and lost.

No. A will is valid if it is written, signed and witnessed correctly, and you can do that yourself. Most people use a solicitor because the mistakes that invalidate a will, or start a dispute after a death, are cheap to avoid and expensive to fix. Anything involving property abroad, a business, a second family or a large estate is worth professional drafting.

Not always. If the estate is simple, an executor can apply for probate without one. People instruct a solicitor when there is property to sell, inheritance tax to work out, a will that could be contested, or an executor who does not want the personal liability that comes with getting it wrong.

Usually, yes. Moving to a new lender needs legal work to register the new charge, and the lender will often provide or pay for a solicitor from its own panel as part of the deal. Switching to a new rate with your existing lender normally does not.

Only in limited circumstances, and most firms refuse because the two sides' interests conflict. The normal arrangement is one firm each. If a firm offers to act for both of you, ask what happens when you disagree, and expect the honest answer to be that it would have to stop acting for both.

First to the firm itself. Every firm must have a written complaints procedure and, in England and Wales, eight weeks to resolve a complaint. If that fails, the Legal Ombudsman handles complaints about service and the Solicitors Regulation Authority handles misconduct. Scotland has the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission, and in Northern Ireland the Law Society handles complaints.

Yes. Solicitors can certify copies of documents, witness signatures and administer oaths as commissioners for oaths. Most firms charge a small fixed fee and do not need you to be an existing client.

For conveyancing and most paperwork-led work, no. The work runs by email, post and portal, and the right firm may be at the other end of the country. For family, criminal and dispute work, a firm that knows the local court and can sit down with you matters more.

Five checks: the regulator's register, track record, reputation, fee transparency, and a quarterly re-check. Every city list is structured the same way: rank one is the best firm overall, ranks two to four are the best for family law, conveyancing and commercial work, and the rest of the shortlist follows. The methodology page sets out each check and what fails it.