Solicitors in England and Wales do not usually wear wigs in court. The wig belongs to barristers and judges, and even then only in certain criminal proceedings. The one exception worth knowing about: since 2008, solicitor advocates with higher court rights have been allowed to wear a wig if they choose to.
Why Solicitors Don’t Wear Wigs
England and Wales run a split legal profession. Solicitors handle the client-facing work: advising, drafting, negotiating, and preparing a case from the beginning. Most of that work happens in an office. When solicitors do appear in court, it’s typically in the lower courts and tribunals, where they represent clients in ordinary professional dress. No wig, no gown.
Barristers are the courtroom specialists. They’re usually instructed by a solicitor rather than hired directly, and they take over the advocacy when a case reaches a higher court. Court dress tracks that division of labor. The wig sits on the advocacy side of the line, which is why the barrister wears one and the solicitor, in the traditional role, does not.
The Solicitor Advocate Exception
A solicitor advocate is a solicitor who has qualified for the same rights of audience as a barrister, meaning they can appear and argue cases in the higher courts. Since 2008, solicitor advocates have been permitted to wear wigs in the same circumstances as barristers. They also wear gowns, though of a slightly different design.1Incorporated Council of Law Reporting. Court Dress in England and Wales
The wig is optional. Some solicitor advocates wear one to match the formality of a criminal courtroom; others don’t. A solicitor can also take silk and become a King’s Counsel, at which point they wear the same court and ceremonial dress as a barristerial KC.1Incorporated Council of Law Reporting. Court Dress in England and Wales
When Wigs Aren’t Worn at All
Even for barristers and judges, wigs are not universal. Reforms that took effect on 1 October 2008 removed them from civil and family proceedings. Under the current Practice Direction, judges hearing civil and family cases wear a civil robe with no wig, bands, or wing collar, and barristers appear the same way.2Courts and Tribunals Judiciary. Practice Direction (Court Dress) (No 5)
The UK Supreme Court, which replaced the House of Lords as the highest court in 2009, takes a more modern approach. Advocates appearing before it can agree among themselves to dispense with part or all of court dress, wigs included.
Judges also have discretion to adapt dress case by case. In criminal proceedings involving vulnerable witnesses, particularly children, judges and barristers may remove wigs and gowns to make the courtroom less intimidating. Judges hearing family cases in private commonly forgo robes entirely.3Courts and Tribunals Judiciary. Examples of Modern Court Dress
So the picture most people carry in their heads, of every English lawyer in a wig, is really a picture of the Crown Court and the higher criminal courts. Outside that setting, wigs come off.
What a Barrister’s Wig Actually Is
The barrister’s wig is handmade from white horsehair, with tight horizontal curls at the sides and back. A standard bar wig costs around £580 and is produced using a hand-knotting method dating to a patent filed by Humphrey Ravenscroft in 1822. A well-kept wig lasts a career, and barristers often take pride in one that has yellowed with age, treating the discolouration as a mark of experience. Judges’ full-bottomed ceremonial wigs are considerably more expensive, and today they appear only on formal occasions such as the opening of the legal year.
None of this equipment sits in a solicitor’s wardrobe unless that solicitor has taken the extra step of qualifying as a higher court advocate and decided, on any given day, to put it on.
The Short Version
If you’re picturing your solicitor turning up to court in a wig, the answer in almost every case is no. Solicitors doing traditional solicitor work wear a suit. The wig belongs to the barrister in a Crown Court criminal case, to the judge in the same setting, and, since 2008, to any solicitor advocate with higher court rights who chooses to wear one.