Origins
The English word 'solicitor' appeared around 1440 from Middle French 'solliciteur' (one who entreats, pursues, or acts as an agent), from Latin 'sollicitāre' (to disturb thoroughly, to agitate, to entreat earnestly). The Latin verb derives from the adjective 'sollicitus' (thoroughly disturbed, agitated, anxious), which is composed of 'sollus' (whole, entire — an archaic form related to 'salvus,' safe) and 'citus,' the past participle of 'ciēre' (to set in motion, to rouse, to call). A solicitor is, at the etymological root, someone who 'sets the whole thing in motion' — a comprehensive agitator.
The Latin verb 'ciēre' is the source of a rich English word family. 'Cite' (to call forth), 'excite' (to call out, to rouse), 'incite' (to call into action), 'recite' (to call back, to repeat aloud), and 'resuscitate' (to rouse again from below) all derive from it. The PIE root is *kei- (to set in motion), which also produced Greek 'kinein' (to move), giving English 'kinetic,' 'cinema,' and 'kinesthesia.' A solicitor, a cinema, and kinetic energy are all linked by the concept of setting things in motion.
The legal sense of 'solicitor' developed in England during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Originally, a solicitor was not necessarily a lawyer but anyone who managed or pursued a matter on someone else's behalf — a general-purpose agent or go-between. The term gradually became specialized to mean a legal agent who handled the procedural and advisory aspects of law practice, as distinct from the barrister who appeared in court. By the seventeenth century, the solicitor's role was firmly established: meeting with clients, gathering evidence, preparing documents, and instructing barristers when court appearances were needed.
Development
The solicitor's professional identity was shaped by the Inns of Court system. While barristers were trained in the Inns of Court, solicitors were trained through apprenticeship — articles of clerkship — serving under an established solicitor. This different training pathway reinforced the distinction between the two branches of the profession. The Law Society, founded in 1825, became the professional body for solicitors in England and Wales, governing admission, standards, and discipline.
The word 'solicitor' has markedly different connotations in British and American English. In Britain, a solicitor is a respected legal professional — the first point of contact for anyone needing legal services. In the United States, 'solicitor' has three main uses: the Solicitor General (the government's chief lawyer before the Supreme Court), a city solicitor (a municipal attorney), and the pejorative sense of someone who goes door to door selling or begging — hence 'No Soliciting' signs. This American usage preserves the original Latin sense of aggressive entreating, while the British usage has been elevated by centuries of professional respectability.
The relationship between solicitor and barrister has been the defining feature of the English legal profession for over five hundred years. The division was not merely functional but social: barristers were historically of higher social status, educated at the universities and the Inns of Court, while solicitors were trained through practical apprenticeship. Barristers did not meet directly with clients; solicitors did not speak in court. This strict separation has been significantly relaxed since the late twentieth century — solicitors can now appear in higher courts as solicitor-advocates, and direct access to barristers without a solicitor intermediary is increasingly common — but the distinction remains embedded in the structure and vocabulary of English law.
Later History
In other common law jurisdictions, the word has had varied fortunes. In Australia, the solicitor-barrister distinction exists in some states but not others. In Ireland, the distinction is maintained. In Scotland, the term 'solicitor' is used but the profession is organized differently from England. In many former British colonies, lawyers may be admitted as both 'barrister and solicitor' in a single qualification, effectively merging the two roles while preserving the vocabulary.
The adjective 'solicitous' (showing care and concern) preserves the Latin root meaning more directly than the legal noun: to be solicitous is to be 'thoroughly moved' by concern for someone. The pairing of 'solicitous' (caring, anxious) and 'solicitor' (legal agent) shows how a single Latin root — the idea of being deeply stirred into action — can branch into both emotional and professional registers.