The question of what information in a legal file held by a solicitor belongs to the client is a complex one. Most of the contents of a file do belong to the client and a solicitor cannot generally withhold the contents of your legal file unless they have a good reason to do so. Sometimes they may hold onto your file or specific documents that your file contains if there is still money owed on your account. This is called a lien, which in effect is your solicitor holding onto your file as security until you pay the money you owe to them. Additionally, not all of the contents are the property of the client; for example, detailed research notes, preparatory personal notes, and inter-office memoranda may rightfully be the property of the solicitor.
The UK system has three main sources of law: statute law, the common law and European Community law. Statute law is the primary source of UK law, consisting of Acts of Parliament, and also known as legislation. The common law – also known as judge-made law or case law – is subordinate to statute law, but still a significant part of our legal system. The common law was traditionally the main source of law in the UK, while now it primarily fills the gaps between statutes and provides the system of precedent – a system of principles and guides to the application of statute law based on past cases. Additionally, when no relevant statute law exists on a particular matter, the courts will look to the common law. For example, the offence of murder is not set out in statute law - it is a common law offence.
The general rule when you take a matter to court is that the losing party has to pay the winning party’s costs. The court makes a costs order against the losing party. However, this does not always apply. For example, in sensitive cases like family law cases, costs will normally be ordered at the discretion of the judge. And in small claims matters, costs will not ordinarily be ordered. Additionally, costs are not ordinarily claimable in tribunals.
The Cambridge Online Dictionary defines a lawyer as "someone whose job is to give advice to people about the law and speak for them in court". Of course, anyone could give advice about the law but having a specialist do so is highly advisable, especially in a court environment.