Erica Elaine Carroll  Barrister

In the English legal profession, both barristers and solicitors are what Americans call lawyers. The differences between them, though, have long mattered more than what they have in common. In the past year, what matters most seems to be who gets to wear what.

Only barristers-in-training study in one of the four Inns of Court in London, which are crosses between learned societies and choosy guilds. When students pass their exams, they are literally called to the bar in their inn's dining hall and admitted to practice law before the English courts. Newly minted barristers acquire two garments: a billowing black robe and a double-tabbed linen band that serves as a collar, with the tabs said to represent the tablets of Moses. Then barristers are fitted for the retro symbol of their standing and attainment—their wigs.

Most new barristers find their way near the Inns of Court to Ede & Ravenscroft, England's leading wigmaker. On display are handmade hairpieces to suit every rank: Barristers wear "tie-wigs," which cover half the head; judges buy the larger, frizzier "bob-wigs"; and, on ceremonial occasions, senior barristers, judges, and members of the House of Lords don the floppy, shoulder-length "spaniel wigs." Ede & Ravenscroft's white horsehair, or "forensic," wig was patented in 1822. (The white horsehair replaced black; the black horsehair wig had ended a grisly trade in human hair.) The forensic wig requires no regular curling or powdering and maintains a fresh scent. This convenience comes at a price: Wigs range from £400 to £2,000 ($600 to $3,000). Taxpayers foot the bill for judges' wigs; barristers, who pay for their own, sometimes shop for used wigs. Most barristers invest in one wig for a lifetime, and a discoloured or dishevelled hairpiece is a mark of a long career—one's own or someone else's.

Courtroom advocacy is the specialty of barristers, while solicitors spend the bulk of their legal training in solicitors' offices—similar to American business-law firms—before becoming licensed to represent clients in all other aspects of lawyering. Except in a few lower courts, solicitors must defer to barristers: A solicitor handles a case until it reaches court, and then has to retain a barrister to take the case through the remainder of the process. In effect, the solicitor represents a party in the case, and the barrister the solicitor, so solicitors usually don't speak in court. They also don't get to wear wigs.

There have been a number of barristers in the Carroll family history in the UK, Ireland and the USA. Some of these are mentioned below:

Charles Carroll, the Barrister, as he became known, was born March 22, 1724, in the house which now stands on the St. John's campus.

Carroll served as president of the Maryland convention, which met in May 1776, and relieved Sir Robert Eden, Maryland's last British governor, of his office. Carroll became a member of a number of patriotic bodies, including the Councils of Safety, which exercised powers for government in the intervals between conventions, the Committee of Safety, the Committee of Observation, and the Committee of Correspondence.

Charles Carroll, the Barrister, was the principal writer for the Declaration of Delegates of Maryland, originally scheduled for action on July 3, 1776, but adopted on July 6, 1776, two days after the Continental Congress agreed on the Declaration of Independence. The text now makes up the first 45 articles of the Maryland Constitution, which he also helped write.

The Hon Ms Justice Mella Carroll has been appointed Chancellor of D C U and Chair of the Governing Authority of Dublin City University. Born in Dublin, Justice Carroll completed a degree in French and German at University College, Dublin before qualifying as a barrister from Kings Inns. During her career as a practising barrister she chaired the Bar Council (1979) and she was subsequently the first woman to be appointed to the bench of the High Court (1980). She is currently vice-president of the Administrative Tribunal of the I L O in Geneva and president of the International Association of Women Judges.

Other notable Carroll Barrister's:

Alexander Carroll , 19 Mountjoy Sq South (barrister - Hilary term 1794) -  Dublin City Directory 1850

John Carroll, no address (barrister - Trinity term 1810)  - Dublin City Directory 1850

Frederick John Chrysostom Joseph Locke O'Carroll Esq., (1786)  Barrister-at-Law, J P. Co. Dublin, of Athgoe Park, Hazlehatch, Co. Kildare.