Rights of audience

In common law, a right of audience is generally a right of a lawyer to appear and conduct proceedings in court on behalf of their client. In English law, there is a fundamental distinction between barristers, who have rights of audience in the superior courts, and solicitors, who have rights of audience in the lower courts, unless of course a certificate of advocacy is obtained, which allows a solicitor to represent clients in the superior courts also. However, there is no such distinction in American law.