Solicitor advocate is a hybrid status which allows a solicitor in the United Kingdom and Hong Kong to represent clients in higher courts in proceedings that were traditionally reserved for barristers. The status does not exist in most other common law jurisdictions where, for the most part, all solicitors have rights of audience in higher courts.

The title is also used in some jurisdictions to refer to solicitors who conduct advocacy in court (such as Northern Ireland) or as a job title (Australia).

Historically in the United Kingdom, solicitors took conduct of litigation, and undertook advocacy in the lower courts (tribunals, coroner's courts, magistrates' courts, county courts, and sheriff courts). They were not able to represent their clients in court in the higher courts: the Crown Court, the High Court, the Court of Appeal, the Court of Session, the Privy Council, and the Legal Committee of the House of Lords (today known as the UK Supreme Court). Instead, solicitors were required to instruct barristers (in England and Wales) or advocates (in Scotland) to represent their clients in court.

Section 27 of the Courts and Legal Services Act 1990, in England and Wales, and section 24 of the Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Scotland) Act 1990, in Scotland, created a route for solicitors to qualify for a grant of rights of audience in the higher courts when they have sufficient training and experience, subject to passing additional exams. The complex rules and regulations were relaxed in England and Wales by the Higher Courts Qualification Regulations 2000 so as to establish four main routes to qualify for higher rights of audience: development (training, assessment, and a portfolio of cases); accreditation (experience and an advocacy assessment); exemption (sufficient experience); and former barrister (called to the bar before 31 July 2000). Higher rights of audience may be granted for the higher criminal courts, or the higher civil courts, or both.

Solicitor higher court advocacy has developed significantly since its first authorisation by the Courts and Legal Services Act 1990. Although only a handful of solicitors acquired higher rights as the first batch of advocates in 1994, they included some of the most senior figures in the legal establishment of the time, such as Sir David Napley, founding partner of London law firm Kingsley Napley. Approximately 7,000 advocates have since been authorised for crime, civil, or both. They represent a wide spectrum of experience.

Whilst there has been a steady growth of numbers in recent years, the bulk of the serious advocacy is still undertaken by solicitor advocates with many years of advocacy practice behind them. Some solicitor advocates have been working exclusively in higher courts for fifteen years (or longer if former barristers) and have developed particular specialisms, for example in regulatory and disciplinary work such as Andrew Hopper KC; in family work, such as June Venters KC; in extradition cases, such as Michael Caplan KC; and elsewhere in various parts of the criminal field, such as in terrorism work and fraud; e.g., Niall Quinn KC.

Solicitor advocates are regularly appointed to the ranks of King's Counsel, albeit the numbers of applicants are relatively low. Solicitor advocates have also been appointed to the High Court bench. The Baron Collins of Mapesbury, a former Herbert Smith partner, was the first appointee as a solicitor KC in 1997 before being appointed to the High Court bench. In 2009 he was appointed to the UK Supreme Court.

The bar and judiciary have been generally supportive of the growth of solicitor advocacy, asserting that the bar would not be threatened by individuals acquiring new skills and practices; and that the ethnic, gender and class diversity that this wider pool of advocates would bring to the profession would be welcome. But, in recent years the bar has found its work being reduced, partly as a result of Legal Aid cuts principally directed at solicitors' firms, and this has generally soured its opinion of the changes.^{[citation needed]}