Many agency solicitors see themselves as spitfire pilots, ready to scramble into court at a moment's notice.

And many out-of-town solicitors have had a case saved by the timely instruction of an agency colleague with offices a stone's throw from the High Court.Camerons is just such a firm.

It specialises in taking cases at short notice, sometimes even minutes before they are due to be heard.

Legal executive Adam Posner handles most of them.

Already a veteran of many encounters with counsel in chambers, Mr Posner recently won a case against a barrister in open court.'I was granted leave to appear on a discovery point and then won it on a procedural technicality,' remembers Mr Posner.

This is where the agency solicitor, familiar with procedure and experienced in court skirmishes, represents real value for money.Moon Beever, also located close to the High Court, has 12 years' experience of fighting agency cases.

Frances Coulson, head of litigation at the five-partner practice, believes agency solicitors have a 'pretty good' success rate against counsel.

She explains: 'We are often up against junior counsel who may simply not be aware of certain procedures.

While it depends what case you have, you can often get a wasted costs order against them.'Many an unsuspecting pupil barrister in the second six months of training can be picked off in this way by more experienced solicitors.

Ms Coulson says this is particularly so in the Chancery Division, where the court has only recently started observing a new rule book for Chancery cases called the Chancery Guide.'The judges can be very strict with it,' says Ms Coulson.

'Some barristers simply haven't heard of it, or choose to ignore it.'Provincial solicitors can often fall foul of the procedural rules adhered to in the High Court.

Ms Coulson explains: 'In the district registries their procedures are different.

For instance, if solicitors don't include all the original documentation, a master might refuse to hear the case and order wasted costs against them.'Although being able to flick through the White Book at speed is recognised as a necessity for a successful High Court agency solicitor, it is not enough in itself.

Mr Posner explains: 'I know a lot of different personaliti es among the masters and judges.

So when you have some flexibility with a case, I can try to get it heard by someone who might be more helpful.'Some judges, he says, are sticklers for the rules and customs of the Bar.

'It's not a good idea telling a judge like this that you have been instructed as an agent solicitor.

It will give him an excuse to try to catch you out on something you haven't had time to read on the case.'The listing rules are always confusing for solicitors not familiar with the High Court.

Ms Coulson says out-of-town solicitors might get a case listed and then instruct an agent.

But, although the solicitor has asked for half an hour to be allocated for the hearing, the listing office does not always take any notice.

'The solicitor won't be able to tell from the summons that the case has been listed as a five-minute appearance.

But we can tell from which room it's in how long it is listed for,' explains Ms Coulson.She says it is no surprise that solicitors have trouble with the High Court when rules for situations like this are not written down.

For these reasons, even London-based law firms will instruct specialist agency solicitors to take their cases through the High Court procedure.Kingsford Stacey, located in Lincoln's Inn, has built up a reputation for undertaking specialist advocacy work.

Kingsford Stacey's head of litigation, partner Charles Rankmore, says: 'The majority of our agency work involves advocacy.'Kingsford Stacey does a lot of work for solicitors who have offices in London but, because they do not do a lot of litigation, are not familiar with the High Courts and London county courts.

'They think it's better to use specialist advocates.

Sometimes even solicitors from out of town travel down to London to be with us on the hearing and accompany us into court,' says Mr Rankmore.Companies' in-house legal departments are also likely to use the services of agency solicitors.

For Kingsford Stacey, this a growing practice.

Partner Ken Smith says: 'These are quite substantial plcs, which may not have litigation lawyers.

They can either send out the work to another firm or instruct us as their agents.'Budgets or reputations often need to be protected.

Mr Smith explains: 'It's often very useful for an in-house team to be seen to still be doing the work in-house, so they farm it out on an agency basis without being seen to have instructed an outside firm.'Ms Coulson believes that once one has mastered the stress, the work of an agency can be very exciting.

'We get to see the very best of a lot of very interesting cases.' Ms Coulson is acutely aware of the need to protect professional clients from the lay client who wishes to sack his or her solicitors and instruct the agent.

'Sometimes, when a lay client comes to the High Court for the first time and might be experiencing anxiety about the case, they ask to instruct us.' Although she says she has a duty to 'put the lay client right', if a professional client has not handled the case particularly well, she believes she also has a duty to inform the professional client of this.Sometimes a good agency solicitor has to be able to cope with the stress of knowing nothing about a case until minutes before going into court.

Mr Posner remembers one occasion when he was being briefed by mobile phone as he walked from his office to the court.

And Ms Coulson says she will occasionally go into court with only the first few pages of a case, hoping the rest can be faxed to her office before the judge has time to get to a point covered by the missing pages. Criminal practices also have to instruct solicitors as agents.

Stephen Gilchrist is a leading criminal law specialist working at his own London practice.

He says that when solicitors need to instruct solicitors out of their own working jurisdictions, they usually end up using a list of lawyers drawn up by one of the practice groups, like the Legal Aid Practitioners Group and the London Criminal Courts Solicitors Association.If this is the first time the solicitor has had cause to look for a firm in a particular area it can be like blindly sticking a pin in a map.

The National Solicitors Network's Agency Service was launched in 1992 to help solicitors address this problem.

And the National Solicitors Network formed the year before by Conquest Legal Marketing provides corporate and institutional clients with legal services.Mr Gilchrist believes the Legal Aid Board should be more flexible in paying for solicitors to defend clients around the country.

'If you're dealing with a private client and he is prepared to pay for you to represent him personally, then there's no problem.

But, when you are dealing with legally aided clients, the LAB simply will not pay for you to travel to a far flung part of the country.'And, he points out: 'Even if you instruct a first class firm, there's no guarantee that they will send a first class lawyer to represent your client.'