A special pleader was a historial legal occupation. The practitioner, or "special pleader" in English law

English law

English law is the legal system of England and Wales, and is the basis of common law legal systems used in most Commonwealth countries and the United States except Louisiana...

 specialised in drafting "pleadings", in modern terminology statements of case.

History

Up to the 19th century there were many rules, technicalities and difficulties in drafting pleadings and claims and defences could be dismissed for trivial errors. Some practitioners made it their business to frame pleadings, rather than to appear in court or to write legal opinion

Legal opinion

In law, an opinion is usually a written explanation by a judge or group of judges that accompanies an order or ruling in a case, laying out the rationale and legal principles for the ruling....

s, and were called special pleaders. They were not necessarily barristers, but might be licensed to practise under the bar

Bar association

A bar association is a professional body of lawyers. Some bar associations are responsible for the regulation of the legal profession in their jurisdiction; others are professional organizations dedicated to serving their members; in many cases, they are both...

. At one time it was usual to practise for a time as a special pleader before call to the bar

Call to the bar

The Call to the Bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party, and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received a "call to the bar"...

. The system had largely fallen into disuse as a specialty by the beginning of the 20th century.