I'm Canadian, but I think I can answer some of your questions.
In the British legal system, barristers, who are the only lawyers who can appear in the higher courts, are free-lancers, "instructed" by the solicitors who deal with the clients. I noticed that, in a brief flash of a list of the chambers accounts, that CPS was at the top--that would be Crown Prosecution Services (led by the Director of Public Prosecutions, or DPP). I don't know if the CPS has some salaried barristers (I don't even know if that would be possible or legal, since barristers are very protective of their rights and privileges), but I believe that CPS would generally prepare cases, like any solicitors but for the Crown, and find barristers to prosecute them in court. I expect that some barristers might specialize, or prefer, either prosecutions or defence, but that would be up to them (or their clerks, I guess). I remember that Rumpole of the Bailey (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078680/reference) was strictly a defence guy.
(I saw only a few episodes of Law & Order UK, and I don't remember whether the prosecutors were CPS solicitors, or barristers.)
I was interested to note that at one point Martha tells her student that it is unwise to talk with a client without the presence of his solicitor, because the client could then allege that the barrister gave him or her bad advice (or something like that). This might actually be a relaxing of the rules, because in the comedy A Fish Called Wanda (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095159/reference), the barrister played by John Cleese finds it extremely improper to be approached by the character played by Jamie Lee Curtis on behalf of his client and her fellow thief, and (as I recall) literally runs from her. I believe that all "instructions" have to come to the barrister through the client's instructing solicitors.
QCs in the UK are a rank of barrister--they get to command higher fees, wear fancier gowns, and get certain privileges such as being at the front of various kinds of lines. It would be up to the client and solicitor (or the CPS solicitors) to decide whether to hire (and pay for) a QC (and usually one or more "junior"s as assistants). It would generally take a well-heeled client, or a higher-profile case, to call for QC representation. Like all barristers, QCs can work for prosecution or defence. (Again, I remember that Rumpole, with more than enough seniority and wins to get a QC, resolutely refuses one, because he enjoys the down-market cases he gets, and doesn't want to be priced out of the market for them.)
Hope that this addresses at least some of your questions, and I hope that if I've made any mistakes someone more familiar with the system will correct me. I started another thread (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1717455/board/nest/219018647) where I've addressed some of these points.
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