A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is
"a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or
solicitor; a person licensed to practice law." Law is a
theoretical and abstract discipline. Working as a lawyer
represents the practical application of legal theory and
knowledge to solve real problems or to advance the interests of
those who retain (i.e., hire) lawyers for legal services.
The
role of the lawyer varies significantly across legal
jurisdictions, and therefore can be treated here in only the
most general terms. More information is available in
country-specific articles.
In practice, legal
jurisdictions exercise their sovereign right to determine who is
a lawyer; as a result, the meaning of the term "lawyer" may vary
from place to place.
* In Australia, the word "lawyer" is
used to refer to both barristers and solicitors (whether in
private practice or practising as corporate in-house counsel)
but not people who do not practice the law.
* In Britain,
"lawyer" is used loosely to refer to a broad variety of
law-trained persons. It includes practitioners such as
barristers, solicitors, and legal executives; and people who are
involved with the law but do not practice it on behalf of
individual clients, such as judges, law clerks, and legislators.
* In Canada, the word "lawyer" only refers to individuals who
have been called to the bar or have qualified as civil law
notaries in the province of Quebec. Common law lawyers in Canada
may also be known as "barristers and solicitors", but should not
be referred to as "attorneys", since that term has a different
meaning in Canadian usage. However, in Quebec, civil law
advocates (or avocats in French) often call themselves
"attorney" and sometimes "barrister and solicitor". Notably,
civil law notaries are entitled by provincial statute to style
themselves "title attorney".[citation needed]
* In the United
States of America, the term generally refers to attorneys who
may practice law.
* Other nations tend to have comparable
terms for the analogous concept. A lawyer is a person licensed
by the state to advise clients in legal matters and represent
them in courts of law (and in other forms of dispute
resolution). Most countries today require professional law
advisors in their judicial systems. Lawyers have many names in
different countries—including "advocate", "attorney",
"barrister", "counsellor", "civil law notary" and
"solicitor"—and many of these names indicate specific classes or
ranks of jurists. ... a professional person authorized to
practice law; conducts lawsuits or gives legal advice from Latin
advoco - invite - provides clients with their interest
protection in different instances. He/she assists in protection
of human rights and interests, makes legal consultations,
represents citizen interests in the court, and stands as a
defence attorney during criminal case investigation in the
court. . lawyerlawyer - a professional person authorized to
practice law; conducts lawsuits or gives legal advice attorney
jurisprudence, law - the collection of rules imposed by
authority; "civilization presupposes respect for the law"; "the
great problem for jurisprudence to allow freedom while enforcing
order" counsel, counselor-at-law, pleader, advocate, counsellor,
counselor - a lawyer who pleads cases in court ambulance chaser
- a lawyer who incites accident victims to sue barrister - a
British lawyer who speaks in the higher courts of law
conveyancer - a lawyer who specializes in the business of
conveying properties defense attorney, defense lawyer - the
lawyer representing the defendant divorce lawyer - a lawyer
specializing in actions for divorce or annulment professional,
professional person - a person engaged in one of the learned
professions prosecuting attorney, prosecuting officer,
prosecutor, public prosecutor - a government official who
conducts criminal prosecutions on behalf of the state public
defender - a lawyer who represents indigent defendants at public
expense referee - an attorney appointed by a court to
investigate and report on a case solicitor - a British lawyer
who gives legal advice and prepares legal documents trial
attorney, trial lawyer - a lawyer who specializes in defending
clients before a court of law Abul-Walid Mohammed ibn-Ahmad Ibn-Mohammed
ibn-Roshd, Averroes, ibn-Roshd - Arabian philosopher born in
Spain; wrote detailed commentaries on Aristotle that were
admired by the Schoolmen (1126-1198) Bryan, The Boy Orator of
the Platte, the Great Commoner, William Jennings Bryan - United
States lawyer and politician who advocated free silver and
prosecuted John Scopes (1925) for teaching evolution in a
Tennessee high school (1860-1925) Clarence Darrow, Clarence
Seward Darrow, Darrow - United States lawyer famous for his
defense of lost causes (1857-1938) Arthur Garfield Hays, Hays -
United States lawyer involved in several famous court trials
(1881-1954) Hays, Will Hays, William Harrison Hays - United
States lawyer and politician who formulated a production code
that prescribed the moral content of United states films from
1930 to 1966 (1879-1954) J. Edgar Hoover, John Edgar Hoover,
Hoover - United States lawyer who was director of the FBI for 48
years (1895-1972) Francis Scott Key, Key - United States lawyer
and poet who wrote a poem after witnessing the British attack on
Baltimore during the War of 1812; the poem was later set to
music and entitled `The Star-Spangled Banner' (1779-1843)
Abraham Lincoln, Lincoln, President Abraham Lincoln, President
Lincoln - 16th President of the United States; saved the Union
during the Civil War and emancipated the slaves; was
assassinated by Booth (1809-1865) attorney-client relation,
lawyer-client relation - the responsibility of a lawyer to act
in the best interests of the client Criminal Attorneys need to
be experienced trial lawyers giving their clients keen insight
into all aspects of any criminal litigation and assisting them
in making the right choices for a successful defense of the
crimes they are accused of. Top care must go into the preparing
of the defendant’s defenses in the pre-trial phase of any case
with special emphasis on all discovery material handed over by
the prosecutor and evaluations of any post arrest statements
made by the accused and witnesses. If you've been accused or
arrested, you cannot afford second-best representation. Choose
from one of our certified criminal defense attorneys listed on
this site for the best possible aggressive and highly-creative
defense strategies to protect your rights. A lawyer or attorney
at law is an individual licensed by the state to advise clients
in legal matters and represent them in courts of law and other
legal agencies. Most countries today require professional law
advisors in their juridical systems. Lawyers have many names in
different countries -- including "advocate," "attorney,"
"barrister," "counselor," "civil law notary", and "solicitor" --
and many of these names indicate specific classes or ranks of
jurists. In criminal cases attorneys defend clients accused of a
crime. Criminal Attorneys need to be experienced trial lawyers
giving their clients keen insight into all aspects of any
criminal litigation and assisting them in making the right
choices for a successful defense of their felony case. Top care
must go into the preparing of the defendant’s defenses in the
pre-trial phase of any case with special emphasis on all
discovery material handed over by the prosecutor and evaluations
of any post arrest statements made by the accused and witnesses.
If you've been accused or arrested, you cannot afford
second-best representation. Choose from our list of certified
criminal defense attorneys here. Increasingly, in the United
States in particular, lawyers have taken over functions that
used to be (and in some countries, still are) performed by other
professionals, such as the civil law notary or even by
non-professionals. The role of the lawyer can vary, in some
countries, this person is often required to lead or manage
criminal investigations. In the UK this task is the
responsibility of the police forces. Colloquially, in the United
States, lawyers are called attorneys. In fact, almost anyone can
be an attorney; (see for example attorney-in-fact) strictly
speaking, an attorney is similar to an agent, a person who has
been formally empowered by someone else (a "principal") to act
on behalf of the principal. Lawyers are "attorneys at law,"
authorised to plead cases on behalf of their clients. What
constitutes the practice of law? A person who has a Juris Doctor
(or LL.B.)but is not admitted to any bar is not a lawyer.
However, federal courts often allow law students to act as
"certified student attorneys" after the satisfactory completion
of their first year of law school and the completion of
particular second- and third-year courses such as Evidence. In
systems that follow the English practice a person who has
completed the course of study but is not yet admitted to the bar
may practice under supervision in Articles of Clerkship usually
called an Articling student. Otherwise, engaging in the kind of
work customarily done by lawyers, without a valid, current
license to do so, is the "unauthorized practice of law." In some
jurisdictions, the definition of the practice of law is quite
strict; persons have been successfully prosecuted for publishing
do-it-yourself will forms and for representing special-education
children in federal proceedings as specifically allowed by
federal law.