Lawyer and attorneys are common
phrases in the legal realm. Most of the time, these terms are used interchangeably
as referred to as the same thing/person.
Most
people do not really understand if these terms are the same or not, the fact is
if I wouldn’t be a lawyer I wouldn’t understand too.
You may have questions like is an
attorney and a lawyer the same thing? or
Is There a Difference between Lawyer and Attorney? I have decided to write
this post to give you the ultimate answer to those questions.
Generally
the words lawyer and attorney are commonly used in the USA. In the UK you may find
words like Barristers and solicitors and in other countries, you may find words
like lawyer and Advocate
Lawyer and Attorney
The following
is how the words lawyer and attorney differs in the legal profession
A lawyer
Lawyer
is a general term. It represents everyone in legal professions. Depending on
the law of a specific country, it may include, judges magistrates, prosecutors,
state attorneys, etc.
Lawyer
is a person who holds a special qualification related to law. For example,
Diploma in law, a certificate in law, Bachelor of Laws, and law school.
A lawyer has knowledge in several legal issues and he/she can provide advice and legal aid but he/she cannot necessarily act on behalf of someone else.
However,
In the USA a lawyer also
conducts suits in court proceedings and represents clients in various legal
instances, the term has expanded to overlap the definition of attorney.
Attorney
According
to dictionary.com the word attorney comes from French meaning ‘one appointed or
constituted’ and the word’s original meaning is of a person acting for another
as an agent or deputy.
Attorneys
are also recognized as lawyers. But the very key element which may distinguish
an attorney from other lawyers is the ability to act on behalf of another
person.
UK position
As I said
earlier, while USA use lawyer and attorney in the UK the common terms relating to
lawyer and attorney is Barristers and solicitors
Barrister vs solicitor
Barrister is the lawyers who represent
clients in open court and may appear at the bar while solicitors are the lawyers who may be permitted to conduct litigation in
court but not to plead cases in open court alternatively they just spend most
of their time to do other law firms' work.
Solicitors
provides specialist legal advice on contentious and non-contentious work to
their clients on a variety of areas of law.
When we
will relate this to the USA context, Barrister=attorney, and solicitor=lawyer.
Lawyer vs. advocate
There
might be a confusion here, but generally, an advocate is a lawyer who can act on
behalf of the other person same as attorney/barrister while a lawyer represents
everyone in legal professions not necessarily capable of acting on behalf of
others.
Conclusion
My journey here was to tell you the
difference between a lawyer and attorney .hope you find this post useful. The
bottom line is
The
words lawyer and attorney are commonly used in the USA. In the UK you may find words
like Barristers and solicitors and in other countries, you may find words like lawyer and Advocate
A lawyer is a general term refers to any person
in the legal profession, while an attorney is a term specifically refers to the person
who practices law by acting on behalf of their clients.
In the USA
the term lawyer and attorney may mean the same thing.
In the UK
barrister represent clients in open court and may appear at the bar
while solicitors spend most of their time doing other law firms' work.
Advocate
is the lawyer who can act on behalf of the other person.
Attorney/Barrister/advocate
are similar while solicitor/lawyer are similar too.
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