If you hear someone use the term “lawyer” or the term “attorney,” then you might think they’re interchangeable. That’s usually how people use them in casual conversation. Most people seem to think there’s no real distinction.
However, that is not technically accurate. The two terms do have some distinctions, though they’re still closely related to each other when it comes to the legal profession or niche.
You must always try to find the proper legal representation, but how will you know whether you need a lawyer or an attorney? That gets a little complex, but we will discuss the matter in detail in the following article.
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What Does “Lawyer” Mean?
For someone to legally call themselves a lawyer, they would need to graduate from a law school. In doing so, they will earn what the legal system calls a Juris Doctor degree. It’s sometimes abbreviated as J.D.
If you’re a lawyer, then you may work in a number of different roles. For instance, you can advise clients. You can do various kinds of legal research. You can also work in and around academia. However, you can’t necessarily work in a courtroom setting in all circumstances.
Some lawyers also make certain areas of the law their specialty. You might do something like estate planning or immigration law. You might not necessarily have the legal ability to practice law in court, though.
What Does “Attorney” Mean?
As for the term “attorney,” that means someone who’s a lawyer and who passed the bar exam. They have received a license to practice law within a particular jurisdiction.
In other words, when they pass the bar and get the paperwork and credentials that go with that, they also receive explicit permission to practice law within a particular geographic region. It does not necessarily follow that they can practice law elsewhere, though.
As an attorney, a person can represent their clients in a court of law, assuming that the client gave them expressed permission to do so. They can speak for their client, or they can advise their client on what to say. They can also represent their clients in certain other legal proceedings of various natures.
As an attorney, a person must abide by a code of written and implied ethics that govern their behavior as a member of the legal profession. They can handle civil cases, but they can handle criminal ones as well in many circumstances.
So, What’s the Difference?
Judging by those two descriptions, it doesn’t sound like there’s much of a technical difference between lawyers and attorneys, and for the most part, that’s true. There’s one major distinction, though, and perhaps you spotted it already.
To put it as succinctly as possible, you can correctly call all attorneys lawyers, and that’s an accurate statement. However, you can’t correctly call all lawyers attorneys.
Let’s put it another way. You could accurately say that all attorneys meet the legal qualification for you to call them a lawyer. They all passed the bar and hold the necessary licensing.
You could not accurately say that all lawyers fall into the attorney category, though. Some of them didn’t have the requisite training or licensing to get that distinction.
If you meet a lawyer who’s not an attorney, then they can do any of the things we mentioned a moment ago. For instance, they might teach about the law in academia or do scholarly work of a lawyerly nature.
They might not necessarily have the ability to represent a client in a court of law, though. To do so, they will need to get additional training, study more, and get some more certifications. By doing so, they can make the necessary transition to go from lawyer status to attorney status.
How Can Someone Make the Transition?
Let us get into a little more detail about what it takes for someone’s who’s a lawyer to officially become an attorney. They would first need to earn their J.D. degree. They would do so by finishing a three-year program at an accredited school of law.
They would next need to pass the bar exam. That’s not easy, and they will probably need to study for a long time in order to do so. Some people pass on their first try, but others might attempt to pass multiple times before they finally do.
After that, the state bar needs to admit this candidate. That’s not exactly easy, either. The bar will look into someone’s background and qualifications thoroughly before they admit them.
In many states, a candidate would next need to pass the Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam, sometimes abbreviated as MPRE. This tests their knowledge surrounding issues of legal ethics.
As a final step, they must go through a fitness and character review. This makes sure that they meet the rigorous professional standards that go into holding this office or certification.
The state bar doesn’t want just anyone to become an attorney. They want to ensure they’re letting in not just the best and brightest, but also individuals who will not do anything to discredit the legal profession.
Why Might Someone Decide Not to Go from a Lawyer to an Attorney?
Now that you know the difference between being a lawyer and an attorney, you might wonder why some people don’t go through the process. After all, it’s not like you need to do that much more to become an attorney after you attain legal status as a lawyer.
For most lawyers, it’s a matter of what they want to do for a career. If you’re going to teach the law or study it for various reasons, and you don’t ever plan to represent clients in court for either criminal or civil reasons, then you may decide it’s not worth it.
Most people who don’t know the law very well still use “lawyer” and “attorney” interchangeably, and that’s fine. There’s a difference, though, even if many people don’t ever take the time to consider it.
