Lawyer Lawyer

Lawyer







A lawyer, or legal practitioner, is a person certified to
give legal
advice who advises clients in legal matters. Some lawyers represent clients in courts of law and in other forms of
dispute resolution.

Law
is a theoretical and abstract discipline, and 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 (see below).

Terminology



The meaning of the word "lawyer" varies slightly
between English dialects. In American
English, the term is synonymous with licensed attorneys
who practice law; attorneys who serve in capacities
such as judges, law clerks
or legislators
are subject to various limitations on their ability to practice, but in a
rather loose and colloquial usage of the term may be considered lawyers. For
consistency, the narrower formal definition is generally used throughout this
article.

In British English, the word "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 Australian English, 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 Canadian English, the word "lawyer" only
refers to individuals who have been called to the bar. They may also be known
as "barristers and solicitors", but should not be referred to as
"attorneys", as that word has a different meaning under Canadian law.

Responsibilities



In most countries, particularly civil law countries, there has been a tradition
of giving many legal tasks to a variety of civil
law notaries, clerks, and scriveners.^[1] These
countries do not have "lawyers" in the American sense, insofar as
that term refers to a single type of general-purpose legal services provider;^[2]
rather, their legal professions consist of a large number of law-trained
persons, known as jurists,
of which only some are advocates who are licensed to practice in the courts.^[3][4]
Notably, England,
the mother of the common law jurisdictions, emerged from the Dark Ages
with similar complexity in its legal professions, but then evolved by the 19th
century to a single dichotomy between barristers
and solicitors.
An equivalent dichotomy developed between advocates and procurators in some
civil law countries, though these two types did not always monopolize the
practice of law as much as barristers and solicitors, in that they always
coexisted with civil law notaries.^[5][6][7]

Several countries that originally had two or more legal
professions have since fused or united their professions
into a single type of lawyer.^{[8][9][10][11]}
Most countries in this category are common law
countries, though France,
a civil law country, merged together its jurists in 1990 and 1991 in response to
Anglo-American competition.^[12] In
countries with fused professions, a lawyer is usually permitted to carry out
all or nearly all the responsibilities listed below.

Oral argument in the courts



The classic public image of a lawyer is of a polished,
well-dressed advocate
who smoothly argues a client's case before a judge or jury in a court of law.
This is the traditional province of the barrister.

However, the boundary between barristers and solicitors has
gradually evolved over time. For example, in England, the barrister monopoly
covers only appellate courts, and barristers must compete directly with
solicitors in many trial courts.^[13]

In some countries, litigants have the option (though not
recommended) of arguing pro se, or on their own behalf. Therefore, it is common
for litigants to appear unrepresented before certain courts like small
claims courts; indeed, many such courts do not allow lawyers to speak for
their clients, in an effort to save money for all participants in a small case.^[14] In
other countries, like Venezuela, no one may appear before a judge unless
represented by a lawyer.^[15] The
advantage of the latter regime is that lawyers are familiar with the court's
customs and procedures, and make the legal system more efficient for all
involved. Unrepresented parties often damage their own credibility or slow the
court down as a result of their inexperience.

Research and drafting of court papers



In most legal systems, lawyers are expected to brief a
court in writing on the issue in a case before the issue can be orally argued.
They may have to perform extensive research into relevant facts and law.

In England,
a solicitor gets the facts of the case from the client and briefs a barrister
in writing. The barrister then researches, drafts, and files the necessary
court pleadings, and orally argues the case.^[18]

In Spain, the procurator merely signs and presents the papers to
the court, but it is the advocate who drafts the papers and argues the case.^[19]

In some countries, like Japan, a scrivener or
clerk may fill out court forms and draft simple papers for laypersons who
cannot afford or do not need attorneys, and advise them on how to manage and
argue their own cases.

Advocacy (written and oral) in
administrative hearings




In most developed countries, the legislature has granted original jurisdiction over highly technical
matters to executive branch administrative agencies which
oversee such things. As a result, some lawyers have become specialists in administrative law. In a few countries, there is
a special category of jurists with a monopoly over this form of advocacy; for
example, France
formerly had conseil juridiques (who were merged into the main legal
profession in 1991).^[21] In other countries, like the United
States, lawyers have been effectively barred by statute from certain types
of administrative hearings in order to preserve their informality.

Client intake and counseling (with regard to
pending litigation)



Before a lawyer can accept a client's case, he or she must
interview the client and determine whether it is worth taking. Generally, there
is no obligation to take a case, with the exception of public
defenders, who must defend all indigent criminal defendants who cannot
afford an attorney. The lawyer must also stay in regular contact with the
client and advise them about the case's status and possible outcome.

In England,
only solicitors were traditionally in direct contact with the client.^[23] The
solicitor retained a barrister if one was necessary and acted as an
intermediary between the barrister and the client. In most cases a barrister
would be obliged, under what is known as the "cab rank rule", to
accept instructions for a case in an area in which they held themselves out as
practising, at a court at which they normally appeared and at their usual
rates.

Legal advice (with regard to all legal
matters)



Legal advice is the application of abstract principles of
law to the concrete facts of the client's case in order to advise the client
about what they should do next. In many countries, only a properly licensed
lawyer may provide legal advice to clients for good consideration,
even if no lawsuit is contemplated or is in progress.^[26][27][28]
Therefore, even conveyancers and corporate in-house counsel must first get a
license to practice, though they may actually spend very little of their
careers in court. Failure to obey such a rule is the crime of unauthorized practice of law.

In other countries, jurists who hold law degrees are
allowed to provide legal advice to individuals or to corporations, and it is
irrelevant if they lack a license and cannot appear in court.^[29][30]
Some countries go further; in England
and Wales, there is no general prohibition on the giving of legal
advice. Sometimes civil law notaries are allowed to give legal advice, as in Belgium.^[31] In
many countries, non-jurist accountants may provide what is technically legal
advice in tax and accounting matters

Protecting intellectual property




In virtually all countries, patents, copyrights, trademarks, industrial
designs and other forms of intellectual property must be formally
registered with a government agency in order to receive maximum protection under
the law. The division of such work among lawyers, licensed non-lawyer
jurists/agents, and ordinary clerks or scriveners varies greatly from one
country to the next.

Negotiating and drafting contracts



In some countries, the negotiating and drafting of contracts
is considered to be similar to the provision of legal advice, so that it is
subject to the licensing requirement explained above.^[34] In
others, jurists or notaries may negotiate or draft contracts.^[35]

Lawyers in some civil law countries traditionally
deprecated "transactional law" or "business law" as beneath
them. French law firms developed transactional departments only in the 1990s
when they started to lose business to international firms based in the United States and the United
Kingdom (where solicitors have always done transactional work).

Conveyancing



Conveyancing is the drafting of the documents necessary for
the transfer of real property, such as deeds and mortgages. In
some jurisdictions, all real estate transactions must be carried out by a lawyer
(or a solicitor where that distinction still exists).^[37]
Such a monopoly is quite valuable from the lawyer's point of view;
historically, conveyancing accounted for about half of English solicitors'
income (though this has since changed),^[38] and
a 1978 study showed that conveyancing "accounts for as much as 80 percent
of solicitor-client contact in New
South Wales."^[39] In
most common law jurisdictions outside of the United States, this monopoly arose
from an 1804 law^[40] that was introduced by William Pitt the Younger as a quid pro
quo for the raising of fees on the certification of legal professionals
such as barristers, solicitors, attorneys and notaries.^[41]

In others, the use of a lawyer is optional and banks, title
companies, or realtors
may be used instead.^[42] In some civil law jurisdictions, real estate
transactions are handled by civil law notaries.^[43] In England
and Wales a special class of legal professional, the Licensed Conveyancer is also allowed to carry
out conveyancing services for reward.