Lawyer | Definition, Responsibilities, & Facts | Britannica (original) (raw)

lawyer, one trained and licensed to prepare, manage, and either prosecute or defend a court action as an agent for another and who also gives advice on legal matters that may or may not require court action.

Lawyers apply the law to specific cases. They investigate the facts and the evidence by conferring with their clients and reviewing documents, and they prepare and file the pleadings in court. At the trial, they introduce evidence, interrogate witnesses, and argue questions of law and fact. If they do not win the case, they may seek a new trial or relief in an appellate court.

In many instances, lawyers can bring about the settlement of a case without trial through negotiation, reconciliation, and compromise. In addition, the law gives individuals the power to arrange and determine their legal rights in many matters and in various ways, as through wills, contracts, or corporate bylaws, and lawyers aid in many of these arrangements. Since the 20th century a rapidly developing field of work for lawyers has been the representation of clients before administrative committees and courts and before legislative committees.

Lawyers have several loyalties in their work, including loyalties to their clients, to the administration of justice, to the community, to their associates in practice, and to themselves. When these loyalties conflict, the standards of the profession are intended to effect a reconciliation.

Legal practice varies from country to country. In England lawyers are divided into barristers, who plead in the higher courts, and solicitors, who do office work and plead in the lower courts. In the United States attorneys often specialize in limited areas of law, such as criminal, divorce, corporate, probate, or personal injury, though many are involved in general practice.

In France numerous types of professionals and even nonprofessionals handle various aspects of legal work. The most prestigious is the avocat, who is equal in rank to a magistrate or law professor. Roughly comparable to the English barrister, the _avocat_’s main function is to plead in court. In France, as in most civil-law countries, the examination of witnesses is conducted by the magistrate rather than the attorney, as in common-law countries. In their pleading, avocats develop their argument and point out discrepancies in the testimony of witnesses; this is the primary means open to avocats to persuade the court on legal and factual points. Formerly, in addition to the avocats, there were also avoués and agréés; the former represented litigants in all procedural matters except the oral presentation, prepared briefs, and negotiated settlements, while the latter, few in number, were responsible for pleading in certain commercial courts. Today the distinction between avoués and avocats has been abolished in all but the appellate courts, where avoués continue to practice as before.

In addition to these professional groups, there are nonprofessional legal counselors who give advice on various legal problems and are often employed by business firms. In almost all civil-law countries, there are notaries (see notary), who have exclusive rights to deal with such office work as marriage settlements and wills.

In Germany the chief distinction is between lawyers and notaries. The German attorney, however, plays an even smaller courtroom role than the French avocat, largely because presentations on points of law are limited, and litigation is often left to junior partners. Attorneys are often restricted to practice before courts in specific territories. There are further restrictions in that certain attorneys practice only before appeals courts, often necessitating a new attorney for each level of litigation. In Germany lawyers are employed in the administration of government to a greater extent than in common-law countries.

In communist countries lawyers were widely used as advisers to government bureaus but had far less scope in representing individuals. See also advocate; barrister; solicitor.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia BritannicaThis article was most recently revised and updated by Adam Augustyn.