A lawyer is a person who practices law, as a barrister, attorney, counselor or solicitor.[1] Working as a lawyer involves the practical application of abstract legal theories and knowledge to solve specific individualized problems, or to advance the interests of those who hire lawyers to perform legal services.
The role of the lawyer varies greatly across legal jurisdictions, and so it can be treated here in only the most general terms.[2][3]
In practice, legal jurisdictions exercise their right to determine who is recognized as being a lawyer. As a result, the meaning of the term “lawyer” may vary from place to place.[4]
- In Australia, the word “lawyer” is used to refer to both barristers and solicitors (whether in private practice or practicing as corporate in-house counsel).
- In Canada, the word “lawyer” only refers to individuals who have been called to the bar or, in Quebec, have qualified as civil law notaries. Common law lawyers in Canada are formally and properly called “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” in English.
- In England and Wales, “lawyer” is used to refer to persons who provide reserved and unreserved legal activities and includes practitioners such as barristers,attorneys, solicitors, registered foreign lawyers, patent attorneys, trade mark attorneys, licensed conveyancers, public notaries, commissioners for oaths, immigration advisers and claims management services. The Legal Services Act 2007 defines the “legal activities” that may only be performed by a person who is entitled to do so pursuant to the Act. ‘Lawyer’ is not a protected title.
- In South Asia, the term “lawyer” is often colloquially used, but the official term is “advocate” as prescribed under the Advocates Act, 1961.[5]
- In Scotland, the word “lawyer” refers to a more specific group of legally trained people. It specifically includes advocates and solicitors. In a generic sense, it may also include judges and law-trained support staff.
- In the United States, the term generally refers to attorneys who may practice law. It is never used to refer to patent agents[6] or paralegals.[7] In fact, there are regulatory restrictions on non-lawyers like paralegals practicing law.[8]
- Other nations tend to have comparable terms for the analogous concept.
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.[42][43][44] 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.[45]
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.[46][47] Some countries go further; in England and Wales, there is no general prohibition on the giving of legal advice.[48] Sometimes civil law notaries are allowed to give legal advice, as in Belgium.[49] In many countries, non-jurist accountants may provide what is technically legal advice in tax and accounting matters.[50]
Attorney at law or attorney-at-law, usually abbreviated in everyday speech to attorney, is the preferred term for a practising lawyer in certain jurisdictions, including South Africa (for certain lawyers), Sri Lanka, and the United States. In Canada, it is used only in Quebec. The term has its roots in the verb to attorn, meaning to transfer one’s rights and obligations to another.
San Diego
San Diego (/ˌsæn diːˈeɪɡoʊ/, Spanish for “Saint Didacus“; Spanish: [san ˈdje.ɣo]) is a major city in California, United States. It is in San Diego County, on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, approximately 120 miles (190 km) south of Los Angeles and immediately adjacent to the border with Mexico.
With an estimated population of 1,394,928 as of July 1, 2015,[9] San Diego is the eighth-largest city in the United States andsecond-largest in California. It is part of the San Diego–Tijuana conurbation, the second-largest transborder agglomerationbetween the US and a bordering country after Detroit–Windsor, with a population of 4,922,723 people.[11] San Diego has been called “the birthplace of California”.[12] It is known for its mild year-round climate, natural deep-water harbor, extensive beaches, long association with the United States Navy, and recent emergence as a healthcare and biotechnology development center.
Historically home to the Kumeyaay people, San Diego was the first site visited by Europeans on what is now the West Coast of the United States. Upon landing in San Diego Bay in 1542, Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo claimed the area for Spain, forming the basis for the settlement of Alta California 200 years later. The Presidio and Mission San Diego de Alcalá, founded in 1769, formed the first European settlement in what is now California. In 1821, San Diego became part of the newly independent Mexico, which reformed as the First Mexican Republic two years later. In 1850, California became part of the United States following the Mexican–American War and the admission of California to the union.
The city is the seat of San Diego County and is the economic center of the region as well as the San Diego–Tijuanametropolitan area. San Diego’s main economic engines are military and defense-related activities, tourism, international trade, and manufacturing. The presence of the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), with the affiliated UCSD Medical Center, has helped make the area a center of research in biotechnology.