Law firm

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A law firm is a business entity formed by one or more lawyers to engage in the practice of
law. The primary service provided by a law firm is to advise clients (individuals or
corporations) about their legal rights and responsibilities, and to represent their clients in civil
or criminal cases, business transactions and other matters in which legal assistance is sought.

Smaller firms tend to focus on particular specialties of the law (e.g. patent law, labor law, tax
law, criminal defense, personal injury); larger firms may be composed of several specialized
practice groups, allowing the firm to diversify their client base and market, and to offer a
variety of services to their clients.

Law firms are organized in a variety of ways, depending on the jurisdiction in which the firm
practices. Common arrangements include:

• Sole proprietorship, in which the attorney is the law firm and is responsible for all
profit, loss and liability;
• General partnership, in which all of the attorneys in the firm equally share ownership
and liability;
• Professional corporations, which issue stock to the attorneys in a fashion similar to
that of a business corporation;
• Limited liability company, in which the attorney-owners are called "members" but are
not directly liable to third party creditors of the law firm;
• Professional association, which operates similarly to a professional corporation or a
limited liability company;
• Limited liability partnership (LLP), in which the attorney-owners are called
"partners", but are not liable to third party creditors of the law firm, except in certain
limited circumstances.

In many countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom, there is a rule that
only lawyers may have an ownership interest in, or be managers of, a law firm. Thus, law
firms cannot quickly raise capital through initial public offerings on the stock market, like
most corporations. In the United States this rule is promulgated by the American Bar
Association and adhered to in almost all U.S. jurisdictions.

The rule was created in order to prevent conflicts of interest. In the adversarial system of
justice, a lawyer has a duty to be a zealous and loyal advocate on behalf of the client. Also, as
an officer of the court, a lawyer has a duty to be honest and to not file frivolous cases. A
lawyer working as a shareholder-employee of a publicly traded law firm would be strongly
tempted to evaluate decisions in terms of their effect on the stock price and the shareholders,
which would directly conflict with the lawyer's duties to the client and to the courts.

In the United Kingdom, lawyers are divided between barristers, who plead in the higher
courts and give expert opinions on points of law, and solicitors who act directly for clients.
Even though barristers are traditionally seen as the senior branch of the legal profession, and
the most distinguished British lawyers are generally barristers, most barristers are self-
employed sole practitioners (although they share facilities in sets of rooms known as
"chambers", usually at one of the four Inns of Court). All the main UK law firms are firms of
solicitors.

Big law firms usually have separate litigation and corporate departments. The corporate
departments advise companies on corporate deals, and the litigation departments deal with the
problems the firms' clients face.

[edit] Structure and Promotion

Larger firms are typically organized around partners, who are joint owners and business
directors of the legal operation; associates, who are employees of the firm with the prospect of
becoming partners; and a variety of staff employees, providing paralegal, clerical, and other
support services. An associate may have to wait as long as 9 years before the decision is made
as to whether the associate "makes partner". Many law firms have an "up-or-out policy":
associates who do not make partner are required to resign, either to join another firm, go it
alone as a solo practitioner, go to work in-house in a corporate legal department, or change
professions (burnout rates are very high in law[1]).

Making partner is very prestigious, especially at a large or midsize firm. Such firms take out
advertisements in legal newspapers to announce who has made partner. Traditionally, partners
shared directly in the profits of the firm, after paying salaried employees, the landlord, and the
usual costs of furniture, office supplies, and books for the law library (or a database
subscription). However, many large law firms have moved to a two-tiered partnership model,
with equity and non-equity partners. Equity partners are considered to have ownership stakes
in the firm, and share in the profits (and losses) of the firm. Non-equity partners are generally
paid a fixed salary (albeit much higher than associates), and they are often granted certain
limited voting rights with respect to firm operations. It is rare for a partner to be forced out by
fellow partners, although that can happen if the partner commits a crime or malpractice,
experiences disruptive mental illness, or is not contributing to the firm's overall profitability.
In contrast, most corporate executives are at much higher risk of being fired, even when the
underlying cause is not directly their fault, such as a drop in the company's stock price.

In the United States and Canada, many large and midsize firms have attorneys with the job
title of "counsel", "special counsel" or "of counsel." These attorneys are employees of the firm
like associates, although some firms have an independent contractor relationship with their of
counsel. But unlike associates, and more like partners, they generally have their own clients,
manage their own cases, and supervise associates. These relationships are structured to allow
more senior attorneys share in the resources and "brand name" of the firm without being a
part of management or profit sharing decisions. The title is often seen among former
associates who do not make partner, or who are laterally recruited to other firms, or who work
as in-house counsel and then return to the big firm environment. At some firms, the title "of
counsel" is given to retired partners who maintain ties to the firm. Sometimes an "of counsel"
is a senior or experienced attorney, such as a foreign legal consultant with experience in
international law and practice, and his own clients. They are hired as independent contractors
by large firms as a special arrangement, that may lead upon profitable results to partnership.
In these situation an "of counsel" could be considered as a transitional status in the firm.

[edit] Size

Law firms range widely in size. The smallest law firms are solo practitioners (lawyers
practicing alone), who form the vast majority of lawyers in most countries. In North America,
there are also many small firms (2 to 50 lawyers) and midsize firms (50 to 200 lawyers).[2]

Lawyers in small cities and towns may still have old-fashioned general practices, but most
urban lawyers tend to be highly specialized due to the overwhelming complexity of the law
today.[3] Thus, some small firms in the cities specialize in practicing only one kind of law (like
employment, antitrust, intellectual property, or telecommunications) and are called "boutique"
firms.

The largest law firms have more than 1,000 lawyers. These firms, often colloquially called
"megafirms", will likely have offices on several continents, bill up to $750 per hour or higher,
and have a high ratio of support staff per attorney.[4] They can, and in some cases do, litigate
every issue, burying their opponents in a blizzard of paper in the process; the result has been a
kind of legal "arms race" where every large corporation tries to retain the services of the
biggest law firm they can afford.[5] Because of the localized and regional nature of firms, the
relative size of a firm varies. Thus in New York, several hundred attorneys would be required
for a "large firm", whereas in Las Vegas, perhaps only 50 attorneys would be needed to be a
"large firm".

The largest firms like to call themselves "full-service" firms because they have departments
specializing in every type of legal work that pays well, which in the U.S. usually means M&A
transactions, banking and defense. These firms rarely do plaintiffs' personal injury work.
However the largest law firms are not very large compared to other major businesses (or even
other professional services firms) due to the fact that, as law firms, they cannot raise capital
from the public markets and, due to ethics rules, cannot represent conflicting parties.

The largest law firms in the world are based primarily in the United Kingdom and the United
States. The American system of licensing attorneys on a state-by-state basis, the tradition of
having a headquarters in a single U.S. state and a close focus on profits per partner (as
opposed to sheer scale) has to date limited the size of most American law firms. Thus, whilst
the most profitable law firms in the world remain in New York, four of the six largest firms in
the world are based in London in the United Kingdom [1]. But the huge size of the United
States results in a larger number of large firms overall — a 2003 survey found that the United
States alone had 901 law firms with more than 50 lawyers, while there were only 58 such
firms in Canada, 44 in Great Britain, 14 in France, and 9 in Germany.[6] There is an increasing
tendency for globalisation of law firms.

In 2004, the largest law firm in the world was the British firm Clifford Chance, which had
revenue of US$1.675 billion. This can be compared with $312 billion for Wal-Mart. On the
other hand, Clifford Chance employs about 6,500 worldwide (3200+ of whom are fee-earning
lawyers), versus Wal-Mart's 1,600,000 employees.

[edit] Location
Most law firms are located in office buildings of various sizes, ranging from modest one-story
buildings to some of the tallest skyscrapers in the world (though only in 2004, Paul, Hastings,
Janofsky & Walker LLP was the first firm to put its name on a skyscraper)[citation needed]. Some
solo practitioners practice out of their homes or in offices built as special additions to their
homes.

Because their "work product" is often intangible, or at least conceptually difficult for clients
to grasp, some firms are notorious for using jaw-dropping interior design (huge amount of
floor space and fantastic views) as a crude "shock and awe" tactic to impress prospective
clients and terrify opposing counsel. Other firms will find more modest office space,
depending on the nature of the practice.

In early 2005, it was widely publicized that one personal injury plaintiffs' firm in the state of
New York has been experimenting with bus-sized "mobile law offices." The firm insists that
it does not "chase ambulances". It claims that a law office on wheels is more convenient for
personal injury plaintiffs, who are often recovering from severe injuries and thus find it
difficult to travel far from their homes for an intake interview. It is not yet clear whether this
experiment will grow into a trend.

[edit] In fiction
A number of television shows such as L.A. Law, The Practice, Boston Legal, and Justice have
revolved around relationships occurring in fictional law firms, highlighting both public
fascination with and misperception of the characteristic lives of lawyers in high-powered
settings. The primary villain of the show Angel is an evil, supernatural law firm called
Wolfram and Hart. Supernatural Law is a comic featuring a law firm that specializes in
serving the legal needs of monsters and other supernatural beings,

A barrister is a lawyer found in many common law jurisdictions which employ a "split
profession" (as opposed to a "fused profession") in relation to legal representation. In split
professions, the other type of lawyer is the solicitor. Solicitors have more direct contact with
the clients, whereas barristers often only become involved in a case in order to provide any
advocacy needed by the client. Barristers are rarely, if ever, instructed by clients directly.
Instead, the client's solicitors will instruct a barrister on behalf of the client when appropriate.

The historical difference between the two professions -- and the only essential difference in
England and Wales today -- is that a solicitor is an attorney, which means they stand in the
place of their client for legal purposes, and may conduct litigation by making applications to
the court, writing letters in litigation to the client's opponent and so on. A barrister is not an
attorney and is forbidden, both by law and by professional rules, from conducting litigation.
This difference in function explains many of the practical differences between the two
professions. In split professions, barristers are regarded as holding higher office than
solicitors, barristers being regarded as ministers of the court in contrast to solicitors who are
said to be mere officers of the court: Caboolture Park Shopping Centre Pty Ltd (in liq) v
White Industries (Qld) Pty Ltd (1993) 117 ALR 253.
The United States does not observe a distinction between barristers and solicitors. Attorneys
are permitted to conduct all aspects of litigation and appear before those courts where they
have been admitted to the bar.

[edit] Practical differences between barristers and

solicitors
The practical difference between the two professions is twofold:

• The barrister will usually be the lawyer who represents litigants as their advocate
before the courts of that jurisdiction. A barrister will usually have rights of audience in
court, whereas other legal professionals will have more limited access, or will need to
take additional qualifications to do so. In this regard, the profession of barrister
corresponds to that part of the role of legal professionals found in the civil law
jurisdictions relating to appearing in trials or pleading cases before the courts.

Barristers used to have a major role in trial preparation, including drafting pleadings
and reviewing evidence. In modern times, it is relatively common for a barrister to
only receive a "brief" from an instructing solicitor to represent a client at trial a day or
two before the hearing.[1]

• Barristers often have a more specialised knowledge of case-law and precedent. When
a solicitor in general practice is confronted with an unusual point of law, they
sometimes seek the "opinion of counsel" on the issue.[2]

However, in many countries the traditional divisions are breaking down. Barristers used to
enjoy a monopoly on appearances before the higher courts, but in most countries this has now
been abolished, and solicitor advocates can generally appear for clients at trial. Increasingly
firms of solicitors are keeping even the most advanced advisory and litigation work in-house
for economic and client relationship reasons. Similarly, the prohibition on barristers taking
instructions directly from the public has also been widely abolished, but in practice, direct
instruction is still a rarity in most jurisdictions, partly because barristers with narrow
specialisations or who are only really trained for advocacy are not equipped to provide
general advice to members of the public.

In most countries, barristers operate as sole practitioners, and are prohibited from forming
partnerships (although in England and Wales the Clementi reporthas recommended the
abolition of this restriction). However, barristers normally band together into "chambers" to
share clerks (administrators) and operating expenses. Some chambers grow to be large and
sophisticated, and have a distinctly corporate feel. Some barristers, on the other hand, are
employed by firms of solicitors, banks or corporations as in-house legal advisers.

[edit] Common law division

In the common tradition, the respective roles of a lawyer—that is as legal adviser and
advocate—were formally split into two separate, regulated sub-professions, the other being
the office of solicitor. An often-used (but not entirely accurate) parallel is the medical
profession, in that a solicitor, like a general practitioner is the regular point of contact for a
client, who will only be referred to a barrister (or, to continue the metaphor, a consultant) for
specialist advisory or advocacy services. There is no difference in the level of complexity in
the practice of law by the different branches of the profession, though barristers tend to be
instructed in complex litigation and in certain other specialist fields.

Historically, the distinction was absolute, but in the modern legal age, some countries which
had a split legal profession are now characterised by having a fused profession; all persons
entitled to practice as a barrister are also entitled to practice as a solicitor, and vice versa. In
practice, the distinction may be non-existent, minor, or marked, depending on the jurisdiction.
And in others, Scotland and Ireland for example, there is little overlap.

Where the profession is split, it is the solicitor who works directly with the client, and who is
responsible for engaging a qualified and experienced barrister appropriate to the budget of the
client and the nature of his or her case. Conventionally, barristers (also known as "Counsel")
will have little or no direct contact with their "lay clients", particularly without the presence or
involvement of the solicitor or "professional client" that has engaged them. All
correspondence, enquiries, invoices, etc. will be addressed to the solicitor, who is primarily
responsible for the barristers' fees. Barristers, unlike solicitors, have full rights of audience,
allowing them to appear before any court in the jurisdiction. Generally, solicitors only have
rights of audience before the lower courts. However, some solicitors in England and Wales
and Scotland are certified as solicitor advocates and, as such, are qualified to represent
clients as an advocate in the higher courts in England and Wales or in Scotland.

[edit] Justifications

The reasons for a split profession are normally historical, however a number of reasons are
still advanced for maintaining split professions.

• Having an independent barrister reviewing a cause of action gives the client a fresh
and independent opinion from an expert in the field, something that rarely happens in
jurisdictions with fused professions
• Having recourse to all of the specialist barristers at the bar enables smaller firms, who
could not maintain large specialist departments, to compete with larger firms
• A barrister acts as a check on the solicitor conducting the trial; if it becomes apparent
that the claim or defence has not been properly conducted by the solicitor prior to trial,
the barrister can (and usually has a duty to) advise the client of a separate possible
claim against the solicitor
• Having trials conducted by experienced specialist advocates makes for smoother, more
professionally run trials.

Against that, a number of disadvantages are put forward:

• A multiplicity of legal advisors leads to higher costs (something that caused no small
amount of concern to Sir David Clementi in his review of the English legal profession)
• As barristers are dependent upon solicitors for referrals of work, it is open to question
how willing barristers are to criticise those who instruct them to the client.
• Barristers are sometimes criticised for being "over-specialised" and not having
sufficient general expertise outside of their fields in some highly specialised fields,
such as intellectual property law or tax law.
[edit] Regulation
Barristers are regulated by the Bar for the jurisdiction in which they practice, and in some
countries, by the Inn of Court to which they belong. In some countries, there is external
regulation, although where this exists it is frequently criticised as inimical to the
independence of the profession as defender of the citizen against the state.

Inns of Court, where they exist, regulate admission to the profession. Inns of Court are
independent societies that are titularly responsible for the training, admission (calling) and
discipline of barristers. Where they exist, a person may only be called to the Bar by an Inn, of
which he must first become a member. In fact, historically, call to and success at the Bar to
some extent depended upon the introductions that you made during these formative years.

A Bar collectively describes all members of the profession of barrister within a given
jurisdiction. Whilst as a minimum the Bar is an association embracing all its members, it is
usually the case, either de facto or de jure, that the Bar will be invested with regulatory
powers in relation into the manner in which barristers conduct practice.

[edit] Barristers in England and Wales

Main article: Barristers in England and Wales

England and Wales, whilst in some areas of government separate from each other within the
devolved political structure of the United Kingdom, comprise a single legal jurisdiction, and
accordingly they are together served by a single Bar.

The profession of barrister in England and Wales is a separate profession from that of
solicitor. Although there is some overlap in respective roles, it is not possible to be both a
barrister and a solicitor at the same time. Barristers are regulated by the Bar Council.

A barrister must be a member of one of the Inns of Court, which traditionally educated and
regulated barristers. There are four Inns of Court: The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, The
Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn, The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, and The
Honourable Society of the Inner Temple. All are situated in central London, near the Royal
Courts of Justice. They perform scholastic and social roles, and in some cases, provide
financial aid to student barristers through scholarships. It is the Inns that actually "call" the
student to the Bar at a ceremony similar to a graduation. Social functions include dining with
other members and guests and hosting other events.

Student barristers must take a Bar Vocational Course (BVC) (usually one year full-time) at
one of the institutions authorised by the Bar Council to offer the BVC. On successful
completion of the BVC student barristers are “called” to the bar by their respective inns and
are elevated to the degree of "Barrister-at-law". However, before they can practice
independently they must first undertake twelve months of pupillage. The first six months of
this period is spent shadowing more senior practitioners, after which pupil barristers begin to
undertake some court work of their own. Following successful completion of this stage, most
barristers then join a set of Chambers, a group of counsel who share the costs of premises and
support staff whilst remaining individually self-employed.
In December 2004 there were just over 11,500 barristers in independent practice, of whom
about ten percent are QCs and the remainder are junior barristers. Many barristers (about
2,800) are employed in companies as ‘in-house’ counsel, or by local or national government
or in academic institutions.

[edit] Public Access Barristers

Certain barristers in England and Wales are now instructed directly by members of the public.
These are known as ‘Public Access Barristers’. The public contract with (instruct) the
barrister directly through the barrister’s clerk; a solicitor is not involved at any stage. Public
Access Barristers can provide expert legal advice and/or representation in court in almost all
areas of law and they are entitled to represent clients in any court or tribunal in England and
Wales. Once instructions from a client are accepted, it is the barrister (rather than the
solicitor) who advises and guides the client through the relevant legal procedure/litigation.

Public Access Barristers are normal barristers with an extra legal qualification. Before a
barrister can undertake Public Access work, he or she must have completed a special course.
At present, about 1 in 20 barristers have qualified as Public Access Barristers. Confusingly,
there is also a scheme called ‘Direct Access’. However, this is different and it is not open to
the general public.

The ability of barristers to accept such instructions is a recent development; it results from a
change in the rules set down by the barristers’ governing body, the Bar Council, in July 2004.
The Public Access Scheme has been introduced as part of the drive to open up the legal
system to the public. It is part of a wider scheme to make it easier and cheaper for the general
public to access legal advice.

To some extent this relaxation mirrors the relaxation in the rules to allow ‘solicitors
advocates’. It further reduces the distinction between solicitors and barristers. The distinction
remains however because there are certain aspects of a solicitor’s role that a Public Access
Barrister is not able to do.

[edit] Barristers in Northern Ireland

In April 2003 there were 554 barristers in independent practice in Northern Ireland. Sixty-six
were Queen's Counsel (QCs), barristers who have earned a high reputation and are appointed
by the Queen on the recommendation of the Lord Chancellor as senior advocates and
advisers.

Those barristers who are not QCs are called Junior Counsel and are styled "BL" or "Barrister-
at-Law". The term "junior" is often misleading since many members of the Junior Bar are
experienced barristers with considerable expertise.
Benchers are, and have been for centuries, the governing bodies of the four Inns of Court in
London and King's Inns, Dublin. The Benchers of the Inn of Court of Northern Ireland
governed the Inn until the enactment of the Constitution of the Inn in 1983, which provides
that the government of the Inn is shared between the Benchers, the Executive Council of the
Inn and members of the Inn assembled in General Meeting.

The Executive Council (through its Education Committee) is responsible for considering
Memorials submitted by applicants for admission as students of the Inn and by Bar students
of the Inn for admission to the degree of Barrister-at-Law and making recommendations to
the Benchers. The final decisions on these Memorials are taken by the Benchers. The
Benchers also have the exclusive power of expelling or suspending a Bar student and of
disbarring a barrister or suspending a barrister from practice.

The Executive Council is also involved with: education; fees of students; calling counsel to
the Bar, although call to the Bar is performed by the Lord Chief Justice on the invitation of
the Benchers; administration of the Bar Library (to which all practising members of the Bar
belong); and liaising with corresponding bodies in other countries.

The Bar Council is responsible for the maintenance of the standards, honour and
independence of the Bar and, through its Professional Conduct Committee, receives and
investigates complaints against members of the Bar in their professional capacity.

All barristers and solicitors in Northern Ireland have passed exams at the Institute of
Professional Legal Studies, of Queen's University of Belfast. The exams there are different
from the rest of the UK, but on the possession of a qualifiying law degree (especially from
Queen's University), the teaching can be missed and the exam sat directly. Those with a non-
qualifying degree can still do the exams, on completion of the relevant course. After a
pupillage with an experienced barrister at the Bar Library, one is then qualified.

[edit] Advocates in Scotland and the Channel Islands

Main article: Advocate

In Scotland an advocate is, in all respects except name, a barrister, but there are significant
differences in professional practice.

In Scotland, admission to and the conduct of the profession is regulated by Faculty of

Advocates (as opposed to an Inn).

In the Bailiwick of Jersey, there are solicitors and advocates, but in the Bailiwick of
Guernsey, Advocates of the Royal Court perform the functions of both solicitors and
barristers.

[edit] Barristers and solicitors in Canada

In Canada (except Quebec), the professions of barrister and solicitor are fused, and many
lawyers refer to themselves with both names, even if they do not practice in both areas. In
colloquial parlance within the Canadian legal profession, lawyers often term themselves as
"litigators" (or "barristers"), or as "solicitors", depending on the nature of their law practice
though some may in effect practice as both litigators and solicitors. However, "litigators"
would generally perform all litigation functions traditionally performed by barristers and
solicitors; in contrast, those terming themselves "solicitors" would generally limit themselves
to legal work not involving practice before the courts (not even in a preparatory manner as
performed by solicitors in England), though some might practise before chambers judges in
non-contentious (and sometimes contentious) matters.

However, in Quebec, which has a civil law tradition, the situation resembles the rest of
Canada. Advocates (avocats) practice before the courts, whereas civil law notaries (notaires)
limit themselves to most of the functions of solicitors. However, many aspects of non-
contentious legal matters are the concurrent domain of both advocates and notaries; with the
result that advocates often specialize either as pleading advocates (i.e. litigators) or as non-
pleading advocates (i.e. solicitor). The only exception is that advocates cannot perform
notarial acts (i.e., essentially, certifications and authentifications of documents and the
keeping of contracts and other legal records, en minute (in minute form) ). Most of the large
law firms in Quebec are firms of advocates (pleading and non-pleading) who perform the full
range of legal services like those performed by law firms in the common law provinces, the
only exception being notarial acts.

[edit] Barristers in other jurisdictions

Barristers are also found in the Republic of Ireland, Hong Kong (where the Chinese name da
lu shi, 大律師 is also used), and Australia (in the states without a fused profession, namely
New South Wales, Victoria, and Queensland).

In the Republic of Ireland, the official qualification is that of Barrister-at-Law (abbreviated to

"B.L."). Senior members of the profession may be selected for elevation to the Inner Bar,
when they may describe themselves as Senior Counsel ("S.C.") There is a single Inn that has
retained (or at least has not delegated) its educational responsibilities: The Honorable Society
of King’s Inns, (note Honorable not Honourable as in England) located near to the Four
Courts, the premises of the High Court and Supreme Court. Unlike barristers in England and
Wales, Irish barristers are sole practitioners and may not form chambers or partnerships . In
order to practice, a newly qualified barrister is apprenticed to a more senior barrister of at
least 7 years' experience. This apprenticeship is known as pupillage or devilling and lasts
between one to two years.

In Australia, each state Bar Association has the functions of Inns of Court.

In Western Australia and South Australia, the professions of barristers and solicitors are
fused, but nonetheless an independent bar is in existence, regulated by those States' Legal
Practice Boards. A similar arrangement exists in New Zealand. In Tasmania (Australia) the
profession is fused although a very small number of practitioners operate as an independent
bar.

The United States does not draw a distinction between barristers and solicitors; all lawyers
who pass the bar examination may argue in the courts of the state in which they are admitted,
although some state appellate courts require attorneys to obtain a separate certificate of
admission to plead and practice in the appellate court. Federal courts require specific
admission to that court's bar in order to practice before it. At the State appellate level and in
Federal courts, there is no separate examination process, and admission is usually granted as a
matter of course to any licensed attorney.

In Nigeria, there is no formal distinction between barristers and solicitors. All lawyers who
pass the bar examination and are called to the Nigerian bar by the Body of Benchers of the
Nigerian Bar may argue in any Federal trial or appellate court as well as any of the courts in
Nigeria's 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory. The Legal Practitioner's Act refers to
Nigerian lawyers as Legal Practitioners, and following their call to the bar, Nigerian lawyers
are required to enrol or enter their names in the register or Roll of Legal Practitioners kept at
the Supreme Court. Perhaps for this reason, a Nigerian lawyer is also often referred to as a
Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, and a good many Nigerian lawyers
term themselves Barrister-at-Law complete with the postnominal initials "B.L.".

The vast majority of Nigerian lawyers combine contentious and non-contentious work,
although there is a growing tendency for practitioners in the bigger practices to specialise in
one or the other. In colloquial parlance within the Nigerian legal profession, lawyers may for
this reason be referred to as "litigators" or as "solicitors".

Consistent with the practice in England and elsewhere in the Commonwealth, senior members
of the profession may be selected for elevation to the Inner Bar by conferment of the rank of
Senior Advocate of Nigeria ("S.A.N.").

Spain has a division which generally corresponds to the division in Britain between
barristers/advocates and solicitors. Procuradores represent the interests of a litigant in court,
while abogados is the general term for other lawyers. Procuradores are regulated by Royal
Decree 2046 of 1982, which approved the General Statute of the Procuradores, and the
Organic Law no.6 of 1985. The General Statute regulates the qualifications and conduct of the
procuradores. Thus, obligations to act pro bono are laid down by Article 13.

n attorney at law (also known simply as an attorney or lawyer) in the United States is a
person licensed to practice law by the highest court of a state or other jurisdiction. Alternate
terms include attorney-at-law and attorney and counselor (or counsellor) at law.

The American legal system has a united (or fused) legal profession, and does not draw a
distinction between lawyers who plead in court and those who do not. Many other common
law jurisdictions, as well as some civil law jurisdictions, have a separation, such as the
solicitor and barrister/advocate split in the United Kingdom and the advocate/civil law notary
split in France. There is also no delegation of routine work to notaries public or their civil law
equivalent.

Contents
[hide]

• 1 Comparison: attorney in fact and attorney at law

 • 2 Comparison to older domestic terminology and foreign terminology
• 3 The job of an attorney
• 4 Media images
• 5 Specialization
• 6 Control of cases
• 7 Education and training
o 7.1 Law students in court
 7.1.1 Illinois: The 711 license
• 8 Unlicensed practice of law
• 9 American attorneys' attire
• 10 Alternatives to the practice of law
• 11 Notes
• 12 External links

o 12.1 United States

[edit] Comparison: attorney in fact and attorney at law

Broadly speaking, an "attorney" is one who acts on behalf of another person in some capacity.
For example, an "attorney-in-fact" is a kind of agent who acts on behalf of another person,
typically with respect to business, property, or personal matters, and who does not have to be
licensed to practice law or to have any other license from the government. The term power of
attorney refers to the authority of an attorney-in-fact to act in the name of another person, and
to the signed document which is evidence of such authority.

By contrast an attorney at law, or lawyer, is a person trained and licensed to practice law —
to represent clients in legal matters (both in and out of court), and to give legal advice. In the
United States, the term attorney, standing alone, is generally intended to have this meaning
(and not to mean "attorney in fact").

The term Attorney General is used to designate the chief law enforcement officer of a state or
other political jurisdiction. The attorney general is a lawyer who represents the government,
prosecutes criminal cases, defends the government from lawsuits against it, and brings civil
lawsuits to enforce consumer protection and antitrust laws.

[edit] Comparison to older domestic terminology and

foreign terminology
In common law jurisdictions outside the United States (e.g., England, Canada, and Australia),
attorney is incorrect as a general term, and lawyer or solicitor are used instead. However, in
these areas, the specific terms crown attorney, power of attorney, and Attorney General, are
used. In intellectual property, patent attorney is commonly used.

In earlier times, some states, as well as the U.S. Supreme Court, maintained a divided legal
profession, as can still be found in the United Kingdom, consisting of attorneys (who
practised in courts of equity), solicitors (who practised in courts of law) and barristers, also
known as counsel, whom solicitors and attorneys instructed to appear in the higher courts. In
deference to this practice, when an attorney at law is admitted to practice in some states, his or
her certificate of admission bears the title Attorney and Counsellor-at-Law in recognition of
his inheritance of both of these roles.

Some attorneys use the post-nominal Esq., the abbreviated form of the word Esquire.

[edit] The job of an attorney

Once admitted to practice by the highest court of a state (a function sometimes administered
by the state's bar association), an American attorney may file legal pleadings and argue cases
in any court in that state (except federal courts, which usually require a separate admission),
provide legal advice to clients, and draft important legal documents (such as wills, trusts,
deeds, and contracts). American attorneys use the term lawyering to refer to the art of
practicing law.

In some states, real estate closings may be performed only by attorneys, even though the
attorney's role in a closing may involve primarily notarization of documents and disbursement
of settlement funds through an escrow account.

Practicing law can be broadly generalized as:

1. Interviewing the client and identifying what is their legal matter or dispute;
2. Identifying the discrete legal and factual issues embedded within the client's larger
problem;
3. Researching systematically each issue;
4. Deriving a solution that resolves some, if not all of the issues;
5. Executing it through specific tasks like drafting a contract or filing a motion with a
court.

Most academic legal training is directed to identifying legal issues, researching facts and law,
and arguing both the facts and law in favor of either side in any case.

[edit] Media images

Contrary to the media image of attorneys, much legal work requires hours of in-depth
research in a law library or in an electronic database like Westlaw or LexisNexis. Few
television programs and movies accurately portray the long nights surrounded by a pile of
books or printouts which form the core of the occupational life of many attorneys.

One occasional exception is the television program Law & Order, which sometimes shows
the main characters researching at a computer late into the night (always using Westlaw, due
to a contract between Westlaw and the show's producers). Some episodes also show lawyers
keeping a small rack of clothes in their office for those times when research lasts all night and
the character does not have time to go home to change.

Another notable portrayal of the profession was the series Murder One which focused on the
lawyers (and the law office) as central characters. The Practice did as well, but its accuracy
may be questionable.
Movies and television also do not show the stressful "juggling" aspect of litigation; most
litigators have many cases in progress at any given time. Each case has deadlines that must be
carefully monitored, and court dates which one must not forget to attend. The other side in
any case can serve additional motions that will further complicate things. Repeated failures to
attend to details—or indeed, even a single mistake, in some instances—can lead to
malpractice suits or disbarment.

In litigation, attorneys spend much time discovering the facts of the case to develop a "theory
of the case" that integrates facts and law in a way most favorable to their client. The discovery
phase of a case sometimes turns into an unpleasant war of attrition over petty technicalities
although many lawyers believe that civility is more commonplace in discovery than the
unfortunate but well publicized exceptions. Some attorneys believe approximately 50% to
70% of all funds spent on legal services in the U.S. cover discovery costs.

In addition, there are a large number of attorneys whose practice specializes in activities that
never involve them in litigation, such as writing legal opinions, advising clients, drafting
contracts, preparing tax strategies, and preparing and prosecuting filings with government
agencies such as the Internal Revenue Service, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and
the Patent and Trademark Office. It can be rare for such attorneys to appear in court, and even
to wear a suit or a tie, though this reality is all but absent in media depictions of attorneys.

A fair number of licensed attorneys are unemployed or underemployed, or float from one
temporary assignment to another, doing nothing but poring through the discovery process.
The relatively new phenomenon of many lawyers being unemployed, underemployed, or paid
at relatively low wages is largely a consequence of changes actively pursued, including by the
American Bar Association (ABA), starting in the 1960s. Many underemployed attorneys
blame the bar association[citation needed] for their inability to find better-paying jobs, often ignoring
that their inability to compete may be due their relatively modest skills and inferior client
development abilities.[citation needed] Many in the profession had determined that legal services
would remain difficult or impossible to attain for the less well-off unless the supply of
lawyers was increased relative to the demand for legal services. In sharp contrast with the
medical profession and medical schools, the ABA has encouraged the creation and
accreditation of new law schools since that time.

The number of lawyers relative to the total population has more than doubled in the United
States since 1970, from about one lawyer per 700 people to about one lawyer per 300 people,
with the ratio continuing to rise. At the same time, the ABA and other organizations have
fostered the rise of pro bono work, public service lawyering, and community lawyering, to try
to extend the availability of legal services to all Americans. Government funding for public
legal services at the federal and state levels has become significant. Still, the ABA estimated
in 2000 that still only about one third of the total demand for legal services in the United
States was being met. At the same time, the demand for high-paying legal services,
particularly by large corporations, which was already being well met before the dramatic
expansion of the lawyer population, has grown much less quickly than the supply of lawyers.
Yet many lawyers are still struggling to find jobs. Others believe[citation needed] that because some
attorneys are well paid that all attorneys should be paid extremely high salaries, irrespective
of the value that they add to an employer's work. Many of these attorneys are known to attack
the profession and those who regulate it[citation needed] for failing to engage in restraint of trade by
limiting the number of attorneys. The result has been a much larger disparity in lawyer
compensation.
[edit] Specialization
The neutrality of this section is disputed.
Please see the discussion on the talk page.

Many American attorneys limit their practices to specialized fields of law. Often dichotomies
are drawn between different types of attorneys, but these are neither fixed nor formal lines.
Examples include:

• Litigators (who sue and defend in court) v. transactional (or "office practice")
attorneys (who draft documents and advise clients, rarely going to court)
• Attorneys in private practice and small firms (who can't afford to litigate every little
issue) v. big firms (who can)
• Plaintiffs' attorneys (individual attorneys and small firms who represent individuals on
contingent fee agreements) v. defendants' attorneys (big firms billing large
corporations by the hour)
• Trial attorneys (who argue the facts, such as Johnnie Cochran) v. appellate attorneys
(who argue the law, such as David Boies)
• Outside counsel (law firms) v. in-house counsel (corporate legal department)

Despite these descriptions, some states sometimes forbid or discourage claims of

specialization in particular areas of law unless the attorney has been certified by his or her
state bar[1] or state board of legal specialization. Other states allow indirect indications of
specialization (in forms of advertisements such as "our practice is limited to . . .") but require
that the lawyer state that he or she is not certified by a state board of legal specialization in the
advertised practice area. Patent attorneys are allowed to advertise their specialization in all
jurisdictions, since registration for patent law is administered by the United States Patent and
Trademark Office (USPTO) instead of a state-level body.

Some states grant formal certifications recognizing specialties. In California, for example, bar
certification is offered in family law, appellate practice, criminal law, bankruptcy, estate
planning, immigration, taxation and workmen's compensation. Any attorney meeting the bar
requirements in one of these fields may represent himself as a specialist. Similarly, Texas
formally grants certification of specialization in the following fields: administrative law;
business bankruptcy law; civil appellate law; civil trial law; consumer bankruptcy law;
consumer & commercial law; criminal law; estate planning & probate law; family law; health
law; immigration & nationality law; juvenile law; labor & employment law; oil, gas &
mineral law; personal injury trial law; real estate law; tax law; and workers' compensation
law.[2]

The vast majority of lawyers practicing in a particular field may typically not be certified as
specialists in that field (and state board certification is not generally required to practice law
in any field). For example, the State Bar of Texas (as of mid 2006) reported 77,056 persons
licensed as attorneys in that state (excluding inactive members of the Bar)[1], while the Texas
Board of Legal Specialization reported, at about the same time, only 8,303 Texas attorneys
who were board certified in any specialty.[3] Indeed, of the 8,303 certified specialists in
Texas, the highest number of attorneys certified in one specific field at that time was 1,775 (in
personal injury trial law). Despite the relative large number of lawyers that presumably would
handle divorce, adoption and child custody matters, Texas reported that of 77,056 attorneys,
only 697 in the entire state were certified in family law (which is, arguably, the applicable
specialty).

Specialization in patent law is administered by the Office of Enrollment and Discipline of the
USPTO, which imposes stringent requirements for applicants to become registered as patent
attorneys or patent agents.

About half of American attorneys work solo or in small firms. See law firm. There are also
many midsize firms, with anywhere from 50 to 200 attorneys, and since the 1970s, some law
firms have merged to form giant "megafirms" with 1,000 attorneys or more.

[edit] Control of cases

An American attorney licensed in each applicable court may in a few cases control and argue
his or her case at each level of the judiciary through its entire lifecycle. A notable example of
this is the Brown v. Board of Education litigation, where the same trial team handled the case
from start to finish at the U.S. Supreme Court. However, cases which advance to the appellate
level, particularly to the U.S. Supreme Court, are often re-assigned to experienced appellate
practitioners or firms.

[edit] Education and training

Main article: Legal education in the United States

Almost all U.S. jurisdictions require successful completion of a bar exam to be licensed as an
attorney. All but a few of those states which require a bar exam also require the applicant to
have taken a degree in professional law from an accredited law school. Most require it to be
an American professional doctorate in law. A few states accept foreign law degrees. In
addition to this formal education, attorneys in most jurisdictions must complete regular
Continuing Legal Education (CLE) requirements.

The State of Washington has a separate Law Clerk program under Rule Six of the Washington
Court Admission to Practice Rules. A college graduate of good moral character may be
accepted into the four-year Rule Six Law Clerk program, obtain employment in a law firm or
with a judge for at least 30 hours a week, and study a proscribed Course of Study under a
tutor. After successful completion of the Rule Six Law Clerk program, a law clerk may take
the Washington State Bar Exam and, upon passing, will be admitted as an attorney into the
Washington State Bar Association.

The degree earned by prospective attorneys in the United States is generally a Juris Doctor
(J.D.), or Doctor of Jurisprudence. Historically, law was an undergraduate subject in the
United States, as it still is in most other Anglophone countries, for which the LL.B. (Bachelor
of Laws) or other undergraduate degree (e.g., Cambridge awards the 'Bachelor of Arts in Law'
or B.A.L.) was conferred. This undergraduate degree was followed by the LL.M. or Master of
Laws and, where the LL.B. is still awarded, the highest degree is often still the LL.D. or
Doctor of Laws. In the United States, however, the LL.B. was elevated to the graduate school
curriculum starting in 1896 (Harvard), as a second Bachelor's degree; and then replaced by
the professional doctorate in law - the J.D. or D.Jur. (when the degree is conferred in English)
starting in 1902 (University of Chicago). By the end of the twentieth century, all ABA-
accredited American law schools had replaced the LL.B. with the J.D./D.Jur.

The content of the J.D./D.Jur. curriculum is substantially the same as for a LL.B. curriculum,
except that study for the doctoral level degree builds upon prior undergraduate education
whereas the LL.B. is still an undergraduate degree, even in those few countries where it is
conferred at graduate level as a second Bachelor's degree. As a professional doctorate, people
who hold the J.D./D.Jur. are fully entitled to call themselves "Doctor," though most do not
bother. The label "doctor" is an academic tradition, but the tradition in the American legal
profession is to call all attorneys "Mr." or "Ms." regardless of their academic qualifications. A
litigator with a Ph.D., a M.D., an Ed.D., a Psy.D., as well as a J.D. would still be addressed
"Mr." or "Ms." while she or he was making an oral argument before the U.S. Supreme Court.

The LL.M., however, continues to be offered in the United States, sometimes as a post-
doctoral degree and sometimes as a legal Master's degree for foreign attorneys with the LL.B.
American law schools are very slowly beginning to remedy this idiosyncrasy by creating
explicitly post-doctoral degrees, like the S.J.D. or J.S.D. (Scientiae Juris Doctor or Doctor of
the Science of Law).

Many foreign educated attorneys who have LL.B. degrees come to the United States and
obtain an LL.M. degree in comparative law, familiarizing themselves with American common
law, from when they then take the bar exam in New York or California, which allows foreign
attorneys with such degrees to sit for the test.

The Paul M. Hebert Law Center at Louisiana State University in the U.S. now offers a joint
J.D. (Juris Doctor) / B.C.L. (Bachelor of Civil Law) over 7 semesters (instead of its previous
6-semester program for the J.D. alone) in recognition of the increased Louisiana civil law
component of the new program.

The highest law degree obtainable in the United States is the S.J.D., or Scientum Juris Doctor,
literally "doctor of juridical science". This degree is also known by the abbreviation J.S.D. at
some U.S. schools, e.g. NYU Law School and Columbia Law School. The degree should not
be confused with the "doctor of laws" degree, or LL.D., which is usually, but not always,
awarded for honorary purposes.

The S.J.D. or J.S.D. degree is very rarely awarded, and is generally only sought by attorneys
holding exceptional credentials and a desire to enter legal academia. The degree is generally
only offered at the very top law schools, which typically accept only 4 or 5 students into their
program each year. Admission is limited to those who have achieved their J.D. and LL.M.
degrees with distinction. Successful applicants usually have already published significant
scholarly legal articles in their proposed area of study, and many have legal teaching
experience prior to entering the program.

[edit] Law students in court

Some courts allow law students to act as "certified student attorneys" after the satisfactory
completion of their first year of law school and the completion of particular second- and third-
year courses with subjects such as evidence. Many states allow students to argue in front of a
court as a certified legal intern (CLI), provided they meet certain prerequisites, such as
requiring the student to have completed at least half of their law education, taken or is taking
the law school's ethics class, and they are under the supervision of a qualified and licensed
attorney.

This concept was somewhat misrepresented in the movie Legally Blonde, where the
protagonist Elle argues before a jury. Although Elle was under the supervision of an attorney,
no state would allow a student still completing the first year of law to argue a case in court.
However, it is reminicsent of "teen court" programs that are expanding around the USA. In
these programs, it is not law students, but high school students, that argue cases before a judge
and sit on juries to decide penalties to other high school students who have agreed to be tried
by the teen court in exchange for bypassing the regular court and having no criminal record
created in the process, even if they are found responsible for a crime by the teen court. The
punishment often includes community service, including sitting on juries in upcoming cases.

[edit] Illinois: The 711 license

In Illinois a student currently in good standing who has earned credits that represent at least
three-fifths of the credits required for graduation may be eligible for a 711 license (based on
Illinois Supreme Court Rule 711). A 711 license allows a student to: (1) Counsel with clients,
negotiate in the settlement of claims, and engage in the preparation and drafting of legal
instruments. (2) Appear in the trial courts and administrative tribunals subject to the following
qualifications: (i) Appearances, pleadings, motions, and other documents to be filed with the
court may be prepared by the student or graduate and may be signed by him with the
accompanying designation "Senior Law Student" or "Law Graduate" but must also be signed
by the supervising member of the bar. (ii) In criminal cases, in which the penalty may be
imprisonment, in proceedings challenging sentences of imprisonment, and in civil or criminal
contempt proceedings, the student or graduate may participate in pretrial, trial, and posttrial
proceedings as an assistant of the supervising member of the bar, who shall be present and
responsible for the conduct of the proceedings. (iii) In all other civil and criminal cases the
student or graduate may conduct all pretrial, trial, and posttrial proceedings, and the
supervising member of the bar need not be present. (3) He/She may prepare briefs, excerpts
from the record, abstracts, and other documents filed in courts of review of the State, which
may set forth the name of the student or graduate with the accompanying designation "Senior
Law Student" or "Law Graduate" but must be filed in the name of the supervising member of
the bar.

A JD graduate of the College of Law may qualify for a 711 license if s/he (1) has not yet had
an opportunity to take the first Bar examination scheduled after s/he graduates, or (2) has
taken the Bar exam but has not received the results, or (3) has taken and passed the Bar
examination but has not yet been sworn in as a member of the Illinois bar.

A 711 license is not available for a student working for a private law firm. The license is
available for work with (1) a legal aid bureau, legal assistance program, organization or clinic
chartered by the State of Illinois or approved by a law school approved by the American Bar
Association. (2) the Office of the Public Defender, or (3) a law office of the State or any of its
subdivisions.

[edit] Unlicensed practice of law

Some states provide criminal penalties for (1) falsely holding oneself out to the public as a
lawyer, and (2) the unauthorized practice of law by a non-lawyer.

A person who has a J.D. degree but is not admitted to a state bar is not a lawyer, and cannot
legally engage in the practice of law. In most states, even the practice of law by an "out-of-
state" lawyer is considered the unauthorized practice of law within that state. Exceptions are
sometimes made when the out-of-state lawyer is permitted temporarily to practice within the
state pro hac vice or in some cases as in-house counsel for corporations.

In addition, a few areas of law, such as patent law, are mandated by the U.S. Constitution to
be strictly under federal jurisdiction. In this case, state courts and bar associations are not
allowed to restrict the practice of that field of law, and a patent attorney may freely advise
clients as to patent matters anywhere in the jurisdiction of the United States with impunity,
without regard to state court or bar association rules. Furthermore, prior to November 15,
1938, individuals could become registered as “patent attorneys” with the PTO without ever
passing a state bar exam or going to law school. That status was grandfathered for patent
attorneys registered prior to that date. This represents a holdover to the traditional meaning of
the term “attorney” as “agent” or “attorney-in-fact”. There are still some living patent
attorneys who became registered as patent attorneys before that date, as far back as 1934.
Today, a non-lawyer can take and pass the patent bar, but he or she would be considered a
patent agent.

In some jurisdictions, the definition of the practice of law is quite strict; persons have been
successfully prosecuted for publishing do-it-yourself will forms and for representing special
education children in federal proceedings as specifically allowed by federal law.

Paradoxically, some jurisdictions will allow a non-attorney to sit as a judge, usually in lower
courts or in hearings by governmental agencies, even though a non-attorney may not practice
before these same courts. This extends to the U.S. Constitution itself, which does not mention
any requirement that a U.S. Supreme Court justice or other federal judge be a lawyer,
although it appears that no non-lawyer has ever been appointed as a federal judge.

[edit] American attorneys' attire

Unlike their counterparts in other common law jurisdictions, American attorneys are not
required to wear wigs, robes or any other items of court dress when they appear in court. They
are expected to wear contemporary business suits.

The one exception is the United States Solicitor General, who traditionally argues before the
U.S. Supreme Court in 19th-century attire, including a "morning coat" with tails.

Attorneys in the United States do not usually have to adhere to a strict color code garb and
can argue their cases wearing business suits. However, judges in the United States and
Canada have occasionally been reported, even very recently, to order that a lawyer is not
dressed appropriately and must return at a later date in proper attire – and to issue the lawyer a
fine as if the lawyer had failed to show up for the hearing.

[edit] Alternatives to the practice of law

Because an accredited legal education generally provides a strong understanding of not only
the substance of the law, but also an advanced analytical approach to the use and
ramifications of the law, many professions, other than the practice of law, promote or require
those with legal educations. As a result of overcrowding in the legal profession, the desire to
achieve better work/life balance, and disenchantment with the legal profession, many
attorneys are leaving the Bar to pursue these other professions that take advantage of the
attorney's legal education. In some instances, graduates of law school who either cannot be
admitted or who decide not to bother to be admitted to a state bar, enter these various
professions.

Alternative careers that seek legally educated employees include:

• Work with the government as a policy analyst or a legislative drafter (the latter is
sometimes classified as a 'policy analyst' and sometimes as a 'lawyer');
• Work for a publisher of a legal information publication;
• Work in banking, finance, real estate, insurance;
• Work in law enforcement.

In these fields, law degrees are useful (and sometimes mandatory, such as in the case of
policy analysts and legislative drafters) qualifications for a job.