COUNSEL AND COUNSELLOR. The term "counsel" is employed in England as a synonym for a barrister (q.v.). Counsellor or, more fully, counsellor-at-law, is an obsolete term in England, but is still in use in Ireland as an equivalent to bar rister. In the United States, a counsellor-at-law is, specifically, an attorney admitted to practice in all the courts; but as there is no formal distinction of the legal profession into two classes, as in England, the term is more often used loosely in the same sense as "lawyer," i.e., one who is versed in, or practises law.