LAWYER (ante). In the United States lawyers are called indifferently attorneys and counselors-at-law. Lawyers who devote themselves specially to patent causes are often called solicitors. Candidates for admission to the bar are required in most of the states to pursue a course of legal study either at a reputable law-school or in the office of some practitioner, and to pass a satisfactory examination before a court or before exam iners appointed by a court for that purpose.
In England and Ireland lawyers are divided into attorneys, and advocates, counselors, or barristers; the duties of the former are to take charge of and prepare the suit for trial, those of the latter to give counsel regarding the suit and to conduct and argue it in court. A person applying for admission as an attorney must have been an apprentice for 5 years with some member of the bar, or for 3 years if the applicant has a degree from Oxford, Cambridge, or Trinity college, Dublin. The other class of lawyers, the advocates, counselors, or banisters, are called to the bar from the inns of court. An attorney practicing in a court of equity is called a solicitor; in an ecclesiastical or admiralty court, a proctor. The services of an English barrister are theoretically gratu
itous, but he is paid by retainers. An English attorney or solicitor is paid according to a fixed system of fees.
In Scotland lawyers are divided into solicitors, advocates, and writers; and there is a privileged body of practitioners known as writers or clerks to the signet. A lawyer, being an officer of court, is bound to conduct himself properly in the suits on which he is retained, and on proof of misconduct or dishonesty in his profession-, may be disbarred.
Lawyers are excused from serving on juries, and are exempt from arrest on civil process while in attendance upon court on professional business. The communications of a lawyer with his client are confidential, and a lawyer is protected by the law and cannot be compelled to disclose his client's secrets. In some states and territories, by recent enactment, women are made eligible for admission. For a more detailed account of the classes into which lawyers are divided in Great Britain see ATTORNEY; ADVOCATE; BARRISTER; KING'S COUNSEL; WRITERS TO THE SIGNET; ante.