COUNSELLOR AT LAW. An officer in the supreme court of the United States, and in some other courts, who is retained by a party in a cause to conduct the same on its trial on his behalf.
He differs from an attorney at law.
In the supreme court of the United States, the two degrees of attorney and counsel were at first kept separate, and no person was permitted to practise in both capacities, but the present practice is otherwise; Weeks, Att. 64. It is the duty of the counsel to draft or review and correct the special pleadings, to manage the cause on trial, and, dur ing the whole course of the suit, to apply estab lished principles of law to the exigencies of the case; 1 Kent 307. In England the term "counsel" is applied to a barrister.
Generally, in the courts of the various states the same person perforihs the duties of counsellor and attorney at law.
In giving their advice to their clients, counsel have duties to perform to their cli ents, to the public and to themselves. In
such cases they have thrown upon them something which they owe to their adminis tration of justice, as well as to the private interests of their employers. The interests propounded for them ought, in their own ap prehension, to be just, or at least fairly disputable ; and when such interests are Propounded, they ought not to be pursued Per fas et nefas; 1 Hagg. Adm. 222. An at torney and counsellor is not an officer of the United States, he is an officer of the court. His right to appear for suitors and to argue causes is not a mere indulgence, revocable at the pleasure of the court, or at the com mand of the legislature. It is a right of which he can be deprived bnly by the judg ment of the court, for moral or professional delinquency ; Ex parte Garland, 4 Wall. (U. S.) 333, 18 L. Ed. 366.
See ATTORNEY; PRIVILEGE; CONFIDENTIAL COMMUNICATIONS; DISBAR; BARRISTER.