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Lawyer
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What is a lawyer?
A lawyer is a licensed professional who is trained to prepare, manage, prosecute, or defend a court action as an agent for another. They also give advice on legal matters that may or may not require court action. Lawyers apply the law to specific cases by investigating facts and evidence, conferring with clients, and reviewing documents. They prepare and file pleadings in court, introduce evidence, interrogate witnesses, and argue questions of law and fact during trials. Lawyers can also bring about the settlement of a case through negotiation, reconciliation, and compromise without a trial.
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What do lawyers do in their jobs?
Lawyers are trained and licensed to manage court actions as agents for others, and they also give advice on legal matters. They apply the law to specific cases by investigating facts and evidence, conferring with clients, and reviewing documents. Lawyers prepare and file pleadings in court, introduce evidence, interrogate witnesses, and argue questions of law and fact during trials. They may also seek a new trial or relief in an appellate court if they do not win the case. Besides court actions, lawyers often negotiate settlements, help clients arrange their legal rights through wills, contracts, or corporate bylaws, and represent clients before administrative and legislative committees.
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What kinds of cases can lawyers work on?
Lawyers handle various cases, applying the law to specific situations by investigating facts, reviewing documents, and preparing court pleadings. They may prosecute or defend in court, introduce evidence, question witnesses, and argue legal points.
Some lawyers specialize, for example as criminal lawyers who defend individuals accused of crimes. Other examples include:
* Environmental law Lawyers may work with environmental law, which is designed to protect the environment.
* Family law Family law cases involve family relationships, including divorce, child treatment, and economic issues.
* Civil law Lawyers also work in civil law, addressing injuries to individuals or private parties, such as defamation or negligence.
* Corporate law Corporate law involves lawsuits against corporations for failing to perform contractual duties.6 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
How do lawyers help people in court?
Lawyers play a crucial role in court by applying the law to specific cases. They investigate facts and evidence through client consultations and document review, and they prepare and file court pleadings. During trials, lawyers present evidence, question witnesses, and argue points of law and fact. They can also negotiate settlements, and if necessary, seek appeals. Defense counsel ensures the state proves guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, while prosecutors seek justice by convicting the guilty and protecting the innocent. Lawyers must not use false testimony. They introduce different types of evidence, such as witness testimony, documents, and physical objects.
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What education and training do lawyers need?
Legal education involves a blend of academic study and practical preparation for professional practice. In many countries, law degrees are undergraduate degrees. In the U.S., most law schools require a university degree for entry. Law school curriculums often include compulsory subjects and opportunities for students to select other courses.
To practice law in England and Wales, one must be a barrister or a solicitor. Becoming a barrister requires passing a two-part exam and completing practical courses. Qualifying as a solicitor involves serving as an apprentice and passing law examinations. In the United States, admission to the bar requires passing a state bar examination after graduating from law school.
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How do lawyers use research and evidence in their work?
Lawyers use research and evidence to ascertain the truth of any alleged matter of fact under investigation. The law of evidence consists of procedural regulations concerning the proof and presentation of facts via witnesses, documents, or physical objects.
In accusatorial or adversary systems, such as in common-law countries, the parties and their attorneys are responsible for finding and presenting evidence, while in inquisitorial systems, the judge searches for the facts. Evidence is relevant if it advances the inquiry and has a probative value for the decision. Relevant evidence is admissible unless witnesses are excluded or protected by privileges. Real evidence, such as weapons or models, must be authenticated by witness testimony.
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Lawyer, one trained and licensed to prepare, manage, and either prosecute or defend a court action as an agent for another and who also gives advice on legal matters that may or may not require court action.
Lawyers apply the law to specific cases. They investigate the facts and the evidence by conferring with their clients and reviewing documents, and they prepare and file the pleadings in court. At the trial, they introduce evidence, interrogate witnesses, and argue questions of law and fact. If they do not win the case, they may seek a new trial or relief in an appellate court.
In many instances, lawyers can bring about the settlement of a case without trial through negotiation, reconciliation, and compromise. In addition, the law gives individuals the power to arrange and determine their legal rights in many matters and in various ways, as through wills, contracts, or corporate bylaws, and lawyers aid in many of these arrangements. Since the 20th century a rapidly developing field of work for lawyers has been the representation of clients before administrative committees and courts and before legislative committees.
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Lawyers have several loyalties in their work, including loyalties to their clients, to the administration of justice, to the community, to their associates in practice, and to themselves. When these loyalties conflict, the standards of the profession are intended to effect a reconciliation.
Legal practice varies from country to country. In England lawyers are divided into barristers, who plead in the higher courts, and solicitors, who do office work and plead in the lower courts. In the United States attorneys often specialize in limited areas of law, such as criminal, divorce, corporate, probate, or personal injury, though many are involved in general practice.
In France numerous types of professionals and even nonprofessionals handle various aspects of legal work. The most prestigious is the avocat, who is equal in rank to a magistrate or law professor. Roughly comparable to the English barrister, the avocat’s main function is to plead in court. In France, as in most civil-law countries, the examination of witnesses is conducted by the magistrate rather than the attorney, as in common-law countries. In their pleading, avocats develop their argument and point out discrepancies in the testimony of witnesses; this is the primary means open to avocats to persuade the court on legal and factual points. Formerly, in addition to the avocats, there were also avoués and agréés; the former represented litigants in all procedural matters except the oral presentation, prepared briefs, and negotiated settlements, while the latter, few in number, were responsible for pleading in certain commercial courts. Today the distinction between avoués and avocats has been abolished in all but the appellate courts, where avoués continue to practice as before.
In addition to these professional groups, there are nonprofessional legal counselors who give advice on various legal problems and are often employed by business firms. In almost all civil-law countries, there are notaries (see notary), who have exclusive rights to deal with such office work as marriage settlements and wills.
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In Germany the chief distinction is between lawyers and notaries. The German attorney, however, plays an even smaller courtroom role than the French avocat, largely because presentations on points of law are limited, and litigation is often left to junior partners. Attorneys are often restricted to practice before courts in specific territories. There are further restrictions in that certain attorneys practice only before appeals courts, often necessitating a new attorney for each level of litigation. In Germany lawyers are employed in the administration of government to a greater extent than in common-law countries.
In communist countries lawyers were widely used as advisers to government bureaus but had far less scope in representing individuals. See also advocate; barrister; solicitor.