Aussies and Brits- What Do You Call a Lawyer?

It's Solicitor or Barrister here in the UK for the term Lawyer.

I believe these are right.

DUI??
Divorce Solicitor
Conveyancing Solicitor
Bankruptcy / Insolvency Solicitor
Personal Injury Solicitor
Immigration Solicitor
Tax Solicitor

We would call an attorney a solicitor. Solicitors can act directly on behalf of their clients whereas barristers are usually hired by solicitors to act as courtroom advocates for the client.

- Marcus

A crook or a thief. Take your pick.

"DUI" is only "US English". We don't really have a term that's directly equivalent to that. The nearest is probably "motoring lawyer".

In all the other expressions you've listed, you can just substitute the word "lawyer" for "attorney" (this is for the UK - I'm not commenting on Australian terms at all).

"Lawyer" used in this context is taken to mean "solicitor" (you'd certainly say "divorce lawyer" rather than "divorce solicitor").

It's true that barristers are also lawyers, of course, and a barrister who specialises in family law might in that sense arguably be decribed as a "divorce lawyer", too, but even with that slight ambiguity, "divorce lawyer" is still the right term to use, and you'd almost never hear "divorce solicitor". And the same for all the rest on your list.

Mate, we know what you mean!!

May want to add solicitor to the list.

By the way, I'm a dual citizen of the two countries you just mentioned.

Thanks, MrMonetize. DUI stands for Driving Under the Influence (of alcohol).

I've got to be honest, I have never used the term Lawyer here in the UK, its always been Solicitor. The search volume I posted above shows that both are searched fairly evenly in the UK tho, so I suppose it depends if you were after the search engine traffic as to what you'd choose. Personally if I was doing any SEO / Marketing for a Law Firm here in the UK, I would use the term Solicitor. Horses for courses..

A lawyer in England and Wales is someone who doesn't necessarily practice the law! Can be a teacher who's gained a Phd for instance.

Lawyer is a generic term! Even postgraduates in the UK can be called lawyers to some extent because they hold a BA.

However, there are two kinds of practicing lawyers so to speak, and this is for England and Wales only. You have the Scottish and the Nothern Ireland jurisdiction which is different, not to mention Jersey, Guernsey and Sarks where they can hold the title of Advocate.

Lawyers who mainly work in an office in England and Wales are called solicitors. They still can go to Court and defend their clients, but it's considered a waste of time and money since.................those specialized in pleading are the Barristers!

You don't normally contact a Barrister on your own. You get in touch with a solicitor--who may ask later on, if things get heavy-- to sue, counter-sue etc, in which case, a barrister will be required, especially for high court cases.

So, as far as England and Wales are concerned, and I think Scotland too, you need to use Solicitor with whatever area of expertise they are dealing with.

DUI would fall under criminal litigation and not motoring lawyer.

You can always add, " litigation" in between the word solicitor and the area of expertise. So you'll have insurance litigation solicitor, criminal litigation solicitor, family litigation solicitor etc!

Hope this makes sense!

Yoan

DUI lawyer will most probably change into a "LOHAN LAWYER" at some point by the way! She's got so many DUI-related mugshots....they'll have to change it!!! Honestly! : Quite impressive! And, still she gets away with it!!! :

we call them used car salesmen with a diploma... plus a few other unmetionable names on here.

Sal

You certainly opened a can of worms with that question, didn't you?

I would say that people would certainly search for injury "lawyers", divorce "lawyers" etc, as well as solicitors. Why? Because of TV ads - one well known one is for a company called "injury lawyers 4 u"

Whether the term "lawyer" has any real meaning is irrelevant. Most people have scant knowledge of the law. MrMonetize produced the Google UK search figures which appear to show that people search for solicitors and lawyers in fairly equal numbers.

The main point is that we don't use the term "attorney" either in England/Wales or in Scotland. Scotland has a different legal system from that used in England and Wales.

i recently changed legal consultants when they started advertising themselves as lawyers

i called them and told them why, then went to see another barrister and solicitor, who is now my legal consultant

Call them a legal begal or whatever.

The one at the bottom of the ocean well I guess they may be a boat anchor. The mob throw aways.

As long as they do their JOB, you may call them ????????????????????????.

100 lawyers at the bottom of the ocean is a good start.
What's the difference between a shark and a lawyer? The shark knows when to let go.

I can tell you a true story. A lawyer has told a good friend of mine to plead guilty to a charge that he is innocent of because.......it will be cheaper? WTF???

Wow! 41 posts and nobody from the UK mentioned 'Brief' i.e. "I'm going to call my brief"

It's true we mostly say solicitor though, far more often than lawyer, having said that if talking about a business say we would we might be more likely to say "company lawyers".

As usual nothing is straightforward in English

Talk about a loaded question ...

Brits use both terms, although solicitor is used a lot more often than lawyer in the UK.

The simple way of looking at it is that the generic term is lawyer, and solicitors and barristers are types of lawyer. Attorney is American English word for a British English lawyer.

A parasite.