Attorney vs Lawyer: Key Differences Which You Must Know

                 Attorney vs Lawyer: Both the terms are quite popular and you might have often come across them. The terms are used interchangeably by the US people. There are only a handful number of people who know the difference between the two terms. There is a fine and practical difference between the terms attorney and lawyer. You must be aware of the difference between general knowledge as well as for interviews. Hence, we have listed the key differences between attorney and lawyer. Read the entire article and increase your knowledge.

Who is a Lawyer?

According to the definition, a lawyer is a person who has studied law. Hence, any person who has visited a law school is considered as a lawyer. Moreover, having knowledge about law also gives you the designation of a lawyer. It doesn’t matter if the person is practicing law has shifted to another field. Just having the practical knowledge of the law is enough for getting you the title. There is no need to be in the practicing profession.

Who is an Attorney?

An attorney is an English term which has been originated from the French language. The definition of this word states that any person who has taken law as his profession is bound to be called an attorney. Hence, any person who is practice in law is called an attorney. It is a person who has studied law and has become a practitioner. Therefore, there is a very fine difference between both the terms and it must be known. We have also listed the pointwise difference between the terms lawyer and attorney.

Key Differences

• A lawyer is a person who concerts or advisors a person about the law. He has good knowledge about the law since he or she has passed from a law school. However, an attorney has the right to represent his client in the court of law.
• A lawyer cannot represent any other person inside the court of law. He must have passed the bar exam to become an attorney and then practice law.
• Hence, every attorney is a lawyer but all lawyers are not an attorney.
• Lawyers add J.D. at the end of the name. On the other hand, an Attorney adds Esq After his name.

Duties of a lawyer

As mentioned earlier, lawyers rs not practice in the court of law. However, they do have a good knowledge of the law and they may be in some other profession. It is highly possible that they are still doing jobs related to law. There are a series of jobs which are done by the lawyers and we have mentioned some of them below.

• Lawyers are mostly involved in consultancy and they gave legal advice to their clients regarding the case. However, they do not appear in the court of law on behalf of the client.
• They may be working as a research professional in some law firm. Their primary task is to find out evidence in order to support the client for fighting the case.

Duties of an Attorney

There is a very thin line of difference between the duties of lawyers and attorneys. The work of both professionals is approximately similar. However, the attorneys are a bit more advanced than the lawyers.

• An attorney does all the work that a lawyer does. He may be working in the research firm and finding evidence to support the case.
• However, he has the right to defend and fight in the case of his client in the court of law. Therefore, he is the legal representative of his client in the court of justice.
• They do the work which is done by the lawyers. The only difference is that they have some additional powers.