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Many people don't understand where the word lawyer comes. There are a lot of people that can represent someone in court and some lawyers don't go to court at all. They write legal documents like contracts or review legal paperwork and provide advice to people who are going to court.
This gets even more confusing because some people are referred to as attorneys. Its rumored that the word attorney originates in modern times and refers to ATT or Neigh? The telegram has been around since the 1800s, and while it may seem ancient to some people that is considered fairly modern when compared to the Roman Republic, Midievil Rennaissance, or somewhere in between or even older. Neigh or horseman refers to a centaur, centurion, guard, guardian, or sentinel. In many places the horseman was the next in command when the king had died. They often established their own kingdoms, many horseman were blamed for letting the king be injured, they were often not welcome in their homes when the king had died.
The horseman often had a lot of explaining to do in certain circumstances, the often came up with rules and stipulations on conduct, ulterior plans and contingencies in situations where the king might become injured.
It was rumored that they obtained many of their rules on professionalism from the Roman Senate. A time after the Roman Monarchy and Empire when Rome had become a little more liberal and had let the people, govern as they may.
Aye, is often confused with i when written on paper. This often refers to the Navy, as in aye aye, yea or nay?
During the 1800s, electronic communication phones, were covered in agreements. A molecule could infect a neuron, and cause an ailment, that might require a doctor, who could confirm that there'd been an injury.
Safety was important, who'd want to see a doctor, documenting injury, that occurred over an electronic phone. So the electronic devices were developed with agreements so that the people wouldn't be injured and so the doctor wouldn't have to work so hard curing all the sick people that were injured on the phone.
This depends on the state and it went from uniform national licensing to no licensing requirement, nearly overnight. The goal is to facilitate access to legal services and to increase the opportunity for court room debate for those that have a financial injury. Many disagreements have a cost, or the concept of a cost can be logically surmised. Without a restraining order, there would be the cost of security guard or a body guard. If someone has a physical injury there is a cost to the medical care, even if the insurance will pay for everything. In a divorce, there is the cost of separate living arrangements. Juvenile delinquency might have a cost of boarding school, ettiquette classes, or life coaches. If a cost can be conceived, it might have a place in court.
One of the times where it seems inappropriate to mention cost is wrongful death. Well, there is a funeral cost, and the family of the decedent might need therapy to help with their grief. It may no longer be safe to live in their home. They might have some moving costs.
A lawyer normally studies law, is competent to understand the grammar and vocabulary used in court rooms, and can represent other people on their behalf.
An attorney, most recently is licensed. This is viewed in two different ways depending on the area but overall, it is considered a nice career.
Before most recently, attorney was viewed as a more professional title, and lawyer was viewed as adequate. They often obtained permission to represent others in court through a court procedure on cost, assistance of council, and rules of common law. They are often the most adequate to represent certain people. They rarely obtained or renewed a license even if they were granted a license through court procedure and professional examination.
In contrast, the attorney was seen as having gone above and beyond the suggested requirements to offer legal services. They often claimed cost and time commitment did not pose a barrier in obtaining their license.
People offer legal services in various capacities without knowing that they are acting as a legal representative. This can include parents, legal guardians, employers and employees, corporate officers, and professional workers. More traditionally the following titles are viewed as similar to those of attorney or lawyer with the main distinction of an attorney or lawyer being that they are an approved and authorized court representative. But many people provide advice and request the person represent themselves at court or a hearing and request time to make a decision if any questions are asked regarding a decision that needs to be made.
Types of Legal Representatives
The word officer was trending for a while designating a position of importance which is unpopular in most workplaces for a workers own job title but looked at with importance when included on other peoples business cards.
More popular terms that are recognizable might be hearing representative or hearing advisor. Compliance Officers have similarly been requested to consider updating their title to legal advisor and to use the term officer in specific hearings only. If they will be at these hearings for a large portion of their job, the word officer might make sense to have on a business card. Otherwise, they can provide the information during hearing with their regular business card.
Updating Titles
The latest title for a legal representative is legal paraprofessional. They have specific things they can be licensed for that are covered in a university program. They can officially represent people in court and obtain a license. This is not much different then recent changes that allow paralegals to file motions and complete trials without becoming an attorney.
Both the paralegal and the legal paraprofessional have different requirements in studying law, obtaining licensing, and representing clients. Generally the word para means for or stop. As in for the legal or stop a legal action. LP would come off as for the legal professional or stop a legal professional.
Things change over time, vocabularies, perceptions, requirements, expectations, and exceptions. Some people represent clients by themselves, going through files and accepting or declining proposals or requests for representation. Other people use hundreds of workers to run a legal services organization which most people call a law firm. A paralegal started off as a legal office assistant. They are now allowed to file motions and complete trials. They can request that they are no longer supervised by an attorney after 1-2 years.
In the barrister/solicitor model, the barrister normally completes the court appearances and the solicitor does legal research at the office, they also answer phones. Some solictors can do court appearances and some barristers do their own legal research but in a large firm, this is generally the model.
The United States recently went to allowing more people to officially represent people in court with a standard service agreement. They can be sued by the court or other law firms for providing low quality service. The closest thing to a barrister/solicitor model would be an attorney/paralegal model. This is not necessarily how law firms work but it would be close.
Many people that have traditionally offered legal advice, legal document review, or provide legal research services, can now officially represent people in court with a standard service agreement if they choose to do so. The courts have also recently simplified court procedures to presentation of evidence, examination of facts, and the verdict or negotiations at the end of the proceedings.
This is safeguarded in an appeals process and law suits for low quality work. It allows more people access to legal services that have become limited outside of private agreements and self representation in court. In at least some court rooms, representation will no longer require licensing and registration, but will still require consent and professional quality work.
Over the last 25 years, legal services have consisted mostly of legal research and advice with no court room representation. The exception being criminal justice and private lawsuits in excess of $5k to $15k dollars. Most people eligible for small claims have stated that its easier and less costly to accept the loss and change behaviors than to try to sue someone for less than $5k. Even then, its viewed that hiring an attorney for anything thats worth less than $15k to $25k might still result in an additional loss. The court proceedings may only end up covering the attorney costs. This has led to more self representation or deciding to not pursue legal examination.
Over the next 25 years, it is expected that access to legal services will increase and that people will be more rational about requesting legal services. It is seen possible that people will be able to set pricing models that allow access to legal services, are time efficient in the courtroom, and provide unbiased representation based on the context of the request and the active legislation at time of request, incident, or examination.
While many job roles are changing titles like lawyer, attorney, legal advisor, or court representative will be viewed as time honored and long lasting. Other titles are viewed as having a specific focus or being a starting point to become a lawyer or attorney through work experience. Many workers however are reluctant to change their job title after being approved for court representation.