Buzz
Carl Franklin:
This is both a straightforward and nuanced question, so let’s first tackle the easy part:
Generally, in the United States, the terms lawyer and attorney are used interchangeably.
Now, for the more complex answer. This is tricky because we must look back in history to understand the differences. The term "lawyer" was traditionally used to describe anyone who had studied and been trained in the law. The early legal figures of the United States, such as John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, are prime examples. They were not only leaders of the American Revolution but also lawyers.
A fascinating aspect of Adams’s career is that he provided a well-informed, principled, and successful defense for the British soldiers charged with crimes related to the Boston Massacre. His reasoning aligns with what many criminal defense attorneys believe today: every person, regardless of public opinion, is entitled to a vigorous and capable defense (a principle we now find in the Sixth Amendment of the Constitution).
As education in the U.S. improved and law began to solidify as a discipline, the term "attorney at law" (or attorney-at-law) was coined around 1768. For a brief period, there was an attempt to differentiate the two terms. A lawyer was someone who had studied and graduated from law school, but they were not necessarily someone who had passed the bar exam and could "practice law" before a court. Even today, one can graduate from an American law school, thus becoming a lawyer, but if they don’t pass the bar exam, they cannot be admitted to practice law in any jurisdiction (whether state or federal).
The term attorney at law, later shortened to simply attorney, was sometimes used to refer to a professional who was qualified to offer legal advice and represent clients in court. Over time, the legal profession evolved, and the law degree (once considered a professional degree like those for the ministry or medicine) advanced to a point where it required a much higher level of education to be considered adequately qualified.
Today, the terms attorney and lawyer are often used interchangeably, mainly because the need to distinguish the right to practice law became more defined with the expansion of individual jurisdictions' judicial systems. Furthermore, the educational qualification required today to sit for the bar exam is a professional doctorate degree, typically the Juris Doctor (J.D.).
Some individuals still graduate from law school without ever taking the bar exam. A law degree is highly versatile and can open doors in various fields of business and government, not just in the legal profession. Therefore, the idea that one is considered a lawyer by holding a law degree persists, though it is no longer as strictly upheld as it was in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
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