One whose profession is to give legal advice and assistance to clients and represent them in court or in other legal matters.

Synonyms: lawyer, attorney, counselor, counsel, barrister, solicitor. These nouns denote persons who practice law. Lawyer is the general and most comprehensive term for one authorized to give legal advice to clients and to plead cases in a court of law: called her lawyer after the automobile accident. Attorney is often used interchangeably with lawyer, but in a narrower sense it denotes a legal agent for a client in the transaction of business: Corporate attorneys negotiated the new contract. Counselor and counsel are terms for persons who give legal advice and serve as trial lawyers; counsel also applies to a team of lawyers employed in conducting a case: Ms. Barnes is counselor for the defense. A table has been reserved for the defense counsel during the trial. Barrister refers principally to a British trial lawyer: The defense is represented by a barrister from Leeds. In England a solicitor is a lawyer whose practice is devoted largely to serving as a legal agent, representing clients in lower courts, and preparing cases for barristers to try in superior courts; in the United States the term denotes the chief law officer of a city, town, or governmental department: Solicitors for the squire handled the sale of his extensive lands. The case will be presented by the Solicitor General.