What is the difference Between Lawyer, Advocate, Barrister, Attorney ?

 

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What is the difference Between Lawyer, Advocate, Barrister, Attorney?

The first two terms are Lawyer and Barrister

Firstly we will understand about Lawyer, whom we call Vakeel also

A Lawyer is a person who has studied law means a law graduate. So, the person who has a law degree, whether of 3 years LLB course or 5 years. That person becomes a lawyer. But being only a lawyer, can you represent any client in the court and argue for their court case?

No, you can't represent them in court or argue.

 

The 2nd term Barrister is also similar to this.

If you have studied law in India, you become a Lawyer and if you have studied law in England, you become Barrister. Only the terms are used differently but the meaning of both is the same and similar to the Lawyer, Barrister also can't represent clients in the court, they can't argue on any case. When a Lawyer enroll himself with the Bar council, then he becomes Advocate, we also call them "Adhivakta"

So, if you have completed law, then you have to give the Bar Council of India Exam, after passing the exam you will enroll there and you will get the license of practicing in court and you will get promoted from Lawyer to Advocate.

So, if any person introduces himself as an Advocate. It means that he has the license to practice and he can represent their client in court this is the difference between a Lawyer and an Advocate. A Lawyer has only a law degree he cannot argue in court.

Whereas an Advocate is enrolled with the Bar Council and has the license to practice in the court.

 

We will look at the three terms used for this also:-

Advocate, Senior Advocate, and Advocate on Record

We learned about the Advocate, they can represent clients in the court and can practice

Now, who is Senior Advocate?

This designation is given by the Supreme court/ High court to those Advocates who have a good amount of knowledge and experience means who has practice experience of more than 10 years and have appeared in many cases and how many cases are in their favor, by seeing all these it is decided.

 

Once who become Senior Advocate they wear different gown and coat and their fees also become expensive this designation of Senior Advocate is given based on their special knowledge and experience.

Now comes Advocate on Record (AOR)

Do you know? That only an (AOR) can case a file in Supreme Court. Generally, every court has its rules, functions, and procedures. Similarly, The Supreme court has its own rules. So if everyone will approach Supreme Court, then there is the probability that the court's time will be wasted.

 

So that's why those who are registered on (AOR) only those Advocates can file a case in Supreme Court.

 

Anyone can draft a case and can argue as well only for filing the case this requirement or restriction is their, that it should it has done only by an (AOR) because they know the functions and rules of the Supreme Court But You have to pass Supreme Court AOR exam to become an AOR

 

The eligibility required for the SC AOR exam is one should have experience of more than 5 years and these 5 years is divided as (4 +1 year) means 4 years experience of any court plus 1-year practice experience under any AOR of Supreme Court and that AOR must have practice experience of more than 10 years. So this was the difference between an Advocate, Senior Advocate, and Advocate on Record. Now we will discuss Advocate general which we also call Mahaadhivakta

 

Every state's Governor appoints Advocate General for their state. If the state Govt. needs representation in the court, then the Advocate General's job is to represent the State govt. in the court. So Advocate General represents all the cases of State Govt. because they represent state govt. in court they are called as 1st Law Officer of the State and if state govt. needs any legal advice in any matter they also play a role as Legal Advisor of State

Now we will discuss Attorney General:-

We previously saw that Advocate General represents state govt. in the court and that's why they are known as 1st law officers of the state. Similarly Central Govt. is represented by the Attorney-general. So, their job is to deal with cases of Central govt. and represent them in the court and that's why they are known as 1st Law officers of the country they are appointed by the President of India So, basically the attorney general's job is to represent the Central govt. and look after their cases and if Central govt. needs any legal advice on any matter, then they take advice from the  Attorney general after that comes Solicitor general whom we also call as 2nd Law officer of the country. Solicitor general helps Attorney general in his tasks and work that's why he is known as 2nd law officer of the country now we will learn about 2 more terms.

 

Imagine you have completed your law and got registered in BCI as well and now you are willing to do something for society (social service)

 In that case, what can you do?

Our system says that if a crime is committed against any individual then it will be accepted as a crime committed against a state. For example - A committed crime against B now B will file a case against A but now

The state will handle the case of B. Why? because the crime was committed against the state it will be considered as a crime against society and now comes your role. You can represent the state in criminal cases and can also represent Civil cases.

Let’s talk about criminal cases first…!

You may have seen the majority of criminal cases like if we talk about the Nirbhaya Rape Case. the name of the case was Mukesh and Anrs. v. NCT Delhi (2017).

So, offenders Vs Victims here the State is named as the victim. So, when you represent the state in criminal cases means when you represent the victim's side through the state then you will be known as Public Prosecutor and if you represent the state in civil cases you will be known as Government Pleader.

So, basically, if you represent the victim's side in criminal cases you will be called a Public prosecutor and when you represent the state in civil cases you will be called a Govt. Pleader in different states and UT's their hierarchy is also different their appointment system and even terms also different in different states and UT's.