Lawyers are the people who are licensed practitioners of law and have acquired degrees in law to become attorneys, solicitors or counsels. Their main responsibility lies in the application of abstract theories to solve various individualized problems and help the interest of their clients.
They are entrusted with a number of responsibilities and one of the most important tasks is oral arguments in front of a jury or judge in a court of law, for the client. In the US, there are specialized trial lawyers who are responsible for trying cases in various courts. Sometimes, they have to undertake extensive research to arrive at a decision and finally have to brief the court in writing, providing some documents about the proceedings.
While in some countries, specialized administrative lawyers can be found. In the US some of them are stopped from attending certain types of administrative hearings, to preserve informality. Lawyers also provide legal advice to clients, to brief them on various aspects of a case. Intellectual property rights such as those related to trademark, patents, industrial designs have to be legally registered and various kinds of legal professionals are engaged in supervising these things.
Lawyers also deal with transfer of real property, including deeds and mortgages and this process of drafting the documents is called conveyance. Drafting of wills, trusts etc. is undertaken, after the death of a person and American lawyers enjoy special profits for dispensing advice on probate law. In the US, professional associations called the bar associations regulate the lawyers and it is mandatory for them to be members of such associations.
However, lawyers are always free to form their own voluntary associations and the largest such association is the American Bar Association. Their payment options can be varied and can receive payment on an hourly basis, as a contingency fee or a lump sum payment. Whereas those working for governments, corporations or non-profit organizations have annual incomes in the form of the salaries they get.
Historically, the practice of law by lawyers can be traced back to ancient Athens, where orators were found. In early ancient Rome, Emperor Claudius, legalized advocacy and lawyers were allowed to practice openly, thus becoming the first legal professionals to do so. Later in Rome and also during the Middle Ages, lawyers gained prominence and since then it has grown to be one of the most important professions of present day.
Lawyers
