Attorney

Attorney, one put in the place or turn of another, or charged with management of his affairs at law. By the Judicature Act, 1873, the expression "attorney" in the sense of the person representing another in an action is abolished, and the title "solicitor" substituted. Attorneys are not admitted to practise in courts, or to transact legal business for another, until they have been examined, licensed, and sworn by the proper tribunal. It is necessary that they shall have been articled to some practising solicitor in England or Wales, and shall have served for five years, with a reduction of the period of service in certain cases of university students. The final examination is conducted by the Incorporated Law Society.

A technical sense in which the word "attorney" is used is the character of a person named in a legal document empowering him to act for another, to receive debts, to manage estates, or perform analogous duties.

Solicitors are under stringent rules and regulations in conducting their practice. In the United States the term attorney-at-law is retained, and includes the various offices known in England and Scotland as advocate, barrister, counsellor-at-law, lawyer, proctor, and solicitor.