Compared to dentists and chiropractors being called Doctor?
“Doctor” is an appropriate and commonly used title for anyone holding a doctorate degree of any type, whether in medicine, literature, math, chemistry, or whatever. About the only case where it’s not used is for doctorates in nursing and physician assistants (whose degrees are now increasingly doctorate level, rather than master’s), due the the likelihood of confusion for patients, who would tend to assume that a medical professional being addressed as “Doctor” must be an M.D.
The basic law degree is a doctorate (J.D., for juris doctor), and law school professors are normally referred to as “Dr. __”, just as are other college/university professors who hold doctorates in their subject area. But in the U.S. the norm in the practicing legal profession is to use just Mr./Ms., or less commonly nowadays, Mrs. or Miss. Any U.S. lawyer who put Esq. after his or her name would be the subject of snickering and eye-rolling.
As an FR historical note, before your time, FR had a self-appointed arch-enemy and legal troublemaker whose screen name was “Eschoir”.