Meaningless. If you have a JD you are a lawyer. The Bar only permits somebody who is already a lawyer to appear and speak in court. There are thousands of lawyers who spend their lives in research, teaching, contracts, etc but neber go near litigation.
Ummm, no. Without passing a state bar exam, you cannot hold yourself out as a lawyer and you may not actually practice law. All you can say is that you have a law degree.
If you have a JD (`Juris Doctor') degree, you have a law degree.
If you have the degree and a license to practice law, then you are a lawyer.
Ford is something like the Clintons and other `ticket-punching' politician "quasi-lawyers": they wouldn't know how to handle themselves in a courtroom, but it's important to their careers to be able to suggest they can, like Murtha holding himself out as a war-hero.
lawyer, defined:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=define%3Alawyer
The definitions use the words "licensed", "authorized" and "certified" to practice law.
Possession of a J.D. does not make one a lawyer.
"Meaningless. If you have a JD you are a lawyer. The Bar only permits somebody who is already a lawyer to appear and speak in court. There are thousands of lawyers who spend their lives in research, teaching, contracts, etc but neber go near litigation."
____________________
Uh, no. If you have a JD, you have a JD. Period. A lawyer is one who is licensed to practice law. For that you must pass or be waived into the Bar in the state(s) which you practice. Does not matter if you are a defense atty who has an office at the courthouse, or a transactional lawyer who lives on the 34th floor of a skyscraper. You must have a law license to practice any kind of law in that state. It is illegal to pass yourself off as a lawyer to a client if you don't have a license.
You said: Meaningless. If you have a JD you are a lawyer. The Bar only permits somebody who is already a lawyer to appear and speak in court. There are thousands of lawyers who spend their lives in research, teaching, contracts, etc but neber go near litigation.
***
I don't know about other states, but in NC one has to be a licensed member of the State Bar to practice law (which is what a lawyer does). Practicing law includes appearing in Courts on behalf of others, but it is not limited to that. Many, probably most, lawyers do not practice in courts or other tribunals. Some, for example, draft wills and other estate planning documents. In NC one must be a licensed member of the State Bar to do so.
I have defended pension plan advisors charged with the unauthorized practice of law in hearings before the State Bar Unauthorized Practice Committee.
I think one must practice law to call himself a lawyer, and in this state one must be admitted to practice in order to do that.
All of that said, I am not sure that Ford actually called himself a lawyer in the quotes I saw, but I read it rather quickly.