I've known lots of people who went to law school and worked as tax accountants, corporate lawyers, and investment bankers who didn't take the bar but still referred to themselves as lawyers. Were they wrong to do that?
You have to pass a bar exam to practice law. If you haven't, you can say you have a law degree, but you cannot call yourself a lawyer nor hold yourself out as practicing law.
Yes. They may even be wrong to call themselves accountants!
There is no such thing as a corporate lawyer who has not passed the bar exam. Such an individual may be called a legal consultant, but it would be unethical for them to represent themselves to clients as a lawyer.
I know if I were to represent myself as an Electrical Contractor without the proper credentials...that I'm in a world of hurt with the legal community (fines, etc.). Practicing with a license is risky enough, to practice without should, or without the shielding of one, deserves a more than just a slap along side the head.
I believe you do.All that Ford can rightfully (and legally?) claim is to have graduated from law school.
I went to law school, but am not licensed to practice law. I've never thought it was wrong to call myself a lawyer, as long as I didn't pretend to be a practicing attorney or practice law without a license.
"I've known lots of people who went to law school and worked ...who didn't take the bar but still referred to themselves as lawyers. Were they wrong to do that?"
Could be seen as practicing without a license.
Would you pay a ticket from someone who graduated from the police acadamy but "never became a cop"?
You are a lawyer regardless of whether you actually pass the bar exam. What you can't do is practice law or give legal advice to the general public. You can work as an in-house counsel for a corporation or organization (although you generally can't appear in court), a staff counsel for most govenmental entities, a law school professor, and a jail house lawyer. There are are exceptions and the laws of each state can vary on this issue.
Yes!!! In essence they were LIEyers!
The answer is, "it depends." If an individual passed the bar in one state, moved to another, and didn't take and pass the bar in the second state, then he might or might no be able to hold himself out as a lawyer, depending on that state's rules. The general rule I've seen in my career as a lawyer, that's usually adopted by corporations and the Federal Government is that a lawyer licensed in one state can refer to himself as as lawyer in another state where he's not licensed, provided he's at least licensed in one state. In Tennessee, for example, the "practice of law" consists of engaging in the business of representing members of the public. Thus, a corporation or government agency can have an attorney, who's licensed in another state, but not in Tennessee, on its staff who who performs legal work for it and represents it as a lawyer, provided that attorney does not engage in the business of law. The big, bright line is that the attorney must be licensed in at least one state; if he's not licensed, he's not a lawyer.
I was going to ask this same question. I know people who graduate from medical school are doctors. It's one thing to be a doctor, another to practice medicine.