Common Terminology: Solicitor, Advocate, Lawyer, Senior Counsel, Junior Counsel, Legal Practitioners, Barrister, AOR, Amicus Curie

Watch any courtroom drama and the same person is called a lawyer, an advocate, a counsel, a barrister and an attorney, sometimes in a single scene. In a real Mumbai court these words are not interchangeable. One of them is a title the Advocates Act confers, one is a designation the High Court can grant or withhold, and one may never even file a case in the Supreme Court. Which word means what?

In two minutes

“Lawyer” is the everyday umbrella word; “advocate” is the only statutory class of practitioner under the Advocates Act, 1961; every other term — senior, junior, barrister, solicitor, AOR, amicus — describes a rank, a historical category, a court-specific role or an appointment.

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The full explanation, the cheat sheet, every previous-year question at every mark weight, the quiz and the answer skeletons are part of Practical Training – I: Professional Ethics and Professional Accounting System on LexBlox Semester. Sign in to unlock the subject, or read Module 1 of Legal Language and Writing free.