Lawyers
Depending on where you are, lawyers may be called different names (we don't mean the uncharitable ones!) such as attorneys (US), solicitors (UK, Hong Kong), barristers (UK, Hong Kong), advocates and solicitors (e.g. Malaysia and Singapore), bengoshi (弁護士) and shiho shoshi (司法書士) (Japan).
In general, the barristers and advocates are specialists in representing clients in court whereas the solicitors are specialists in non-court work but there are exceptions e.g. the some solicitors specialise advocacy and do appear in court for clients. In some countries, there is "unified" legal profession such as the "attorneys" in the US and "advocates and solicitors" for Malaysia and Singapore. For the purpose of this article, the general description "lawyers" will be used except in relation to discussion of specific professionals.
General and Specialists
Some lawyers are "general practitioners" i.e. they advise across a wide range of matter and some
"specialists" prefer to concentrate on specific areas of law such as
- — general commercial practice
- — finance and banking
- — real estate and conveyancing
- — litigation
- — corporate finance such as merger and acquisitions
- — tax
- — probate and wills
- — regulatory e.g. anti-monopoly and anti-trust
- — corporates and companies
- — family and matrimonial
- — intellectual property such as trademarks, copyright and patents