The legal profession is full of jargons which may sound difficult to understand for a common man. There are even more complex words used to address professionals belonging to the legal field. Terms like an advocate, lawyer, attorney, paralegal are used for legal professionals associated with different responsibilities. Whenever someone is seeking legal help, they usually look for Lawyers and Advocates. However, they do not clearly distinguish between both and understand whether their case requires a lawyer, advocate or legal consultant.
The aim of this blog article is to help a common person to understand the differences that exist between these legal professions.
Advocates:
Any lawyer who has the capacity to represent their clients in the court of law is known as Advocate. Any local lawyer is UAE who got the license from the Ministry of Justice is an Advocate on record.
For becoming an advocate in UAE, one must satisfy various criteria like:
- Be a UAE national.
- Be at least 21 years of age.
- Hold a certificate of law from an accredited university or higher institute.
- Have carried out at least one year of continuous practical legal training.
- Get registered on the Ministry of Justice’s role of practicing law, if they want to practice in Federal Courts.
Lawyer:
A lawyer in UAE is a term that can be used for a broad spectrum of legal professionals. Any person who is a graduate in law can be called a Lawyer. However, not all of them really has the legal capacity or permission to represent a client in court.
Attorney:
Attorney just like a lawyer is referred to as general synonym used for professionals who practice law. An attorney as a term used in various other legal requirements such as Attorney-in-fact. The attorney-in-fact is a term used for a person who is the holder of power of attorney, which is a legal document which gives the holder the power to act on another’s behalf in legal and financial matters.
Legal Consultant:
In UAE, the courts have special criteria on who can represent you in the court. The lawyers need to have a specific license which qualifies them to represent their clients in different courts of UAE (higher or lower). Legal Consultant is a term used for someone who has a law degree but cannot represent their clients in case of litigation in the state courts. However, they can assist in the preparation of legal documents, filing requirements and arbitration process. Other than the free zone areas, international courts and arbitration centers, litigation is not an option for Legal Consultants.
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