Attorney ('one appointed,' from the old verb attorn, 'turn, assign, or appoint'), a term of English law, used in a general sense to describe any person authorised to act on behalf of another, as, for example, the holder of a power or letter of attorney authorising him to sell property or do some other act on behalf of the grantor. 'Attorney-at-law' was formerly the proper style of those members of the legal profession who represented litigants in the courts of common law, and retained counsel on their behalf; but since the Judicature Act, 1873, it has been superseded by the designation of Solicitor (q.v.).
In the United States, the term attorney-at-law is used for one standing in the place of another in matters of law, including in itself the special offices designated in English and Scotch law by the terms advocate, attorney, barrister, counsellor-at-law, lawyer, proctor, and solicitor, although all these terms, except barrister, are sometimes used as applicable to the attorney-at-law in the performance of the duties pertaining to his office.
The attorney-at-law is not a governmental officer, but is an officer of the court, responsible to the court under whose immediate supervision he is, for the faithful performance of his duties. He has property in his office, and although he may be punished summarily for official misconduct occurring in open court, he cannot be removed from his office without special cause and without having an opportunity to be heard by himself or counsel.
Empowered to stand in the place of his client in all matters of law, he performs all acts necessary for the successful prosecution or defence of his suit, not only in the office preparation of the cause, but also in arguing the same in open court.
Each state prescribes by statute the qualifications of its own attorneys, but generally a pre- liminary examination as to educational qualifications is required, followed by a clerkship of from two to four years in the office of a regular practising attorney of known ability, whose duty it is to register the name as a student-at-law in the office of the prothonotary of the county; after this comes an examination as to legal attainments by a board of examiners appointed by the court, or graduation as Bachelor of Laws at a law college or university. A good moral character is always demanded.
Any person who has been admitted to the highest court of a state is eligible for admission to the district and circuit courts of the United States for that state, but to be admitted to the Supreme Court of the United States, it is necessary that an attorney shall have for three years been a practitioner in the Supreme Court of the state to which he belongs, and that his private and professional character shall be fair. His oath of office requires him to support the constitutions of his state and of the United States, and to behave himself with all fidelity to the court and to the client—hence citizenship of the United States and of the state are requisite.
The efforts of women to be admitted as attorneys-at-law in the state courts since 1870, and the refusal of the Supreme Court of the United States to admit women as attorneys, resulted in the enactment by congress, in 1879, of the following statute: 'Any woman who shall have been a member of the bar of the highest court of any state or territory, or of the Supreme Court of the district of Columbia for the space of three years, and shall have maintained a good standing before such court, and who shall be a person of good moral character, shall on motion and the production of such record, be admitted to practise before the Supreme Court of the United States.' Under this act, several women who have complied with its provisions have been admitted to practise as attorneys-at-law in the Supreme Court of the United States, but some of the states do not yet admit women to practise as attorneys. In 1887 about one hundred women, married or single, had been admitted as attorneys in the United States.
An attorney's warrant of attorney must be commensurate with the work to be done. The fiduciary relation between attorney and client cannot be delegated. In case of his death, service of papers cannot be made upon his law partner or executor, neither can he withdraw from the case without leave of the court. If removed by his client, which in most cases must be done by leave of court, he has a lien upon the papers in the cause for his fee.
An attorney-at-law is required to act with the utmost diligence and fidelity to his client, but his undertaking is not that he possesses perfect legal knowledge or the highest degree of skill in relation to the business he undertakes, but that he possesses the ordinary legal knowledge and skill common to members of the profession, and that in the discharge of his duties he will exercise ordinary and reasonable diligence, care, and prudence; he is therefore liable to his client for negligence before damage is sustained. An attorney is trustee for his client for money collected, and after demand has been made upon him, he may be sued without notice. His authority to compromise a suit must be given him by his client. His confidential communications with his client are privileged, and are not to be revealed even on the witness stand.