Some people use the “lawyer” and “attorney” interchangeable whilst others will stick to just one of them. Why is that? You may have also heard that when people refer to your legal council they may say your “burn injury lawyer or attorney.”
This logically may make you wonder if a burn injury lawyer and a burn injury attorney are one and the same or if they occupy different functions within a legal case. Well, to remove all doubt from your mind and help you to better understand exactly what kind of legal council or legal representative you require, let us examine these two careers carefully.
The different education requirement
The first noticeable difference between burn injury lawyers and attorneys is the way they use their education. A state specific legal exam is administered to test a legal representatives knowledge of state law. This is often referred to as the bar exam.
An attorney must always have passed this test whereas a lawyer may or may not have passed this exam. Bear in mind that both lawyers and attorneys have already passed through law school and this exam is in addition to their already substantial qualifications and takes about 2-3 days to complete.
Legal specialization
Secondly, as both lawyers and attorneys go through their legal studies, they reach certain points where they are able to select a specific specialization as per their preferred legal focus. These specializations differ between lawyers and attorneys.
Some of these specializations for lawyers can include:
- Lawyer: Giveslegal advice and prepared legal documents for an individual or organization.
- Legal officer: Handles the ins and outs of the legal side for an organization including counselling, documentation, risk management and research.
- Legal counsel lawyer: Solely offers legal advice for corporations or organizations.
On the other hand an attorney specialization could include:
- Litigation Attorney: Someone who can represent you in court and develop a legal case to a satisfying conclusion.
- Staff Attorney: A member of staff within an organization employed to handle legal contracts, paperwork and protect the legal interests of the brand.
- Patent Attorney: A legal worker involved in helping product creators secure the rights for their creations.
Who can help with a burn injury case?
For consultation you may consider a burn injury lawyer who can walk you through the whole process and explain the reality of your legal situation to you. However for case representation and court hearings you may wish to have a litigation attorney for your burn injury settlement.
In many cases you may find out that your legal counsellor is in fact both a lawyer and an attorney but this is always something you should check.
