advocate

English translation: lawyer, when representing someone

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)

English term or phrase:	advocate
Selected answer:	lawyer, when representing someone
Entered by:	Kim Metzger

20:17 Oct 11, 2003

English language (monolingual) [PRO]
Law/Patents - Law (general) / law

English term or phrase: advocate

Can you call a lawyer an advocate?

lafresita (X) KudoZ activity Questions: 779 (1 open) (1 without valid answers) (9 closed without grading) Answers: 1541 United Kingdom
Local time: 06:58

Yes, a lawyer when he/she is representing someone

Explanation:
Advocate: a lawyer, particularly one who represents clients in judicial proceedings and similar matters

Selected response from:

Kim Metzger
Mexico
Local time: 23:58

Grading comment

Graded automatically based on peer agreement.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED

4 +6

Yes, a lawyer when he/she is representing someone

Kim Metzger

5 +3

supporter (not necessarily an attorney)

Michael Powers (PhD)

5 +3

advocate

Catherine Norton

4 +2

advocate

NGK

5 +1

Yes you can

Iftekhar Hassan

Lawyer versus advocate.

epsi

legal advocate

NancyLynn

depends

DGK T-I

Answers

2 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +6

Yes, a lawyer when he/she is representing someone

Explanation:
Advocate: a lawyer, particularly one who represents clients in judicial proceedings and similar matters

Random House Dictionary of the Law

Kim Metzger
Mexico
Local time: 23:58
Works in field
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 118

Grading comment

Graded automatically based on peer agreement.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)

agree

chica nueva: Yes,sometimes/some lawyers.'a lawyer who defends someone in a court of law' is one meaning of advocate. Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary (I think it is US English,though my dictionaries don't say so.)

4 mins

agree

Lanna Castellano: Black's Law Dict. says its a person who defends, pleads or prosecutes for another

24 mins

agree

Sally van der Graaff

1 hr

agree

DGK T-I: in England & Wales lawyers are called counsel/barristers(representing in court)solicitors(sometimes in court,sometimes not)In Scotand advocates(rep.in court) & solicitors.In theUK the skill of representing in court is called advocacy~ToIft:"depends where"

1 hr

neutral

Iftekhar Hassan: Dr. G, with due respect Question is very simple "Can you call a lawyer an advocate?"

4 hrs

agree

Rajan Chopra

5 hrs

agree

Gordon Darroch (X): But Iftekhar, the answer isn't! In Scotland, an advocate specifically means a lawyer who is entitled to appear in the High Court. If you refer to solicitors as advocates in this context, you're mistranslating. We also have solicitor-advocates...

11 hrs

1 min confidence:

peer agreement (net): +3

supporter (not necessarily an attorney)

Explanation:
Random House

–n.
2. a person who speaks or writes in support or defense of a person, cause, etc. (usually fol. by of): an advocate of peace.
3. a person who pleads for or in behalf of another; intercessor.
4. a person who pleads the cause of another in a court of law.

Mike :)

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Note added at 3 mins (2003-10-11 20:21:02 GMT)
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Although an attorney is an advocate, the word \"advocate\" emcompasses more than just an attorney. I am not an attorney, but I can advocate my son\'s desire to be on the basketball team by trying to convince the coach he would be an asset on the team.

So, although not mutually exclusive, an attorney has a law degree and is allowed to intercede in a court of law, whereas a supporter may simply be a parent, friend, etc.

Michael Powers (PhD)
United States
Local time: 01:58
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 64

6 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +2

advocate

Explanation:
Maybe (see definition 1) — but I wouldn't use it as a synonym per se, because advocate in most cases refers to something else (see definition 2).

1 : one that pleads the cause of another; specifically : one that pleads the cause of another before a tribunal or judicial court
2 : one that defends or maintains a cause or proposal

Synonyms EXPONENT, champion, expounder, proponent, supporter

Reference: http://www.m-w.com/

NGK
United States
Local time: 00:58
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:

English,

German
PRO pts in category: 8

11 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

Yes you can

Explanation:
However, an advocate simple meaning is advocacy for any cause, it is very simple including a person who pleads on behalf of another, commonly in a court of law (word use mostly in England and in Indian sub-continent to identify an attorney, lawyer)

Thanks

Iftekhar Hassan
United States
Local time: 01:58
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:

Bengali

22 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +3

advocate

Explanation:
The word "avocat" is French for "lawyer. When William the Conqueror took England in 1066, he brought with him besides a lot of soldiers, the French language. Originally "avocat" meant, in english, "lawyer.

Over the years, however, the word has been changed to "advocate" and its meaning has broadened to include anyone who pleads another's cause. Therefore, a lawyer can be called an "advocate", but the word is not restricted to lawyers.

The New Merriam-Webster Dictionary

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Note added at 2003-10-11 20:42:12 (GMT)
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I meant to put \"The New Merriam-Webster Dictionary\" in the reference line but I hit the wrong button, so I have to put it here.

The New Merriam-

Catherine Norton
Local time: 22:58
Native speaker of:

English

3 hrs confidence:

legal advocate

Explanation:
In agreement with most of the answers above, perhaps to distinguish the ordinary advocate from the attorney, you could add this qualifying adjective (legal).
Lawyers, solicitors, notaries, advocates -- subtle diferences in the professional's careers; I would call them quasi-synonymous.
HTH

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Note added at 3 hrs 36 mins (2003-10-11 23:53:37 GMT)
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I meant to give this a 5 rating.

NancyLynn
Canada
Local time: 01:58
Works in field
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 4

6 hrs confidence:

Lawyer versus advocate.

Explanation:
While a lawyer is a legal advocate for a plaintiff, the diffirence is the fact that a person is a lawyer by profession and 'advocate' is a qualification by virtue of a position taken by a lawyer.
For eg - XYZ is a immigration lawyer (by profession) but XYZ is an advocate for legalizing illegal immigrants in a particular country/state.

epsi
Local time: 22:58
Native speaker of:

Hindi,

Marathi

14 hrs confidence:

depends

Explanation:
In many continental European legal systems (including Georgia & some FSU countries) there are 'advocates' - a profession of lawyers for whom some of their work is representing clients in court - and 'notaries' - who tend to record official documents, and perhaps give legal advice.
There may (or may not) be some variation between the role of these professions in different continental systems.

If the problem is that an English word is wanted to represent an 'advocate' (from a continental European legal system, as described here), then I believe advocate would be suitable for a UK audience - as long as it is made clear by the context of the English translation that an it is an advocate in the jurisdiction of the continental country concerned, to avoid confusion with Scots advocates, for example.

It is sometimes said that counsel/barristers (Eng & Wales) & advocates (Scotland) are roughly equivalent to continental advocates - and solicitors to continental notaries - but it is necessary to be careful about that because solicitors often do a lot of work that notaries in (at least in some countries) don't do, eg: represent clients in (at least some) courts.

That advocate is widely used on the continent (and in Scotland), as described, is sometimes explained by the various systems being 'Roman law systems' (as Scotland is said to be, technically) - as opposed to Eng & Wales having a common law system - please don't ask me what difference there is practically :-) or why (if I understand Catherine's answer rightly, there are advocates in Canada - the Scots influence?).

If the asker isn't translating a continental/non-English legal system into English, but is describing a UK, Canadian, US, etc legal system, then the term used for the particular type of lawyer, in the jurisdiction concerned, should be used.

It is a simple question, but without addressing questions like "what is it going to be used for, about where & who, and who will read it", it needs quite a complicated answer. I've had a go :-)

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Note added at 14 hrs 52 mins (2003-10-12 11:10:20 GMT)
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also please be gentle if your system uses the term advocate, but is a common law system not a roman law one! (it\'s not important to the answer).

typo.error: \"...but it is necessary to be careful about that, because there can be important differences eg; that solicitors often do a lot of work that notaries in (at least in some countries) don\'t do, eg: represent clients in (at least some) courts.\"

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Note added at 14 hrs 55 mins (2003-10-12 11:13:17 GMT)
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by \'your\' I mean any readers, rather than the asker...

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Note added at 16 hrs 45 mins (2003-10-12 13:03:16 GMT)
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typo. \'....that it is an advocate in the jurisdiction of the continental country concerned...\'
typo. \'....that notaries (at least in some countries) don\'t do...\'

DGK T-I
United Kingdom
Local time: 06:58
Specializes in field
PRO pts in category: 50

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