Category talk:Wikipedian lawyers

Change Description

This category contains links to the pages of Wikipedians who are lawyers, as in licensed to practice law by their local state or government.

Suggest we change the dependent clause to: "admitted to practice law by a court or other competent authority". I don't know the rules elsewhere, but I am admitted as a member of the bar in about a dozen jurisdictions, two of which are states, but I do not hold any "license" to practice. I'm also not sure what "their local state or government" is intended to mean.--Doug.^{(talk • contribs)} 19:37, 29 August 2007 (UTC)

Dear DDHME/Doug: In Texas, a person is granted the authority to practice law by virtue of a "license" -- that's the precise term used in the statute -- which is issued to that person by the Supreme Court of the State of Texas. See Tex. Gov't Code, Chapter 82, Subchapter B. I haven't researched the statutes of each and every state in the United States, or the laws of other countries, but I suspect that the use of the term "licensed" in the United States is fairly common. Should the language be changed to read something like "licensed or admitted to practice law by a court or other competent authority"? Famspear 20:17, 29 August 2007 (UTC)

By the way, when I "google" the phrase "licensed to practice law" I get about 669,000 hits, with some of the first references in the google.com pages being to states in the United States such as Wisconsin, Kansas, Florida, Virginia, and Idaho, as well as a reference to Mexico. Of course I haven't checked the linked web sites, so the use of the term "licensed" in those web site might or might not be precise. Similarly, the uses of the phrases "licensed attorney" (724,000 hits) and "licensed as an attorney" (over 20,000 hits) and "licensed lawyer" (over 41,000 hits) and "licensed as a lawyer" (over 13,000 hits) would seem to indicate that the use of the term "licensed" in this context is widespread. Famspear 20:30, 29 August 2007 (UTC)

I agree the term is in widespread usage. You have enlightened me as to the use of the term in Texas and maybe some other places. I practice in New England, where things are always a little more colonial. I suspect non-US common law jurisdictions tend to be like we are here, but I don't know. Even in Maine, one of the states I practice in, there are references in the statutes to an attorney's "license to practice law", so I guess there is one in the sense that we allowed to do it by the government - in this case the courts, but even these laws may be violations of separation of powers decisions (in these jurisdictions) that say that the Courts have absolute control over admission to the bar and disbarment.

I like your suggested phrasing and will make the change.--Doug.^{(talk • contribs)} 21:03, 29 August 2007 (UTC)