A lawyer, or legal practitioner, is a person certified to give legal advice who advises clients in legal matters. Some lawyers represent clients in courts of law and in other forms of dispute resolution.
The meaning of the word "lawyer" varies slightly between English dialects. In American English, the term is synonymous with licensed attorneys who practice law; attorneys who serve as judges, law clerks or legislators do not practice for the duration of their service. For consistency, this narrower definition is generally used throughout this article.
In British English, the word "lawyer" is used loosely to refer to a broad variety of law-trained persons. It includes practitioners such as barristers, solicitors, and legal executives; and people who are involved with the law but do not practice it on behalf of individual clients, such as judges, law clerks, and legislators.