lawyer

[AirbusA321]

What are the differences between these terms?

lawyer
attorney
solicitor
barrister
advocate
mouthpiece
counselor-at-law

 

[Raymott]

Have you considered a dictionary first?

A mouthpiece is what you put in your mouth to protect your teeth during sports. This does not apply to any other of your words.

 

[AirbusA321]

The online dictionary says that they all mean the same. ("Rechtsanwalt" in German, "avocat" in French)

 

[emsr2d2]

For me, "mouthpiece" is another word for "spokesperson". A spokesperson might also happen to be a lawyer/solicitor/barrister etc, but they don't mean the same thing.

 

[Raymott]

The terms are used differently in different places. The first four are qualified lawyers.
In Australia, a solicitor does office type work; a barrister appears in court.
You can be an advocate for something with no legal qualifications.
I don't know what a counselor-at-law is.

Maybe if you tried a legal dictionary?:
http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/attorney

 

[andrewg927]

I have not heard of barrister, mouth piece or counselor-at-law. I have heard of attorney-at law but I'm not sure what it means. To me attorney and lawyer are the same thing.

 

[emsr2d2]

The first Google hit for "definition of barrister" does show the word to be chiefly British but Wikipedia has a paragraph on barristers in the US.

 

[andrewg927]

It's possible that we have barristers in the US but most people wouldn't know what they do.

 

[Tdol]

In Australia, a solicitor does office type work; a barrister appears in court.

In the UK, solicitors can do court work, but at the higher levels, barristers are brought in.