- (British English) a lawyer who prepares legal documents, for example for the sale of land or buildings, advises people on legal matters, and can speak for them in some courts of law
- Her first step was to contact a solicitor for advice.
More About lawyerslawyers- Lawyer is a general term for a person who is qualified to advise people about the law, to prepare legal documents for them and/or to represent them in a court of law.
- In England and Wales, a lawyer who is qualified to speak in the higher courts of law is called a barrister. In Scotland a barrister is called an advocate.
- In North American English attorney is a more formal word used for a lawyer and is used especially in job titles:
- the District Attorney
- Counsel is the formal legal word used for a lawyer who is representing someone in court:
- counsel for the prosecution
- Solicitor is the British English term for a lawyer who gives legal advice and prepares documents, for example when you are buying a house, and sometimes has the right to speak in a court of law.
- In North American English solicitor is only used in the titles of some lawyers who work for the government:
- the Solicitor General
- A notary is a person, often but not necessarily a lawyer, who has official authority to be a witness when somebody signs a document and to make the document legally acceptable.
Extra ExamplesTopics Law and justicec1, Jobsc1, Businessc1- I discussed the matter with my instructing solicitor.
- She is still a practising solicitor at the age of sixty-two.
- There will be no court duty solicitor today.
- Bridge joined the firm as a trainee solicitor.
- Mr Andrew Davis, solicitor for the Jones family, read a statement.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- competent
- good
- qualified
- …
- a firm of solicitors
- (North American English) a person whose job is to visit or phone people and try to sell them something
- (North American English) the most senior legal officer of a city, town or government department
Word Originlate Middle English (denoting an agent or deputy): from Old French solliciteur, from solliciter, from Latin sollicitare ‘agitate’, from sollicitus ‘anxious’, from sollus ‘entire’ + citus (past participle of ciere ‘set in motion’).
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solicitor