First off this article is not about regular yahoo personal injury lawyers who advertise or pawn themselves off as being biker lawyers or motorcycle accident lawyers, when they are nothing more then garden variety personal injury lawyers. This article is about the use of the term lawyer as opposed to attorney.
There has been some debate lately between some of my friends on a lawyer listserve between using the term lawyer or attorney when referring to ourselves.
I have referred to myself as a California Motorcycle Accident Lawyer and a California Motorcycle Accident Attorney. I have also referred to myself as a Biker Lawyer which I am. Most lawyer business cards state; “Attorney at Law” as their title.
I have found that most laymen (persons who are not lawyers or attorneys) refer to a lawyer or attorney at law as lawyers for whatever reason.
I set out to find which term is the proper one to use.
The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary defines a lawyer as – one whose profession is to conduct lawsuits for clients or to advise as to legal rights and obligations in other matters.
Whereas the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary defines an attorney as – one who is legally appointed to transact business on another’s behalf; especially : LAWYER
It appears that a person licensed to practice law can either call themselves a lawyer or an attorney based upon Merriam-Webster’s definition of attorney and lawyer. However, it appears that attorney is the most appropriate reference to one who is licensed to practice law because the definition includes “legally appointed.”
The bottom line is that it is really apples and oranges. Either definition i.e. lawyer or attorney requires that the person calling themselves such to be licensed to practice law in their respective jurisdiction. You cannot conduct lawsuits on behalf of others in California unless you are licensed to practice law by the California Supreme Court, nor can you be admitted by the United States Court (Federal Court) to practice law unless you are duly licensed to practice law by a State or Territory of the United States of America.
I have heard of at least one person calling themselves a lawyer because they graduated law school, but were not licensed to practice law anymore. In my opinion they should not be referring to themselves as a lawyer.
Now what about bozo’s pawning themselves off as a California Motorcycle Accident Lawyer, or California Motorcycle Accident Attorney? If you search for California Motorcycle Accident Lawyer or California Motorcycle Accident Attorney on Google, Yahoo, or Microsoft Live Search, you are going to get a bunch of results with generic personal injury lawyers that do not ride motorcycles. You may get one or two that may ride, or have ridden in the past, but the rest are basically garden variety personal injury lawyers. Hell I do not come up on the search engines until the 3rd or 4th page and I am the real deal! You will also get the garden variety personal injury lawyers paying big bucks for sponsored pay per click advertisements.
In my opinion a California Motorcycle Accident Lawyer or California Motorcycle Accident Attorney is a lawyer or attorney that rides motorcycles and that handles motorcycle accident cases. I am not saying that garden variety personal injury lawyers are not qualified to handle a motorcycle accident case; I am saying that an actual motorcycle riding lawyer and attorney such as myself knows a hell of a lot more about motorcycle accidents, motorcycle safety, and riding a motorcycle then a bozo who does not.
I do handle regular personal injury cases such as car accidents, truck accidents, slip & falls, dog bites, etc. as well as motorcycle accidents, but when it comes to being a biker lawyer, I am the real deal.
If you have been the victim of a Motorcycle Accident or any other type of personal injury case, anywhere in The State of California give me a call 7 days a week, 24 hours a day at 800-816-1529 extension 1.
You can also check out my California Motorcycle Accident website at www.californiamotorcycleaccident.biz.
You can check out my main California Personal Injury website at www.thepersonalinjury.com
By Norman Gregory Fernandez, Esq., © 2008
Welcome, my name is 
Nice post.
I’m glad I came across your blog because, with these gas prices, I am getting a bike!! I haven’t had one since I had a little 110 when I was a kid so god forbid but I might be giving you a ring soon…
bookmarked. Thanks.
Gerry Spence, in his book Gunning for Justice, page 378, describes his speech to ABA “about the incompetence of trial lawyers and judges”, which got a standing ovation. “The American trial lawyer is frightened to death” of a government that want to arrest him as a “white collar criminal” and “felon”, and “petrified of judges”. “Judges feel they have done a good job only if have shaken some poor trial lawyer: ‘You sure got his ass Your honor!'” Lawyers are “ripped off and defrauded by law schools, who must unlearn before they can be worth a dman in the courtroom. Fear is the predominant emotion in the courtroom. Fear of the law, fear of judges. How do you select the American trial lawyer? This warrior? The best qualified have never been permitted to enter the law schools. They frieghten the acadamian. They communicate too well, too outspoken. They would never get in. They are left to selling used cars.”
As a new & used car salesman in an industry bankrupted by corrupt government, here’s my legal brief on “what is a lawyer”.
“Lawyer” is defined as anyone who studies the law. There’s several definitions of “attorney”. The two main ones are attorney-at-law (“licensed lawyer”) and attorney-in-fact (“pro se for a pro se”, as a former president of ATLA said).
Pro se means “without a lawyer”, which is how 99.9% of all trials are conducted in USA. Many lawyers are forced to represent themselves pro se, such as in divorce court when they can no longer afford to pay $150,000 lawyer fees. Some of the most historic cases were pro se, such as Gideon v Wainright that got “free” lawyers for criminal defendants, and William Penn’s case to stop judges jailing juries for contempt until they decided the “right” verdict.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pro_se
Anyone can be an attorney-in-fact for any person in any trial in any court, civil or criminal, regardless of lack of education, by signing a power of attorney contract, and this is done successfully 1,000s of times every day.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_of_attorney
A “license to practice law” means nothing in any court. The REAL license to practice law is the power of attorney contract between an attorney-at-law and the client. Without that signed contract, it’s illegal for an attorney to represent a client in court.
A so-called “law license” is merely a court order signed by a judge (often printed on fancy paper suitable for advertising, er, framing), to allow an attorney to work in a single court jurisdiction, as a convenience to holding a separate hearing in each case to verify (1) the power of attorney contract was signed, (2) the attorney is not a lunatic, or (3) convicted felon (though convicted felons can become licensed lawyers).
In this case “person” is not defined as a corporation, since the govt contract to form a corporation bypasses the constitutions, and demands a govt-licensed attorney-at-law. But adhesion contracts are often ruled invalid as unconsionable.
75% of judges in USA are not licensed lawyers, never passed a bar exam, never graduated law school, and many cannot even read, according to NY Times. Supreme courts call these “de facto judges” and “de facto courts” (“de facto” means bogus or illegal), and in Tennessee they are denied the right to handle criminal cases, unless they’re “judicial commissioners” signing arrest warrants. Legislation is pending to remove the current 3 hour max legal education requirement for non-lawyer judges, and drop it to zero hours legal education for “judges” in TN.
http://piratenews-tv.blogspot.com/2009/01/75-of-judges-are-not-licensed-lawyers.html
http://www.tsc.state.tn.us/OPINIONS/TSC/PDF/953/BANKSTON.pdf
http://www.tn.gov/attorneygeneral/op/2007/OP/OP7.pdf
http://www.tsc.state.tn.us/OPINIONS/TCA/PDF/091/Mosesd.pdf
http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2009/jan/27/ruling-disbands-jellico-city-court
LAWYER.
A counselor; one learned in the law. Vide [see] attorney.
http://law-dictionary.org
attorney.
1. One who is designated to transact business for another; a legal agent. Also termed attorney-in-fact; private attorney. 2. A person who practices law.; LAWYER. Also termed attorney-at-law; public attorney. COUNSEL.
-Black’s Law Dictionary, 7th
power of attorney.
1. An instrument granting someone authority to act as an agent or attorney-in-fact for the grantor.
-Black’s Law Dictionary, 7th
(9)(a) “Any law student who has successfully completed one-half of the legal studies required for graduation in an approved law school in the State of Tennessee may, with the written approval of the Supreme Court of Tennessee, provide legal services to, and/or may appear in any municipal, county or state court on behalf of, any person or entity financially unable to afford counsel or on behalf of the state of Tennessee or of any municipal or county government.”
-RULES OF THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE. ARTICLE X. SPECIAL OR LIMITED PRACTICE, Sec. 10.03. Law Student Practice
“We researched all 50 States and all the federal circuits on Westlaw to find all reported cases in which nonlawyers were permitted to represent parties in law cases.”
-Barbara C. Johnson attorney at law, FalseAccusations.com, When Nonlawyers Represent Parties and the Representation Does Not Constitute the Unauthorized Practice of Law
“To be a Social Security representative, a person does not have to be a lawyer. Many companies which advertise as representatives not affiliated with lawyers and do not send lawyers to the hearing with their clients. Many lawfirms send their paralegals to the final evidentiary hearing on their social security claims. A lawyer does not attend the final hearing.”
-Kinsell, Zadel & Whitaker attorneys at law, How to choose a Social Security Disability Law Firm
“He who represents himself has a fool for a client.”
-President Abraham “Lincoln” Rothschild, unlicensed lawyer who never attended law school and never passed a bar exam, shot dead by his own secretary of war and his co-conspirators, after genociding 1-million US citizens in the Mother of All Wacos
Great article , really interesting, hopefully youÂ’ll write many more just like this.Out of curiousity though, where do you get all your information from?Anyways, keep up the great work!
Congratulations on getting a motorcycle Mark. You will be fine.
Norm
Thanks for one hell of a post John. I tried to go to the links in your post but most of them said could not be found. If you want to resubmit your post with good links I will replace it with the good links.
As for me I have no fear when I go into Court because I know the law, and I know my shit. I do have respect for judges because I know their power.
I have been doing this many years. When I was a new attorney and I went to Court, I was more nervous then fearful, because I wanted to do a good job. Maybe Gerry Spence had a different experience.
I see many pro per’s in Court getting the shit kicked out of them by attorney’s and judges. Trying as you might, it is difficult if not impossible for 99.9% of the people out there acting in pro per to competently represent themselves. It is hard enough for attorney’s!
Abraham Lincoln was right, every fool has himself for a client. I would never represent myself. It is analogous to performing a medical operation on yourself.
Anyway thanks for your post,
Norm
From practicing law and being a biker 🙂
Norm