united-states legal-terms lawyer legal-history
Where did the term attorney (or simply its prevalence) originate?
<p>In America there is no dichotomy between solicitors and barristers but simply attorneys at law, colloquially just lawyers.</p>
<p>Why are they not just solicitors or not just barristers?</p>
<p>Further we have attorneys general. Which seems to have replaced the solicitor general.</p>
<p>Then are there other types of attorneys than only legal ones?</p>

<h2>The US has kept the original meaning</h2>
<p>More or less.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/attorney" rel="nofollow noreferrer">word</a> entered English from Old French around the turn of the 14th century and meant a person appointed to handle the financial or legal affairs of another.</p>
<p>Two branches developed, a common attorney which leads to the modern concept of an attorney under a power of attorney, and an attorney at law. These were qualified people who prepared briefs for barristers in the Common Law courts. The attorneys equivalents in the Chancellery courts were called solicitors.</p>
<p>When the courts were merged in the UK in the late 19th century, the term solicitor was kept and attorney was abolished.</p>
<p>At about the same time, the courts in the US merged but the Americans kept attorney and abandoned solicitor. Solicitor is still used in some parts of the US to refer to a government lawyer, particularly in the office of <a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solicitor_General_of_the_United_States" rel="nofollow noreferrer">solicitor general</a>.</p>
<p>The US as well as Commonwealth countries have both an Attorney General and a Solicitor General. The AG is usually a politician and the chief law officer of the government. The SG is usually a civil servant and represents the government in court; for example, when the USA needs to appear in SCOTUS it’s the SG that does it.</p>
