Katie Zacharia Is Unquestionably a Lawyer, but Not an Attorney

I have noticed much huffing and puffing in the media that Katie Zacharia, President Trump’s new press secretary, supposedly lied when claiming to be a “lawyer.” Actually, she is a lawyer. But she is apparently not an attorney.

The confusion seems to be caused by her critics thinking that “lawyer” and “attorney” are synonymous. While the identifiers are often used interchangeably, they are not the same. A lawyer is someone who has completed a legal education. An attorney is someone who is licensed by requisite authorities to represent clients. In other words, all attorneys are lawyers but not all lawyers are attorneys.

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Wesley J. Smith

Wesley J. Smith is an author and a senior fellow at the Discovery Institute’s Center on Human Exceptionalism.

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I have noticed much huffing and puffing in the media that Katie Zacharia, President Trump’s new press secretary, supposedly lied when claiming to be a “lawyer.” Actually, she is a lawyer. But she is apparently not an attorney.

The confusion seems to be caused by her critics thinking that “lawyer” and “attorney” are synonymous. While the identifiers are often used interchangeably, they are not the same. A lawyer is someone who has completed a legal education. An attorney is someone who is licensed by requisite authorities to represent clients. In other words, all attorneys are lawyers but not all lawyers are attorneys.