A lawyer is someone who provides legal advice and counsel on behalf of someone involved in a legal dispute or legal issue. Also called attorneys or counselors, lawyers typically represent people before a governing body (such as a court) by conducting legal research, gathering relevant documents and witnesses, drafting written briefs, presenting oral arguments, and negotiating legal rights and responsibilities of their clients.

To become a lawyer, one must first complete special training and meet other professional requirements. Although each state has its own standards for licensing attorneys, most states require hopeful lawyers to obtain an undergraduate degree, and then graduate from an accredited law school. Once the formal education is complete, they must also take and pass the state’s Bar Examination (a rigid test of knowledge in all fields of law), submit to investigation into their moral character and fitness to practice law, and be sworn in by the state or federal Supreme Court.