It's complicated, Vicki. <G> But, short summary version - originally, lawyers in the UK were separated into two distinct professions - barristers and solicitors. This was the result of an agreement made centuries back, which divided the work either was entitled to do. Solicitors, for example, did most of the paperwork, allowing barristers to concentrate more on court work.
These days, lawyer is less likely to be used. Most legal firms call themselves solicitors, and there's been a raft of legislation, proposals, accomodations over the centuries aimed at merging the two branches into one. It hasn't quite happened yet, but lawyer as a term is becoming more and more colloquial as time passes. Most members of the general public will talk about "Seeing my lawyer" or "Getting a lawyer". But they mean solicitor and the professionals generally don't call themselves lawyers at all for day to day purposes, although they won't insist no one else does and there are still the odd formal and professional occasions where the term is appropriate. <g>
Edit - after a quick search of the net, I came up with this . It's a bit longwinded, but if you're looking for more detail, you can't fault it for containing that. <G>
LabRat
Athos: If you'd told us what you were doing, we might have been able to plan this properly. Aramis: Yes, sorry. Athos: No, no, by all means, let's keep things suicidal.
