In the United States, lawyer and attorney are two labels for the same occupation: a person admitted to practice law.
In US usage, neither word adds a rank, an exam or a separate credential — the dividing line that matters is admission itself, which the ABA describes as a license from a state agency in each state.
The real distinctions sit in the formal phrases: attorney at law, attorney-in-fact, counselor and Esq.
Do the words mean the same thing in the US?
Lawyer or attorney, the license is the same thing: the ABA describes lawyers as licensed by a state agency in each state.
That license is also the practical object of the comparison, because the state agency can confirm whether a person has a law license and is permitted to practice there — which is why admission, not vocabulary, is the dividing line that matters.
What a hiring firm can verify is the license, not the word.
A firm that wants to confirm a candidate's bar status goes to the state licensing agency — the ABA keeps a state-by-state directory of those agencies.
In New Hampshire and South Dakota, the directory says you call the bar association to confirm that a lawyer is licensed and in good standing.
Where the words do split is inside the formal phrases — attorney-in-fact, attorney at law, counselor at law, Esq.
Those are what the rest of this page sorts out.
Where does 'attorney' come from? Attorney-in-fact vs. attorney-at-law
"Attorney" does double duty: in the licensed profession it names an admitted lawyer, and in estate and business documents it names a different role, the attorney-in-fact.
Our research for this page verified the licensing and title rules — it did not cover power-of-attorney law — so for any real appointment, the document itself and your state's law are the authority.
The distinction that matters on a resume is between the document role and the licensed one.
A power of attorney names someone — the attorney-in-fact, sometimes called the agent — to act for the person who signed it.
That role comes from the document, not from a law license: being named attorney-in-fact does not make anyone an attorney at law, the phrase for a person admitted to practice, whose standing comes from the state licensing agency rather than from any single document.
If a resume line could be misread — duties as attorney-in-fact, for instance — spell out attorney-in-fact rather than letting "attorney" stand alone.
What do 'attorney at law' and 'counselor at law' mean?
Attorney at law is the full formal phrase for an admitted lawyer, and in the state statutes our research read, it is the statutory language for licensed practice.
New York's Judiciary Law § 478 makes it unlawful to practice or appear as an "attorney-at-law" or "as an attorney and counselor-at-law" for another person in a New York court of record, or to hold out as entitled to practice law, without admission and registration.
Illinois's 705 ILCS 205/1 says no one may practice as "an attorney or counselor at law" within the state without a license from the Illinois Supreme Court.
Counselor at law travels with it in both statutes: New York pairs it with attorney-at-law in a single phrase, and Illinois lists the two side by side.
You may also run into "counselor" in a firm's name or on a lawyer's card.
In the statutes our research read, neither phrase is a separate license or rank — they are paired wording for the same licensed practitioner.
Other states word their statutes differently; these two are the ones our research verified.
The practical read for a job seeker: treat both as formal dress.
"Attorney at law" on a signature block is conventional; "counselor" is a matter of house style.
The license underneath is what a firm can verify — which is why the state of your admission does more work than the styling around it.
How do other countries use solicitor and barrister?
The vocabulary changes at the border.
Solicitor and barrister are professional titles in other countries' systems — England and Wales is the example most often meant — but our research for this page covered US licensing and title rules, not foreign legal systems, so this page can't walk through how those roles differ.
What it can sort out is what the words do on a US resume.
One correction to a common assumption: "barrister" is not a US title, but "solicitor" is not exclusively foreign vocabulary either.
Some US government legal jobs carry it — our job-feed sample includes a New Hampshire city's "Attorney I — City Solicitor" posting.
The word on its own, in other words, doesn't tell a firm where a candidate trained.
For a job seeker the takeaway is narrow but useful.
A title from another country's system is not US admission, and the admission a candidate holds in the US — if any — is the fact a firm can verify with the state licensing agency.
If you trained abroad and are aiming at US practice, how to become a lawyer walks the path from law school to bar admission.
Which title should you use on a resume or bio?
Name the occupation plainly — "attorney" or "lawyer" — and let the license line do the qualifying: where you are admitted is the fact a firm can verify with the state licensing agency, the kind of agency the ABA indexes state by state.
What you should not do is let a title claim more than the license supports.
The model rule most relevant here is ABA Model Rule 5.5(b)(2), under which a lawyer not admitted in a jurisdiction must not hold out to the public or otherwise represent that they are admitted to practice law in that jurisdiction.
That is the model text; states adopt their own versions.
Esq. draws the questions.
Our research found no statute or court rule that defines "Esq."; the ethics opinions that address it treat it under the misleading-communications rules.
The ethics opinion our research verified is a case in point: New York State Bar Ethics Opinion 1147 (March 23, 2018) says a lawyer not admitted to practice in New York may use "Esq." in connection with a non-legal business conducted in New York, provided that care is taken to avoid confusion about the lawyer's status.
That is one state's opinion, not a national rule.
Specialist labels run tighter still: under Ohio Rule 7.4(e) — a state version of the ABA's model rules — a lawyer may not state or imply that they are a specialist unless they are certified as one and the communication names the certifying organization.
If your bio leans on a niche, describe the work rather than claiming a credential you do not hold.
Holding a JD but not yet admitted?
The degree and the license are different things — see what a JD is — and the agency that licenses lawyers in your state is the place to confirm how you may describe yourself before a bio goes up.
Titles are regulated communications — check your state
Where to find attorney jobs
Whatever the letterhead says, the openings sit on one board: browse attorney jobs for current roles at law firms.
For the wider picture of the occupation — where attorneys work, the job types, how careers progress — the attorney careers guide covers the role end to end, and how to get a job as a lawyer covers the search itself.
Career information, not legal advice. Title and licensing questions belong with the agency that licenses lawyers in your state — the ABA keeps a directory of those agencies.