Can lawyers legally call themselves "doctor"?

[Ninja1]

Legally, I can call myself king of the universe if I want to. That doesn't mean people won't laugh at me for doing so.


I do believe the issue went before some ethics advisory board who OKed it as long as there wasn't an appearance you were calling yourself a medical doctor.

You never read my posts anymore now that you're a mod. 

[lawrookie]

Thats kind of my point though, they are "doctors" but not MD's.

Just like how if a teacher with a PHD in Archeology calls himself "doctor" no one will contest it, so why is it ok for one doctorate but not another is all that confuses me.

Chiropractors ARE doctors 
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They're doctors because they have a doctorate from a chiropractic college, not a medical school like MDs and DOs, aka physicians.
[/quote]

[Good Teacher]

Apparently, the ABA has been saying that "lawyers are doctors, too" for 42 years. However, some states disagree, and as the other posters have stated, one must always consider the context (i.e., be careful not to misrepresent your training).

Here's an article published by the ABA Journal on this topic:

http://www.abajournal.com/magazine/article/lawyers_are_doctors_too/

[HolmesBoy]

On a related note, YLS has just established the first program for a Ph.D. in law. Doctor squared?

http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2012/07/11/yale-law-school-to-offer-ph-d-in-law

[jack24]

Additional question.  I am teaching a college political science class this fall.  How douchey, on a scale of one to ten, would it be to ask them to call me Doctor?

I don't really want the freshmen to call me by my first name, and "Mr _____" seems odd to me.   Perhaps i'll go with "professor."

[Maintain FL 350]

Additional question.  I am teaching a college political science class this fall.  How douchey, on a scale of one to ten, would it be to ask them to call me Doctor?

I don't really want the freshmen to call me by my first name, and "Mr _____" seems odd to me.   Perhaps i'll go with "professor."

I'd say about a five, not terrible but moderately douchey. Frankly, I find the notion of a lawyer asking to be called "Doctor" more legit than people with "Ph.Ds" in management or education from some bull$*** degree mill who insist on being called "Doctor".

In many countries (much of Latin America, Germany, Netherlands, etc) lawyers are commonly referred to as "Doctor". The J.D. is a professional doctorate (like an MD, DDS, Pharm.D, etc.), as opposed to a research based doctorate (Ph.D, D.Phil). All other holders of professional doctorates in the U.S. are called doctor. Some of those degrees (Ed.D and D.M., for example) are way easier to obtain than a J.D., and certainly don't involve anything like the bar exam. People used to get an LL.B (bachelor of laws) until I think 60 or 70 years ago, and the J.D. was ushered in to give the profession more respectability. There really is no reason why a lawyer in the U.S. can't be called doctor, but it's just not part of our legal history and culture.

 In Europe and Latin America law has always been associated with a university education, and thus the upper class. Those people tend to be very status-conscious, and like titles. Here, people used to do it Abraham Lincoln-style, and the formalized university-based legal education is comparatively new. I think that accounts for part of the unwritten rule that lawyers should not insist on being called doctor.

[cooley3L]

Basicly everyone with a Doctorate or a PhD is a "Doctor" but us as far as title use goes as far as I can see.

Lots of Lawyers get the title Dr though, they just get a PhD in whatever (economics is a big one used)

[Julie Fern]

Additional question.  I am teaching a college political science class this fall.  How douchey, on a scale of one to ten, would it be to ask them to call me Doctor?

I don't really want the freshmen to call me by my first name, and "Mr _____" seems odd to me.   Perhaps i'll go with "professor."

9.  use "professor."

[cooley3L]

In MPRE prep the Prof talks about how ethics boards use the "what would fool an idiot" standard. As such saying your firm only hires "Jurious Doctors" (even with the Juris in front of it) would be an ethics violation in most states, since an idiot would assume you are more qualified than others due to it.

If you use plain Dr. an idiot would very much assume you were a MD/JD.

That being said, if your state bar gives the all clear on it, then it's up to you.

[FalconJimmy]

In my view, I would say that yes attorneys can, but they generally don't because the law profession has its own terminal degree.

yes, the juris doctor.  it is a terminal degree.