Understanding Legal Terminology: Lawyers, Judges, and Court Procedures (Full Transcript)

Speaker 1: In this lesson, we will discuss case briefs. But first, let's quickly go over some basic terminology that will be helpful when you read cases as well as other legal documents. Lawyer, attorney, and counsel. In legal disputes, each party ordinarily is represented by a lawyer. However, in the U.S., lawyers are often also referred to as attorney or counsel. Barrister and solicitor. In the U.K., when referring to lawyers, the terms solicitor and barrister are commonly used. But there is a difference between the two. Put simply, barristers tend to practice as advocates representing clients in court. In contrast, solicitors tend to perform the majority of their legal work in a law firm or office setting. They don't appear in front of courts themselves. Rather, if there's a need to do so, they will instruct a barrister. Judge, court, and justice. Judges are the trier of facts. They're the ones that decide cases. Depending on the specific court, one or more judges together form the court, which is the forum in which contentious legal cases are brought and resolved. Judges will usually refer to themselves as the court. When an attorney addresses a judge in court in the United States, he or she will always address the judge as your honour. Judges are sometimes also referred to as justice. All U.S. Supreme Court justices are called justices. In the United Kingdom, it depends on the level of court how judges are addressed. In addition to your honour, for many courts it is common for barristers appearing in front of it to address the judges as my lord or my lady, including at the Supreme Court level where the judges are called lords or ladies. Appeal, appellant, appellee. Most opinions that are read in law school and that we discuss in our courses are appellate opinions. That means that they decide or have decided the outcome of an appeal. An appeal is a legal proceeding that considers whether another lower court's legal decision was right or wrong. After a court has ruled for one side, the losing side may seek review of that decision by filing an appeal before a higher court. During the proceedings before the higher court, the party that lost at the original court and is therefore filing the appeal is usually known as the appellant. The party that won in the lower court and must defend the lower court's decision is known as the appellee. Petition, petitioner, respondent. Some courts label an appeal as a petition and require the losing party to petition the higher court for relief. In these cases, the party that lost before the lower court and is filing the petition for review is called the petitioner. The party that won before the lower court and is responding to the petition in the higher court is called the respondent.