Bar in a
legal context has
three possible meanings: the division of a courtroom between its
working and public areas; the process of qualifying to
practice law; and the legal profession.
Courtroom division
The
bar is a dividing line in a courtroom. The
area in front of the bar is restricted to participants in the
trial: the
judge or judges, other court
officials, the jury (if any), the lawyers for each party, the
parties to the case, and witnesses giving testimony. The area
behind the bar is open to the public. This restriction is enforced
in nearly all courts. In most courts,the bar is represented by a
physical partition: a
railing or
barrier that serves as a bar.
License and certification
The bar may also refer to the qualifying procedure
by which a lawyer is licensed to practice law in a given
jurisdiction.
U.S. procedure
In the United States, this procedure is administered by the
individual
U.S. states. In general, a
candidate must graduate from a qualified
law
school and pass a written test: the "
bar examination". Nearly all states use the
Multistate Bar
Examination, usually with additions for that state's laws. The
candidate is then "
admitted to the
bar". A lawyer whose license to practice law is revoked is said
to be "
disbarred."
British procedure
In the
United
Kingdom
, the practice of law is divided between solicitors and barristers (advocates in Scotland
). It
is the latter who appear in court. When a lawyer becomes a
barrister, he is "
called to the
bar".
The legal profession
"The Bar" is also commonly used to refer to the legal profession as
a whole. With a modifier, it may refer to a branch or division of
the profession: as for instance, the "
tort
bar", lawyers who specialize in filing
civil
suits for damages. The term is also used to differentiate
lawyers who represent clients ("the bar"), from judges or members
of a
judiciary ("
the bench"), although the phrase "bench and bar"
denotes all judges and lawyers collectively.
See also
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