Seriously... Lawyers deserve to be called "Doctor"?

Question

Why is it that MDs are called Doctor, DDSs are called Doctor, PhDs are called Doctor... yet every lawyer I have known (despite having a doctorate) is called Mr. or Mrs. unless they are university/college professors. This is true even on the legal shows on TV. Why is this? They do deserve the title...they spend long enough in school, too.

HAHA...no, I'm a dental student (future DDS) I'm just curious about the law thing b/c I think if I will be called Doctor when I get out, attorneys ought to be called Doctor too.

Answer 1

I don't use titles, it makes people think they are better than me when they are not.

Answer 2

The JD is technically a doctorate -- but is actually thought to be the equivalent of the British LLM -- which is a master's degree. There is another law degree -- the LLD which is higher. People with that degree are called Doctor.

Before the current system for getting lae degrees came into being, lawyers started using the suffix "Esquire." It probably seemed redundant to use both Dr and Esq.


s for their time in school -- three years isn't nearly as long as other doctorates.

Answer 3

Because Law School in the British Commonwealth is an undergraduate subject- in 3 or 4 years, they receive the LL.B.

Until the 1960's, in the U.S., law was a postgraduate subject, that still issued the LL.B., however, it was changed for a lot of reasons to the J.D.

Unique to the field of U.S. Law, the next highest degree in law after the J.D. is the Master of Laws- LL.M. Yeah, it's stupid. A Masters is a higher degree than a Doctorate...

After that, is something in the U.S. called an J.S.D. Doctor of Judaical Science. It';s a rare thing, not even many law professors have one, but it is the research degree in law, equivalent to a Ph.D. in other fields.

The LL.D. (Doctor of Laws) is another name for a JSD, used more in the Commonwealth. In the US, an LL.D. is usually an honorary degree these days.

Answer 4

I think that you'll find that a juris doctorate is more equivalent to an MBA than the degree attained by a medical doctor who requires a great deal more time and education than a lawyer.. But another example which you could also have advanced is the fact that many college professors are PhD's and yet you don't call them Doctors, do you?

I'd suppose that we tend to equate "Doctor" with a person that is involved in treating people for their illnesses or injuries, that's not what lawyers do, they don't come within the realm of physicians. So it isn't just the "doctoral" part of the title that equates to "doctoring" in the common sense of our word usage.

Hope that helps.

Answer 5

Not sure...you can have a doctorate in just about any field, really.

I think it is because when we think of doctors, we think of medical doctors.

For instance, my uncle is an astrophysicist, has several doctorates, and as self-absorbed as he is, does not request to be called Dr. I've always wondered why too...

I suppose it is mostly because it would get confusing.

Though I'm sure he (or anyone else) would put it on the cover if they wrote a book.

Answer 6

There are three types of doctorates: research/terminal, (first) ommon (such studies were then called "philosophy", but are now classified as sciences and humanities — however the phrase Doctor of philosophy degree remains in common usage).

It should be noted that titling of first professional degrees in the above-named fields as a "doctorate" is a uniquely American convention that is not utilized in most other countries. In many other countries, the equivalent degree is often a bachelor's or master's degree (for example, Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery, Bachelor of Law). In fact, U.S. law schools used to name their law degree the LL.B (Bachelor of Law) before renaming the degree to J.D. (Doctor of Jurisprudence).

Not all fields have chosen to name (or rename as was the case in the field of law) their first professional degrees "doctorates". For example in architecture, the professional first degree is called Master of Architecture, while in accountancy it is the Master of Accountancy. Despite being named "masters" some progressional masters degree programs may require about the same amount of time to complete as "professional doctorate" programs in other fields so the naming is somewhat arbitrary.

I have known other people in non medical fields who are called doctor. The superintendent of my son's school has the title doctor.

Answer 7

ill call the Dentist checklist. ill call the MD checklist. ill call my preacher checklist. if he needs. ill even call Dr, Pepper checklist. As for legal experts Ive have been given an entire checklist of different call to entice from.... the 1st subject we do, enable's kill each and all of the legal experts William Shakespeare A criminal expert will do something to win a case, each so often he may even tell the actuality." Patrick Murray. the single super theory of English regulation is to make organisation for itself." Charles Dickens. "only legal experts and psychological defectives are quickly exempt for jury accountability." George Bernard Shaw "a guy would besides open an oyster with out knife, as a criminal expert's mouth with out value." Barton Holyday. "the only way you are able to beat the legal experts is to die with no longer something." Will Rogers. "An incompetent criminal expert can postpone a tribulation for months or years. a powerfuble criminal expert can postpone one even longer." Evelle youthful. "A countryman between 2 legal experts is almost a fish between 2 cats." Benjamin Franklin.

Answer 8

Usually the "Doctor" tiltle is limited to a person who receives the terminal degree in their specialty. The JD is not the terminal degree in law the S.J.D. (DOCTOR OF JURIDICAL SCIENCE) is.

Answer 9

Good point! Are you an attorney, because there are plenty of other terms you could go by. Try one of these: advocate, ambulance chaser*, barrister, beagle, beak, counsel, counselor, fixer, front, legal beagle*, legal eagle*, mouthpiece*, mugger, patch, pettifogger, pleader*, proxy, shyster, spieler*, spouter, springer, squeal OR MAYBE ONE OF THESE: adviser, aide, buttinski,consultant, counsel, counselor, Dutch uncle, kibitzer, lawyer,righthand man, second-guesser, tipster, tout. GOOD LUCK!

Answer 10

Many of them are well deserving of the titles "ambulance chaser" ,"shark", and "gutless leech". A doct. of law is not nearly as useful to society as a doct. of medicine. Most lawyers think too highly of themselves as it is. Let's not make a bad situation worse.