What does solicitor mean?
A solicitor has two widely recognized uses whose prominence depends on location. In Britain and several other Commonwealth countries, a solicitor is a qualified lawyer who gives legal advice, prepares documents, and may represent clients in lower courts. This professional sense also appears in Australia, New Zealand, and other jurisdictions that inherited British legal traditions. In North America, however, solicitor more often means a person who asks for orders, customers, donations, support, or business. A company may employ solicitors to seek customers, while a charity or campaign may use the word for someone collecting contributions or signatures. Although the North American commercial sense can sound institutional or old-fashioned in some contexts, it remains ordinary and understandable. The contrast is a useful reminder that a familiar word can acquire a profession-specific meaning in one English-speaking region while retaining a more general commercial meaning in another.
nounIn British legal usage, a solicitor is a qualified legal professional who advises clients, prepares legal documents, and may represent clients in certain courts. In North American usage, a solicitor is someone who seeks orders, customers, support, contributions, or business.
- In British and other Commonwealth legal systems, a qualified legal practitioner who advises clients, prepares cases and documents, and may conduct proceedings in certain courts.
- A person employed to solicit orders, customers, contracts, or business for another person or organization.
- A person who seeks support, contributions, signatures, or cooperation for a cause, campaign, charity, or petition.
- A person or institution that proactively requests business, attention, or participation.
"She consulted a solicitor before signing the agreement."
"The solicitor explained the consequences of signing the agreement."
"A charity solicitor approached local businesses for donations."
The regular plural refers to multiple people holding the role or acting in the relevant professional or commercial capacity.
"Several solicitors represented the clients at the hearing."
The same word sends lawyers in two directions: in Britain it names a legal professional, but in North America it usually describes someone seeking customers.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does solicitor come from?
The English word dates from the Middle English period and came through Anglo-French and Old French from Latin sollicitator, an agent noun based on sollicitare, meaning to solicit, urge, or importune. Its history therefore centers on the idea of one person seeking, prompting, or obtaining something from another. Related English words such as solicit, solicitation, and solicitous preserve the same Latin root.
How solicitor is actually used
The legal sense is formal and professional. In North America, the commercial and fundraising senses are much more prominent; in British usage, solicitor can also be a formal job title in both legal and business settings.
Easily confused with solicitor
In England and Wales, both are types of lawyer: solicitors generally advise clients and prepare cases, while barristers specialize in advocacy and representation in court.
Attorney is the general American term for a lawyer, whereas in British legal usage solicitor names a specific branch of the legal profession.