lawyer
Enable an agent to recognize a person acting as a lawyer, assess evidence of their professional standing and suitability, and identify which proposed legal services require further authorization checks.
Bundle → Layer → Finding → Questions Filled
6 bundles · 11 layers · 18 findings · 28 questions
Professional identity Establishes who holds the professional capacity and what their designation means in context.
Holder and records
Connects the person to independently identifiable professional records.
Credential attribution
Record the identifiers and evidence used to attribute a professional credential to this person, including ambiguity.
- Which professional identifier and corroborating details connect the authorization record to this person? provenance
- Could the record refer to a namesake, a firm or a different professional capacity? boundary
Designation and qualification
Separates local professional designation, education and authorization.
Meaning of lawyer status
Preserve the exact designation and its evidenced relationship to qualification and practice authority.
- What does the person's exact professional title signify in the jurisdiction where it is used? definition
- Which evidence establishes professional authorization beyond education, employment or self-description? provenance
Authorization and standing Records the basis, limits and temporal state of permission to provide legal services.
Jurisdiction and service permissions
Relates professional authority to specific legal services and venues.
Activity-specific authority
Record the authority relied upon for advice, representation or another proposed service, with any territorial or forum limits.
- Which authority or recognition mechanism supports providing this service in the relevant jurisdiction? provenance
- Does the proposed advice or representation require additional admission, recognition, supervision or forum-specific permission? action
Status and conditions
Distinguishes historic admission from current standing and operative restrictions.
Current practice status
Record source-reported standing, effective dates, conditions and the freshness of verification.
- What standing does the responsible authority report, and when was that information verified? provenance
- Which expiry, restriction, suspension or unresolved discrepancy affects the proposed work? action
Legal-service competence Describes the person's evidenced ability to handle particular legal tasks.
Practice areas and skills
Connects substantive and procedural capabilities to supporting evidence.
Evidenced capability
Distinguish self-described practice interests, documented experience and formally evidenced specialist designations.
- Which legal subjects and tasks can the person support with relevant qualifications or experience? provenance
- Is a claimed specialization a self-description or a designation recognized by an identified body? boundary
Assignment fit
Assesses capability and practical availability against a concrete service need.
Matter-specific suitability
Record the match between the proposed assignment and relevant experience, language, procedural familiarity and capacity.
- How much documented experience is relevant to this matter's subject, procedure and jurisdiction, and how recent is it? measurement
- What competence, language or capacity gap requires support, supervision or referral before acceptance? action
Practice and engagement Locates the lawyer within a practice arrangement and establishes authority to serve a particular client.
Employment and practice setting
Records how the lawyer's organizational relationships affect the service being offered.
Service-provider capacity
Identify the capacity in which the person acts and the relationships relevant to responsibility and service delivery.
- In what capacity is the person acting: independent practitioner, firm lawyer, employee, public-service lawyer or another evidenced arrangement? definition
- Which practice-setting conditions affect whom the lawyer may serve or whose instructions they may accept? boundary
Client mandate
Defines the accepted service and the basis for acting on the client's behalf.
Engagement scope and instructions
Record the identified client, accepted scope, authorized instruction channel and engagement state.
- Who is the client, who may give instructions, and what evidence establishes the accepted engagement scope? provenance
- Does the contemplated action fall within the engagement, or must the mandate be clarified or extended? action
Professional obligations and accountability Identifies applicable professional safeguards and routes for resolving concerns.
Conflicts and information duties
Links engagement decisions and information handling to applicable professional requirements.
Engagement safeguards
Record the status of conflict review and relevant information-handling obligations without assuming uniform rules across jurisdictions.
- Which applicable professional rules and engagement circumstances determine conflict and confidentiality checks? provenance
- What unresolved conflict or information-handling condition requires review before accepting work or sharing material? action
Oversight and remedies
Records relevant oversight, substantiated professional findings and applicable protection mechanisms.
Accountability evidence
Identify responsible oversight bodies and distinguish allegations, determinations and operative measures with their dates and scope.
- Which body handles professional-status verification or complaints concerning this lawyer in this practice context? provenance
- Which verified determination, supervision requirement or applicable insurance or client-funds safeguard needs assessment for this engagement? action
Evidence and external alignment What the world already says about this thing, gathered so the model can be checked against it.
Reported evidence
Findings from the breadth pass, kept separate from the structural claims.
Check these first
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- Which of these check these first hold for the sense of lawyer this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Kinds and varieties
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- Which of these kinds and varieties hold for the sense of lawyer this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Identifiers and schemes
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- Which of these identifiers and schemes hold for the sense of lawyer this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Standards and regulation
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- Which of these standards and regulation hold for the sense of lawyer this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Real-world use
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- Which of these real-world use hold for the sense of lawyer this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Failure modes and hazards
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- Which of these failure modes and hazards hold for the sense of lawyer this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Regional variation
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- Which of these regional variation hold for the sense of lawyer this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Neighbouring kinds and how to tell them apart
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- Which of these neighbouring kinds and how to tell them apart hold for the sense of lawyer this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Classifiers Filled
- Family
- Thing Registry
- Category
- Society, people and institutions
- Entry kind
- noun.person
- Plane
- SOC
- Domain
- SOC.PER
- Facets: substance
- social
- Facets: origin
- conceptual
- Facets: agency
- inert
- Facets: mobility
- not-applicable
- Facets: scale
- not-applicable
- Facets: affordances
- observable
- Other names and narrower kinds
- advocate, counsel, counselor, counsellor, counselor-at-law, pleader, ambulance chaser, barrister, conveyancer, defense attorney, defense lawyer, divorce lawyer
What it is Filled
A lawyer is a professional person authorized under the rules of a particular jurisdiction to practise law, including advising on legal rights and obligations or representing clients in legal proceedings, within the scope of that authorization.
In scope
- Professional identity and evidence linking credentials to the person
- Authorization to practice, its jurisdiction, scope, conditions and current standing
- Legal-service capabilities and relevant experience
- Client, employer, practice and representation relationships
- Engagement boundaries, professional obligations and accountability
Out of scope
- The person's general biography and unrelated personal attributes
- Law firms, courts, regulators and other organizations as independent entities
- The lawyer occupation taxonomy and job advertisements as independent records
- Legal matters, proceedings, evidence and substantive legal conclusions
- Legislation, judgments and professional rules as independently maintained legal sources
Why it exists Filled
Enable an agent to recognize a person acting as a lawyer, assess evidence of their professional standing and suitability, and identify which proposed legal services require further authorization checks.
Distinguishing features Filled
- A law degree, legal job title or claimed expertise alone does not establish the authorization required by the registry definition; the model asks for applicable authority and evidence.
- The subject is an identifiable person holding a professional capacity, rather than a law firm, legal department or advertised position.
- Authorization is assessed for a specified jurisdiction and activity; a professional title alone does not establish permission for every proposed service.
- Legal advice and lawsuit-related work are evaluated as capabilities with potentially different permissions; courtroom representation is not assumed from the label lawyer.
- A historical credential is distinguished from current permission to practice, including any unresolved status, restriction or cessation.
What robots and AI may and may not do Filled
Must not
- Present itself or anyone unlicensed as a lawyer, or give legal advice for a specific case.
- Disclose privileged client communications or case files.
- Contact an opposing party or a court on a client's behalf without instruction.
- Create or send legal documents citing authorities it has not verified.
Only with a human decision
- Filing, serving or signing anything in a legal matter.
- Any communication with a court, regulator or opposing party.
May
- Check whether a person appears on a bar or roll of practising lawyers that is public.
- Organize documents and deadlines for a lawyer or client who asked for help.
- Explain in general terms what kinds of lawyer handle what matters.
Moral aspects Filled
- Unqualified legal advice can cost people their homes, children or liberty.
- Legal privilege protects people who must speak freely to their lawyer.
Who is affected
- Clients
- Opposing parties
- Courts relying on accurate filings
Owners Filled
Steward
The lawyer answers for their own practice; the bar association or law society holds the roll and disciplines members.
Master systems
- Bar association and law society rolls
Links to other meta-models Filled
parent
- oewn-10499838-n - registry parent class
What else AI and robots need to interact with it Filled
Identity and identifiers required Filled
- Vercy registry: vr.tr.lawyer
- Open English WordNet: oewn-10269647-n
Direct properties not applicable Not applicable
- Credential holder: Person linked to professional identifiers and identity-matching evidence
- Professional designation: Exact locally used title, language and jurisdiction; equivalence unresolved where necessary
- Authorization context: Granting or recognizing authority, jurisdiction, authorization basis and supporting record
- Practice standing: Source-reported status, effective dates, verification date and unresolved discrepancies
- Permitted service scope: Activities, forums, client categories and practice settings; permitted, conditional, prohibited or unverified for each
- Practice competence: Legal subject areas, service types, languages and evidence of relevant experience
- Relevant experience: Documented years or completed assignments within a specified practice area and period
- Practice relationship: Employer, firm, independent practice, public office or other evidenced arrangement, with dates
- Engagement authority: Prospective, accepted, limited, concluded, withdrawn or disputed; client and service scope linked
- Professional safeguards: Applicable conflict, confidentiality, supervision and financial-protection checks, each with evidence and unresolved conditions
Plane SOC: no invented physical properties.
Recognition optional Filled
- Verified through the roll of a bar association or law society, not by title or office appearance.
Capabilities and actions required Filled
- Verify that a professional record belongs to the identified person and record its provenance.
- Assess whether a specified legal service falls within evidenced authorization for the relevant jurisdiction and forum.
- Match a legal-service need to documented competence, experience and working language.
- Identify unresolved engagement, conflict or supervision conditions and route them for appropriate review.
- Track changes in professional standing and flag affected assignments for reassessment.
- Refer a matter to another qualified professional when authorization, competence or capacity is insufficient.
Hazards and failure modes required Filled
- Missed deadlines and limitation periods destroy valid claims.
- Fabricated citations in filings mislead courts and sanction the filer.
Standards and interfaces required Filled
- The International Standard Classification of Occupations ISCO-08, issued by the International Labour Organization, classifies lawyers under unit group 2611.
Context of use required Filled
- A lawyer works in settings such as legal practices, courts, public bodies and organizational legal departments.
- The role provides legal advice, document preparation, negotiation or representation within the person's professional authorization.
- Professional standing and permitted scope matter when selecting counsel or assigning legal work.
Sources Filled
- Open English WordNet 2024, synset oewn-10269647-n - sense and gloss of the concept
- Wiktionary: lawyer - word senses and usage
Open questions
- Which jurisdiction-specific designations fall within this registry entry, and how should trainees, inactive members and former practitioners be represented without implying current authorization?
- Which authoritative records expose authorization, restrictions and effective dates, and how should unavailable or conflicting status evidence be handled?
- How do advice, representation, cross-border services and in-house practice permissions differ across the jurisdictions this model will support?
- Which ISCO, SOC and ESCO occupation mappings fit the entry while preserving the distinction between an occupation category and the individual holding professional status?
- Which professional safeguards and specialist designations require jurisdiction-specific extensions, including confidentiality, conflicts, client funds, insurance and supervision?
Machine files
Provenance
thing registry research (pass 2) · unreviewed
Built from: models/things/publications/thing-lawyer/spec.json