Attorney-at-law vs Attorney-in-fact
Transcript:
Hello!
Today we look at the difference between an attorney-at-law and an attorney-in-fact.
First of all, you should know that the abbreviation for both is simply “attorney”, but there is a very big difference between these two figures.
An attorney-at-law is a lawyer who is authorised to practice law before a court. This term comes from England, where lawyers who were authorised to practice in the common law courts were known as attorneys-at-law.
An attorney-in-fact is an agent who is authorised by an instrument called a “power of attorney” to act on behalf of a principle (another legal or natural person) in order to perform some particular act or for some particular reason. The attorney-in-fact (procuratore) does not need to be an attorney-at-law (avvocato).
Attorney-at-law and attorney-in-fact may also be spelt without the hyphens (trattini), so it is possible to write “attorney in fact” or “attorney at law” or to simply use the abbreviation, “attorney”.
Please remember that “power of attorney” is generally abbreviated to “PoA” and the title given at the top of a power of attorney is generally “Power of Attorney”. We do not entitle the instrument as “Special Power of Attorney” (procura speciale) or “General Power of Attorney” (procura generale), but merely as “Power of Attorney”. The contents will tell us if the instrument grants the attorney-in-fact with general, or special, powers.
Thank you very much and see you next time for more Peter’s Pills to improve your Legal English!
See a typical model of a Power of Attorney granting general powers here: https://www.pandadoc.com/general-power-of-attorney-template/
Legal English – Sommario delle Lezioni
- Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 55 – Golden expressions
- Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 54 – Pre-emption right vs Right of first refusal
- Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 53 – What do we mean by “agent” of a company?
- Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 52 – Voting at a meeting
- Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 51 – Contracts vs Deeds
- Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 50 – Executive and Non-Executive Directors
- Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 49 – Transfer of shares vs transmission of shares
- Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 48 – They, them, their for singular nouns
- Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 47 – Jointly and severally
- Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 46 – Invoice words
- Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 45 – Quotation
- Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 44 – Gazumping and Gazundering
- Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 43 – English words that the English do not understand
- Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 42 – Easement vs Profit à prendre
- Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 41 -er, -or and -ee names
- Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 40 – The Objects Clause
- Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 39 – When is Latin hot, and when is it not?
- Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 38 – Default
- Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 37 – Company Agent
- Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 36 – Injunction (false freind)
- Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 35 – Mortgage
- Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 34 – Freehold, Leasehold and Commonhold estates
- Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 33 – Transferor, Transferee and Transmittee
- Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 32 – Tax evasion, tax mitigation and tax avoidance
- Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 31 – Numbers
- Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 30 – Ordinary resolutions vs special resolutions
- Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 29 – AGM vs EGM
- Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 28 – A going concern
- Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 27 – Collocations: Violate, breach, break, disobey and infringe
- Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 26 – Company meeting words
- Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 25 – Mortgagor vs Mortgagee
- Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 24 – Fixed charges vs Floating charges
- Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 23 – Doctrine
- Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 22 – Construe
- Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 21 – Sign vs Execute
- Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 20 – The closing statement
- Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 19 – Writing Business Emails
- Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 18 – Limited companies
- Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 17 – Annual Accounts
- Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 16 – Meetings
- Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 15 – Attorney-at-law vs Attorney-in-fact
- Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 14 – Here and there compounds
- Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 13 – Subject Matter
- Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 12 – The clear days rule
- Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 11 – Shareholder, Member or Holder of shares?
- Legal English: Peter’s Pills – Lesson 10 – Competition Law
- Legal English: Peter’s Pills – Lesson 9 – Lasting Power of Attorney
- Legal English: Peter’s Pills – Lesson 8 – Guardianship
- Legal English: Peter’s Pills – Lesson 7 – Damage vs Damages
- Legal English: Peter’s Pills – Lesson 6 – Legal Doublets
AUTORE
Peter Liebenberg è uno specialista nella formazione delle persone nella conoscenza della lingua inglese. Ha creato molti corsi nel campo dell’inglese per professionisti, tra cui English for banking, English for business e English for Insurance, ma ha sempre avuto un debole per l’inglese legale. Altri corsi che ha creato comprendono Phrasal Verbs I e II. Quando Peter non fa formazione, corre a Parco Sempione, crea arte nel suo studio sulla Martesana e fa volontariato.