Advocate

Advocate, in a general sense, one who pleads for another in a court of law or other tribunal. In the United Kingdom, professional advocates are called barristers and are permitted to plead or argue cases before the High Court of Justice; a barrister is distinguished from a solicitor, who may conduct litigation only in inferior courts. The avocat and avoué in France are analogous to the barrister and solicitor in England. In the United States, most former British colonies, and some parts of Europe, the two branches of the legal profession are not separate .

In a narrower sense, the term advocate was formerly used in Britain to denote a member of the College of Advocates at Doctors' Commons (abolished in 1857). These advocates had the exclusive right to plead in the ecclesiastical and admiralty courts and took precedence over all ordinary barristers. In the U.S. Army, the judge advocate general is chief adviser to the army authorities in the administration of military law.