Legal Brief: The Arbitrary Reason Some Lawyers Use “Esquire”

If you’ve ever been handed a business card or received a legal notice from an attorney, you might have seen their name followed by the title esquire. It could be something along the lines of:

Please pay what you owe my client or I will sue you into atomized dust.

Sincerely,  
Fictitious Name, Esquire

1. The Origin of Esquire
2. Esquire in the Legal World
3. Why Some Lawyers Opt for Esquire

The honorific has also shown up plenty in popular culture. In 1989’s Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, one half of the less-than-bright duo tries to impart some significance by introducing himself as “Bill S. Preston—Esquire!” Bill, it should be noted, did not have a law degree and was instead struggling to graduate from high school.

So why do some lawyers tack this title onto their name? Does it represent any official status, as in the case of doctor? Is it a hint of an advanced law education? Or are some lawyers simply looking to be held in higher esteem?

The Origin of Esquire

The Oxford English Dictionary dates esquire to 1477. It stemmed from squire, Latin for shield. At that time, it was meant to reflect “a young man of gentle birth, who as an aspirant to knighthood, attended upon a knight, carried his shield, and rendered him other services.” In other words, a kind of knight intern.

Esquire could also mean a servant or officer of the king or his court or a ranked member of a respected class, including sergeants at arms, military men, naval officials, and barristers.

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It was in this context that, in the 1500s, esquire began to apply to someone serving in one of these capacities. John Smith, Esquire, could be a John Smith who toiled as a naval officer or justice of the peace. This could be abbreviated (Esq. or Esqr.) and might have come after a person’s place of birth or residence: John Smith, of Rutledge, Esquire.

At this stage, esquire was a kind of asterisk that communicated to others to pay attention to a person’s status or proximity to power—like a uniform, only present in language. One may as well have written, John Smith, Important.

Later—though the OED does not specify when—esquire was used to describe people “regarded as ‘gentlemen’ by birth, position, or education. It is used only on occasions of more or less ceremonious mention, and in the addresses of letters…”

In such instances, esquire would replace prefixes like Mr., Dr., or Captain. There would be no Mr. John Smith, Esquire, only John Smith, Esquire.

One possible explanation [PDF] for the winnowing of the definition is that, unlike a medical or law degree, it’s impossible to provide proof that one is a gentleman or of a higher social or professional status. Because esquire had no demonstrable meaning, it eventually became rather meaningless.

Esquire in the Legal World

It’s fitting that the earliest printed mention of esquire comes from the work of John Fortescue, a justice and political theorist. Over time, the word’s associations with the military or royal service fell off, leaving it appropriated almost exclusively by those practicing law. Yet the title is not in any way formally bestowed or earned. One could, in theory, be in a lot of legal trouble for calling yourself doctor, but no such risk is present with esquire. Nor does the United States recognize noble titles.

Yet esquire survived this linguistic purge in the legal field. How? For one, it served a practical purpose of distinction. Initially, esquire was used only to indicate a lawyer who passed the bar exam, making them fully licensed to practice. Someone who had only attended law school would not be an esquire but a juris doctor.

It’s important to note, however, that a lawyer does not have to use esquire. Many lawyers who have passed the bar also pass on using it, and to no detriment. Nor would esquire necessarily be an indication of competence, as it’s not a binding or legal salutation.

Why Some Lawyers Opt for Esquire

So why does anyone use it? One popular theory comes from F. Markoe Rivinus, a philologist who wrote an editorial on the legal field’s attachment to esquire for the Philadelphia Bar Association that was later reprinted for a 1988 issue of the Michigan Bar Journal [PDF]. Rivinus argued that esquire was perceived as the legal equivalent to doctor—a way of alerting the general public to the extensive education undergone by lawyers. But he noted some tricky differences between the titles.

“Another possible difficulty lies in the lack of uniformity in the letters designating a law degree by various universities and the public's unfamiliarity with them,” he wrote. LLD, LLM, and DJS were a few examples he listed. Worse, doctor was already taken and well understood to mean someone educated in medicine. The solution, then, was esquire, though Rivinus suggested a name followed by attorney or attorney-at-law accomplishes the same goal without pretense.

“It is high time for members of the bar to pull up their socks or pantyhose and stop using the word esquire in any context that implies law education or admission to the bar,” Rivinus asserted. “Language, accurate and defined by precedent is the law’s most important tool. Keep it that way.”

This was nearly 40 years ago. Did the legal profession heed Rivinus’s stern advice? There’s no hard data on which practicing attorneys use esquire and which do not. A cursory internet search reveals plenty of firms that list attorneys with esquire and plenty that don't.

For most lawyers, the choice to use it or not comes down to how clear they wish to make their occupation to others. There is no right or wrong answer, other than adhering to whatever a firm’s policies or practices may be. And while the public may generally infer it to mean a lawyer in good standing, it’s not a legal requirement.

And, unlike doctor, esquire is rarely added to a lawyer’s name when spoken aloud. You might greet Doctor Jones for your broken toe, but you would not generally address Watson, Esquire, in order to sue the person who ran over your foot.

Only when a lawyer is acting outside their official capacity is esquire (somewhat) debated. The New York bar weighed in on this back in 1994 and opined that adding esquire to other types of correspondence (like volunteer work) presented no issues—though the bar did note adding attorney to one’s name might give someone the impression they were acting in a legal capacity. In 2016, the bar built on the topic by adding that a retired attorney may also use esquire, unless there is a “risk of confusion about his or her role.”

The only issue with esquire is that it remains non-proprietary to the legal profession. One can apply esquire without need of a law degree. It’s only within the context of the legal field that esquire can generally be understood—but not guaranteed—to mean a licensed legal mind is on your side. Outside the law, it’s an honorific up for grabs. Just ask Bill S. Preston, Esquire.