You can read all about the investigations and arguments over terminology many places. The Washington Post’s is a good as any, but its headline is crap. “Katie Zacharia calls herself a lawyer. Legal experts aren’t sure.”
Really? Ethics experts are. She’s a JD, meaning she has a diploma from a law school. That no more allows her to practice law than a diploma from medical school allows a grad to do brain surgery. She hasn’t passed a bar exam in any jurisdiction. She’s not a lawyer. Representing herself as a lawyer is a misleading statement and dishonesty (or stupidity). All by itself it is grounds for a bar association to decide that she lacks the character to practice law.
Trump’s Truth Social post about her selection to replace Karoline Leavitt described Zacharia as “a distinguished Graduate of Pepperdine University, and the Pepperdine Caruso School of Law, an attorney, and a frequent Commentator on outlets, including Fox News and Newsmax.” Wrong. Either Trump was misinformed or he doesn’t know what an attorney is. Technically, an attorney is a lawyer who represents a client, but the distinction between lawyer and attorney has gone the way of the distinction between “implied” and “inferred.” Either way, a JD degree doesn’t allow you to practice law and you aren’t either a lawyer or an attorney until you pass a bar exam and get a license. Fox News has identified Zacharia as a lawyer at least 18 times since March 2025. Same as with Trump: Fox News is misinformed or stupid. She isn’t a lawyer.
Zacharia’s LinkedIn profile says she was “General Counsel” for a nonprofit organization called “Fix California.” If she was, she was practicing law without a license, a bright-line ethics violation as well as illegal. She also claims to have been licensed to practice in China, which is interesting but irrelevant. It would not make her a lawyer in the U.S. any more than being chef in China does
The conclusion here is clear and unavoidable. Zacharia has been misrepresenting herself. It is no less serious than lying on a resumé. Such a gross misrepresentation is a serious ethical breach, and in my view, disqualifies her from getting a law license. She may have the job of White House paid liar, but even that job requires some level of credibility and trustworthiness. She doesn’t have either; she can’t have either.
She’s got to go, and now.
Whoever vetted her needs to go too.
Morons.
On top of all Jacks valid arguments; in her first briefing as White House paid liar, Katie Zacharia presented herself as an uneducated faux blonde that doesn’t have the intellect or personal fortitude to do the job. She didn’t just bumble through the briefing, she made a complete fool of herself.
This was really hard to watch…
Karoline Leavitt was pretty smooth as Press Secretary, though not as smooth as Marlin Fitzwater (who I think was the best Press Secretary in my lifetime so far).
So far, Ms. Zacharia is a considerable downgrade.
Can’t agree with you completely, Jack. I had heard that “lawyer” means law graduate; “attorney” means licensed. If I was wrong, I know there was come divide between one who has studied and one who is licensed.
So, I went to the google machine and typed in “definition lawyer” and got this:
Lawyer vs. Attorney
This was what I had recalled as being a distinction between the two words. So, while her statement might have caused confusion, she can defend it.
And, I will never surrender the inferred/implied distinction. It is a linguistic litmus test of sorts.
-Jut
What can I say? The Google machine frequently reflects false information when it’s ubiquitous enough. A lawyer practices law. I do extensive work with DC 5.4 firms that allow ‘non-lawyer” partners. A JD who hasn’t passed the bar would be a non-lawyer under the rules, which define what a lawyer can do. Bar associations have no jurisdiction over non-lawyers. The ethics rules use lawyer, unless they use “attorney” properly, which means a lawyer representing a client.
I don’t know that it is necessarily “false.” It might be antiquated. Nonetheless, it is a distinction I have heard made frequently. But, the legal profession is a historical one that has many idiosyncrasies. Barristers, solicitors, attorneys, lawyers, counselors have many overlapping characteristics over the ages.
And lots of people don’t appreciate that.
I bet you could ask 100 lawyers (by whichever definition you choose), and few if any could explain the etymology or meaning of “attorney.” The exception would be the real estate lawyers; they might know.
-Jut
I’ve been licensed to practice law for over a decade and consider ‘attorney’ and ‘lawyer’ as one and the same. I’ve seen those definitions a couple of times this week but never at any point before this controversy.
If she wanted to convey something about her degree without lying, she could maybe have had Fox News put her name on the screen as Katie Zachariah, JD.
Which is easier to get an agreed upon definition: woman or lawyer?
“Which is easier to get an agreed upon definition: woman or lawyer?”
Heh!
PWS
Say what you will about Ann Coulter but this is a good tweet on the topic: https://x.com/AnnCoulter/status/2110767122787738112