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Get Over Yourself And Stop Calling Yourself 'Esquire'

Let’s face it, it can sound really pompous to call yourself 'esquire.'

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Before entering the legal profession, I had absolutely no idea what the word esquire meant.  Sure, I had seen “Esquire” magazine at the dentist’s office occasionally, or heard the title in passing, but I had no idea the word has any meaning within the legal arena.

Of course most people reading this article probably understand that attorneys typically call themselves “esquire” in legal filings, correspondence, and in other situations.  Sometimes using this title is helpful, since the common practice is that individuals who are licensed to practice law use this title while lawyers who are not admitted to the bar do not.  However, many attorneys simply use the title in the ordinary course of their practice to give themselves an honorific like physicians, dentists, and other professionals.

Now that I have been practicing law for half a dozen years, I have seen how people in the legal profession use this title in a variety of different ways.  Some uses of the word seem appropriate, while other uses of the title seem pompous at best.  In any case, I think there are a few rules that attorneys should follow when using “esquire” to describe themselves or others.

Firstly, I don’t think it is really appropriate to call yourself “esquire” out loud under almost all circumstances.  I recently watched the Denzel Washington movie “Roman J. Israel, Esq.,” and hearing the titular character call himself “esquire” when speaking to others made me cringe.  There may be the occasional time when it is necessary to inform the other person that you are an attorney, and you might want to introduce yourself with this title to convey this fact.  However, most people outside the legal profession don’t even associate the word “esquire” with lawyers, so it is probably more appropriate to just express the fact that you are attorney in different ways.

Even in writing, I feel like the title of “esquire” should only be used sparingly.  I personally do not use the title in most correspondence, and use this honorific sparingly in legal papers.  I also try pretty hard not to use the title when I also refer to myself as an “attorney at law” or something similar.  I feel like doing so is kind of redundant, since just explaining that I am an attorney is more descriptive than using the title of “esquire.”

The reason why I use the title as a little as possible to describe myself is because I think using the honorific on yourself is a little pompous and shows too much self-importance.  Most of us recognize that the title of “esquire” within the practice of law does not have much legal significance other than the fact that courts and counsel usually use this title to convey that an individual is licensed to practice law.  I don’t feel that the ability to practice law is really sufficient to warrant such an honorific, and it would be difficult to imagine accountants, bankers, and other certified or licensed professionals calling themselves this title.

However, I think it is appropriate to call other attorneys “esquire” in most circumstances.  I still think it sounds weird to call someone else this title out loud, since this honorific does not seem important enough to convey verbally.  Nevertheless, I think it is perfectly fine to refer to adversaries and co-counsel as “esquires” on correspondence, legal filings, and other documents.

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By referring to other attorneys as “esquire,” you do not seem as pompous or vain as you are referring to yourself by this honorific.  Accordingly, by having someone else refer to you by this title, you eliminate the self-importance that might arise if you said the title yourself.  This allows the title to seem like a friendly honorific that attorneys afford each other as a courtesy.

As many of us are already aware, the legal profession is extremely confrontational.  Adversaries are usually at each other’s throats, and this is a natural and important part of the legal process.  By using the term “esquire” to describe an adversary, you could help minimize the sting that is a usually part of our adversarial legal system, and promote courtesy between opposing parties.

All told, lawyers love to prop themselves up with an ever-increasing amount of awards, honorifics, and titles.  And this might be one of the reasons why many lawyers want to refer to themselves as “esquire.”  Under certain circumstances, it might be appropriate and even important for attorneys to use this title.  However, I think it is far more appropriate for attorneys to simply confer this honorific on other practitioners, since let’s face it, it can sound really pompous to call yourself “esquire.”

Jordan Rothman is the founder of Student Debt Diaries, a personal finance website discussing how he paid off all $197,890.20 of his college and law school student loans over 46 months of his late 20s. You can reach him at Jordan@studentdebtdiaries.com.

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