Is “Non-Lawyer” An Insult?

Many have taken umbrage at the term, perceiving a hint of hauteur if not downright snobbery. Recently,  when it appeared in a headline about the new head of the law firm Husch BlackwellI, it “lit a fire around the blogosphere,” observes lawyer and blogger Carolyn Elefant. “I don’t understand what’s wrong with describing someone who doesn’t hold a law degree or practice law as a non-lawyer in the context of a story about law firms,” she writes. “There are headlines aplenty about non-techies who start and run technology companies – but you don’t see them whining about how the press coverage emphasized their non-technical background rather than their entrepreneurial prowess.”