Editing Solicitor (section)

==United States==
===Historical usage===
Historically, solicitors existed in the United States and, consistent with the pre-1850s usage in England and elsewhere, the term referred to a lawyer who argued cases in a [[court of equity]], as opposed to an attorney who appeared only in courts of law.<ref>[http://arcourts.ualr.edu/glossary.htm "Glossary of Terms"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080706115059/http://arcourts.ualr.edu/glossary.htm |date=6 July 2008 }}, ''Arkansas Territorial Briefs and Records'', William H. Bowen School of Law, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, s.v. "Chancery". Retrieved 12 June 2009.<br />- Frederic Jesup Stimpson, ''Glossary of Technical Terms, Phrases, and Maxims of the Common Law'', s.v. "Solicitors", (Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1881), 273.</ref> With the chancery or equity courts disappearing or being subsumed under courts of law, by the late 19th century members of the fused profession were called "attorneys", with "solicitors" becoming obsolete.

===Modern usage===
In modern American usage, the term solicitor in the legal profession refers to government lawyers.

On the federal level, departmental solicitors remain in the Department of Labor,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.dol.gov/sol/|title=Office of the Solicitor (SOL)|publisher=U.S. Department of Labor|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170601191354/https://www.dol.gov/sol/|archive-date=1 June 2017}}</ref> Department of the Interior,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.doi.gov/solicitor|title=Office of the Solicitor|publisher=Department of the Interior|date=20 August 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170513072607/https://www.doi.gov/solicitor|archive-date=13 May 2017}}</ref> and the Patent & Trademark Office.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.uspto.gov/about-us/organizational-offices/office-general-counsel/office-solicitor|title=Office of the Solicitor|publisher=US Patent & Trademark Office|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170612051545/https://www.uspto.gov/about-us/organizational-offices/office-general-counsel/office-solicitor|archive-date=12 June 2017}}</ref> The [[Solicitor General of the United States]] is the lawyer appointed to represent the federal government before the [[United States Supreme Court]].

In various states, the title "solicitor" is still used by town, city and county lawyers. These states include Delaware,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://attorneygeneral.delaware.gov/civil/|title=Civil - Attorney General, Matt Denn|publisher=State of Delaware|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170602040152/http://attorneygeneral.delaware.gov/civil/|archive-date=2 June 2017}}</ref> Georgia,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.augustaga.gov/816/State-Court-Solicitor|title=State Court Solicitor|publisher=Augustaga|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170710124901/http://augustaga.gov/816/State-Court-Solicitor|archive-date=10 July 2017}}</ref> Massachusetts, Maryland, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina and West Virginia.

In [[South Carolina]], criminal trials in the state's judicial circuits are overseen by a "[[circuit solicitor]]" whose role is analogous to that of [[district attorney]] in most other states.<ref>[https://scprosecutors.com/about/what-is-a-solicitor/ "What is a Circuit Solicitor?"] at the South Carolina Commission on Prosecution Coordination website. 2020. Retrieved 5 February 2023.</ref><ref>[https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t01c007.php South Carolina Code of Laws (Unannotated): Title 1 - Administration of the Government, Chapter 7], Article 3: Solicitors, Assistants, and Investigators. Retrieved 5 February 2023.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://dilloncounty.sc.gov/Departments/solictor/Pages/default.aspx|title=Dillon County|publisher=State of South Carolina |url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170612225700/http://dilloncounty.sc.gov/Departments/solictor/Pages/default.aspx|archive-date=12 June 2017}}</ref>

In the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the professional organization for government lawyers was formerly known as the City Solicitors and Town Counsel Association.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.massmunilaw.org|publisher=Massachusetts Municipal Lawyers Association – The Bar Association of Massachusetts Municipal Attorneys|title=Home page|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171106142755/http://www.massmunilaw.org/|archive-date=6 November 2017}}</ref>

===Common meaning of solicitor===
In the US, "solicitor" is also used to describe a traveling salesman (with a pejorative connotation roughly equivalent to the British English word [[tout]]) as in the signed warning on public places of accommodation, "No Soliciting".<ref name="Newman">{{cite book |last1=Newman |first1=Bernard |authorlink1=Bernard Newman (author) |title=Mr. Kennedy's America |date=1962 |publisher=H. Jenkins |location=London |page=35 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YlIIAQAAMAAJ&q=attorneys%20tout}}</ref> Signs bearing the phrase "No Solicitors" may appear near entrances to private residences in the US. In addition to warding off salesmen, these signs are also used to deter proselytizing by religious groups such as [[Latter-day Saints]] and [[Jehovah's Witnesses]] with a history of door-to-door proselytizing in the US.