A LAWYER, a professor, and a physician walk into a bar. As they (predictably) begin to argue over drinks, the lawyer leans over the table and pulls out his trump card: “I'm right. Trust me, I’m a doctor.” The professor and physician are left speechless.

The lawyer isn’t wrong, strictly speaking. The American law degree is the Juris Doctor, literally “doctor of law”. The change from LLB (bachelor of laws) and LLM (master of laws) reflected a different approach to legal education stateside. As the modern incarnation of an older European doctorate, the new JD was intended to provide only professional preparation as a follow-up to a primary degree, usually from a liberal arts program. JDs were confined to the United States until about 15 years ago. JD programs have been popping up in other countries since.

The translation of the degree name is clear, but more sticky is whether a lawyer can properly refer to himself as a doctor. In America, “doctor” is commonly reserved for medical doctors and academics who hold a PhD (doctor of philosophy) degree. Holders of EdD (doctor of education) or PsyD (doctor of psychology) degrees might also be addressed as doctors. Some prefer the use of “doctor” to be limited to those with MD (doctor of medicine) degrees. Still, it’s standard American practice to call professors and physicians doctors. It’s rare to hear a lawyer addressed the same way.

The American Bar Association (ABA), which publishes model rules on professional ethics for lawyers, is unclear about whether lawyers can use the title Dr. There is a general prohibition on misleading potential clients, but the rules don’t address the specific “doctor” question. Some state ethics committees have stepped in where the model rules haven’t. Given the patchwork of state and national rules, lawyers intent on calling themselves doctors must check their local rules. For example, in Texas, lawyers couldn’t call themselves “doctor” until nine years ago. The state ethics committee reversed course in 2004, allowing the use of “doctor” as long as it wasn’t misleading—as, say, in an advert for medical malpractice law.

But if potential clients don’t know that JD degrees denote doctors of law, any use of Dr without an MD or PhD degree could be misleading. More important, calling lawyers doctors is silly and pedantic. Some argue that lawyers don’t “deserve” the title of doctor because their course of study is shorter and less rigorous than those of physicians or academics—or even SJD (doctor of juridical science) recipients. That misses the point. American lawyers are indeed a sort of doctor by degree, but the title Dr carries a specific meaning that is common and well-understood. The title Esq (esquire), if a bit stuffy, does the job without misleading anyone. Ethics boards might be flexible, but common sense is less so.