// This is a joke, right?

In the year of our lord 2022 with the rule of law under attack and confidence in our legal institutions in the tank, this is what an actual lawyer is worried about? Sigh. Fine. I’ll bite: for the sake of argument, let’s assume this is a real question asked to the advice columnist Miss Manners and not an elaborate ruse.

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In the most recent edition of Miss Manners, this question appeared:

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Dear Miss Manners: I am a lawyer of some age, having had a license for more than 40 years. I often have to address written communications to female colleagues.

When I began practicing, it was observed that the title “Esq.” was exclusively for male lawyers, no females having been squires. In letters, females were addressed as “Atty.” Those who inquired were told that the female version of “Esq.” was “Good Wife.”

Now, my habit of referring to women as “Atty.” has come under fire, notably when I upbraided a woman for listing herself with the honorific “Esq.”

The dictionaries now state that it is a unisex term. I’m not so sure. What does Miss Manners think about using the term “Esq.” after a female lawyer’s name?

“Good wife”? Stop — this is a fucking joke, right? Or a backwards attempt at marketing the Julianna Margulies TV show? Something besides an earnest question. Right? RIGHT?

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Because we’re supposed to believe someone who began practicing law in the 1980s (because 40 years ago is much more recently than we often think) about the way the term was deployed in the Middle Ages? Ummmm, okay…

And this is someone who claims not to trust the authority of the dictionary and chooses to “upbraid” a woman for using Esq. after her name? Wonder if the letter writer’s panties got in a bunch when Bill S. Preston used to honorific? Or is that fine, since even though he is not an attorney, he is a man?

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Sigh, fine. Let’s break it down. According to a New York City Bar opinion from 1994, esquire began to be used in reference to attorney — not people hired to be squires — in the 1700s!! And the decision cites evidence from 1987 that the term “esquire” refers to women lawyers as well as men. So this isn’t some new-fangled term for women — it’s been around since the dawn of the letter writer’s legal career:

According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, after the decline of the feudal system, the title of “Esquire” was perpetuated by certain lawyers, among them William Blackstone and Edward Coke. These lawyers drew up lists of those they thought entitled to carry the title. The lists included various classes of men who were sons of peers, minor nobles, honorary knights and those who were designated with the title “esquire” upon appointment to office. These appointments were to both legal and non-legal offices and included among others, “Royal Academicians.” However, it appears that the title has always been an arbitrary conferment and never reserved exclusively to lawyers. See, e.g., Black’s Law Dictionary (6th ed. 1990) (defining “esquire” as a title of dignity next above gentleman, and below knight; also a title of office given to sheriffs, sergeants, and barristers at law, justices of the peace and others; in the United States, title commonly appended after name of attorney); Random House Dictionary of the English Language (2nd ed. 1987) (defining esquire as: “an unofficial title of respect having no precise significance, sometimes placed, esp. in abbreviated form, after a man’s surname in formal written address; in the U.S., usually applied to lawyers, women as well as men; in Britain, applied to a commoner considered to have gained the social position of gentleman”).

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I’ll go right ahead and say definitively you should use the term for any licensed attorney, whatever gender they may be.

But don’t worry, Miss Manners thinks it’s just as dumb as I do:

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That it is no sillier than using it after the names of male lawyers. You aren’t squires, either — hereditary country landowners or medieval attendants on knights.

Presumably, the custom of using this was adopted to assert that lawyers were gentlemen, as they were not always thought to be among those who rated gentlemanliness by birth. But it has always struck Miss Manners as odd in a country where we never thought an honest, working professional needed to proclaim “gentle” status.

Why you would want to provoke your colleagues by upbraiding them and suggesting the obsolete term “Good Wife” (which referred to a manager, such as a landlady), Miss Manners cannot imagine. If she were your lawyer, she would advise you to stop this right now, before you get into serious trouble.

Sigh. I really, REALLY, want to believe this is a wild joke or a dare gone wrong. But [gestures wildly at the world] I’m a little horrified that it is not.

Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).

Topics

Advice, Legal Ethics, Miss Manners, Stupid Lawyer Tricks, The Jabot