Katie Zacharia says she’s a ‘lawyer,’ not an ‘attorney.’ What’s the difference?

White House Press Secretary Katie Zachariah acknowledges she never passed the bar exam, but insists she can still call herself a lawyer. Zachariah graduated from Pepperdine Law School, but has not passed the exam generally required to practice law. Earlier this week, she faced questions about her legal credentials and whether she had misrepresented them. Thursday night, she went on Fox News with Sean Hannity to explain why she calls herself a lawyer but but not an attorney. She pointed to her law degree in previous work at a Chinese law firm. Why get into this long, drawn-out definition between the difference between a lawyer and an attorney? Because I don't think most people see much of a distinction. When I went to go engage in media and give legal analysis, I consulted attorneys and legal professionals as to whether or not they agreed that I could be labeled a lawyer, both because I had a valid juris doctor from a good law school, a reputable law school, Pepperdine Law School. And in conjunction with the fact that I did have actual substantive legal experience, I wasn't providing any legal analysis, Sean, or excuse me, legal advice. I wasn't being paid for legal advice. I was giving a general review of the legal circumstances surrounding it. But that distinction isn't one the American Bar Association makes. It uses lawyer and attorney interchangeably. And while there are exceptions to the traditional bar exam requirement, states generally require a license to practice law. Zachariah does not appear to hold an active law license in any state.