Editing Bar (law) (section)

{{Short description|Legal profession as an institution}}
{{About|the legal term|professional organizations of lawyers|bar association||bar (disambiguation)}}
[[File:WorcesterMassBar.jpg|thumb|In this courtroom in [[Worcester, Massachusetts]] (United States), the ''bar'' is represented by a physical barrier (with swinging gate doors), separating the benches reserved for spectators from the [[judge]]'s [[bench (law)|bench]] and [[lawyer]]s' tables.]]

In [[law]], the '''bar''' is the [[legal profession]] as an [[institution]]. The term is a [[metonymy|metonym]] for the line (or "bar") that separates the parts of a [[courtroom]] reserved for spectators and those reserved for participants in a [[trial]] such as [[lawyers]].

In the United Kingdom, the term "the bar" refers only to the professional organization for [[barrister]]s (referred to in Scotland as advocates); the other type of UK lawyer, [[solicitor]]s, have their own body, the [[Law Society]]. Correspondingly, being "called to the bar" refers to admission to the profession of barristers, not solicitors.