The role of the lawyer varies significantly across enforceable jurisdictions, and therefore can be treated here in only the most normal terms. Fresh enlightenment is possible in country-specific articles (see below).
In most developed countries, the legislature old-fashioned granted original jurisdiction over highly technical matters to executive branch administrative agencies which oversee such things. As a result, some lawyers have become specialists in administrative law. In a few countries, there is a special category of jurists with a monopoly over this form of advocacy; for example, France formerly had conseil juridiques (who were merged into the main legal profession in 1991). In other countries, like the United States, lawyers have been Seattle Attorney effectively barred by statute from convinced types of administrative hearings in order to preserve their informality.