A Law Degree Does Not Make You a Lawyer
October 16, 2026
and Paralegals Know the Difference
The controversy surrounding White House Press Secretary Katie Zacharia raises an issue that extends beyond politics. It concerns the integrity of professional titles, accurate disclosure of credentials, and the public’s right to know whether someone claiming legal authority is actually licensed to exercise it.
Update: Katie Zacharia was removed from her position as this was being written. The ethical issues discussed below remain relevant because the questions about professional titles, public representations, and public trust extend beyond any one individual.
Zacharia graduated from Pepperdine University Caruso School of Law in 2011 and later took the California bar examination. She has now confirmed that she did not pass the examination, did not take it again, and is not licensed to practice law in California. Nevertheless, she has repeatedly described herself as a lawyer. She has also shared numerous social-media posts identifying her as an attorney, although she says she had previously been told not to use “attorney” or “esquire.”
Zacharia argues that she may call herself a lawyer because she earned a Juris Doctor degree and has performed substantive legal work. She also distinguishes providing “legal analysis” from giving “legal advice.”
As a legal professional, business owner, and former Chair of the National Federation of Paralegal Associations Ethics Board, I have a serious problem with that distinction.
I attended law school. I have performed substantive legal work, including transactional work, for more than four decades. I have knowledge and experience that many lawyers respect and rely upon. None of that entitles me to represent myself as a lawyer.
And I do not.
Education Is Not Licensure
A law degree is an academic credential. A license to practice law is professional authority granted by a jurisdiction.
The distinction is neither technical nor trivial. Licensure establishes that an individual has satisfied the jurisdiction’s requirements for admission and is subject to its regulatory and disciplinary authority. A degree alone does not confer that status.
The American Bar Association Model Rules recognize this distinction. Model Rule 5.5 prohibits practicing law in violation of a jurisdiction’s regulation of the profession. It also prohibits a lawyer who is not admitted in a jurisdiction from holding out to the public or otherwise representing that the lawyer is admitted there.
California law goes further. Business and Professions Code § 6126 applies not only to the unlicensed practice of law but also to a person who advertises or holds themselves out as practicing or entitled to practice law without an active license or other legal authorization. Whether Zacharia’s particular conduct violates that statute is a question for the appropriate California authorities. The statute nevertheless demonstrates why titles and public representations matter.
Paralegals Are Required to Get This Right
Paralegals understand this boundary because our ethical rules require us to understand it.
The current NFPA Code of Ethics and Professional Responsibility states plainly:
Rule 1.7: “A paralegal’s title shall be fully disclosed.”
Its accompanying ethical considerations require a paralegal’s title to clearly indicate the individual’s status in physical and digital professional communications and prohibit promotional materials that create a fraudulent impression concerning the paralegal’s status or authority.
The next rule is equally direct:
Rule 1.8: “A paralegal shall not engage in the unauthorized practice of law.”
The Code defines unauthorized practice as the practice of law by someone who does not hold a current law license, subject to limited programs or other authority expressly permitting nonlawyers to provide particular services.
These provisions are not ceremonial language. They protect clients, lawyers, paralegals, and the legal system by ensuring that the public understands who is providing a service and what authority that person possesses.
The NALA – The Paralegal Association Code of Ethics reaches the same result. Canon 1 prohibits a paralegal from engaging in, encouraging, or contributing to conduct that could constitute unauthorized practice. Canon 2 prohibits paralegals from performing duties reserved exclusively to attorneys. Canon 4 prohibits rendering independent legal judgment in place of an attorney. Canon 5 requires paralegals to disclose their status at the outset of professional relationships with clients, attorneys, courts, agencies, and members of the public.
Paralegals routinely correct people who introduce us as attorneys. We identify ourselves accurately in correspondence, meetings, court filings, websites, and public communications. We distinguish legal information and substantive legal support from independent legal advice.
We do that not because we lack knowledge, experience, or confidence. We do it because professional competence includes understanding the limits of our authority.
“Lawyer” and “Attorney” Are Not Conveniently Interchangeable Credentials
There may be limited contexts in which someone uses “lawyer” broadly to describe a person with legal education. That does not resolve the ethical issue created when the title is used publicly to establish professional credibility.
Ordinary members of the public generally understand “lawyer” to mean someone licensed and authorized to practice law. Calling oneself a lawyer during media appearances, while offering legal analysis, reinforces that understanding. Sharing materials that identify the person as an attorney compounds it.
The relevant question is not whether a carefully constructed linguistic distinction can be defended after the fact. The question is what the representation reasonably communicates to the public.
Professional disclosure should eliminate confusion, not exploit it.
Experience Does Not Supply Missing Authority
Failing a bar examination does not make someone unintelligent, unethical, or incapable of valuable work. Passing one does not guarantee competence or integrity.
That is not the point.
The point is that graduating from law school and performing legal work do not independently confer a law license. A person may accurately describe having a Juris Doctor, legal education, transactional experience, or experience analyzing legal issues. Those are substantial credentials. They are not permission to adopt a professional title that reasonably implies licensure.
Paralegals live with that distinction every day. Many of us possess decades of specialized knowledge. We draft pleadings, analyze records, investigate claims, manage discovery, prepare transactions, and help attorneys navigate complicated procedural and factual problems. We nevertheless identify ourselves as paralegals because that is our professional status.
Titles Matter Because Trust Matters
I helped develop the revised NFPA ethical standards because professional identity is inseparable from public trust. The 2022 Code expressly requires accurate disclosure, prohibits misleading impressions about status, and bars unauthorized practice. Those provisions reflect the principle that expertise must be accompanied by honesty about the authority one does and does not possess.
This is not an argument about whether someone with a law degree can make an intelligent legal observation. Of course they can.
It is an argument about whether professional titles mean anything.
They must.
A law degree is an accomplishment. Legal experience is valuable. Neither is a substitute for admission to the bar.
Professional ethics are not optional, and professional titles are not participation trophies.
Sources
- National Federation of Paralegal Associations, Code of Ethics and Professional Responsibility (2022), Rules 1.7 and 1.8. [cdn.ymaws.com], [paralegals.org]
- NALA – The Paralegal Association, Code of Ethics and Professional Responsibility, Canons 1, 2, 4, and 5. [nala.org]
- American Bar Association, Model Rule of Professional Conduct 5.5. [americanbar.org]
- CBS News, “White House press secretary Katie Zacharia confirms she never passed bar exam after saying she’s a lawyer,” October 15, 2026. [cbsnews.com]
- CNN, reporting concerning social-media posts identifying Zacharia as an attorney, October 15, 2026. [yahoo.com]
