Meaning & use
lawyer up
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Meaning
verbintransitiveinformal
to get a lawyer, especially quickly, because you expect legal trouble
Grammar: No object; often used in the pattern 'lawyer up' or 'lawyer up with someone'.
Patterns
- lawyer up
- lawyer up with someone
When the police started asking questions, he decided to lawyer up.
She lawyered up with a top criminal defense attorney before the interview.
The company lawyered up as soon as the lawsuit was announced.
Word forms
| third person singular | lawyers up |
|---|---|
| past tense | lawyered up |
| past participle | lawyered up |
| -ing form | lawyering up |
Common combinations
- lawyer up with someone
- He lawyered up with a famous defense lawyer.
- decide to lawyer up
- After the accusation, she decided to lawyer up.
- lawyer up fast
- If you think you're a suspect, you should lawyer up fast.
- threaten to lawyer up
- The neighbors threatened to lawyer up over the property line.
Synonyms and how they differ
- get a lawyer
- Neutral and more formal; it does not suggest the urgent, defensive tone of 'lawyer up'.
- retain counsel
- Very formal and legal; used in official contexts, not in everyday speech.
Word family
- lawyer noun
- A person whose job is to advise on the law and represent clients.
Commonly confused: lawyer up or lawyer?
lawyer up vs lawyer
'Lawyer' is the person; 'lawyer up' is the action of getting one. Don't say 'I need to lawyer' when you mean 'I need to lawyer up'.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'lawyer up' correctly?
Choose one answer.
'Lawyer up' is intransitive, so it does not take a direct object like 'a contract' or 'my case'. Only option B uses it correctly without an object.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “lawyer up”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.