Legal Question in Constitutional Law in South Dakota

Re: attorneys and advocates

An advocate is someone who speaks in favor of a person, idea, etc. in order to persuade others. An attorney is a particular type of advocate, who is licensed to practice law and who represents the interests of his clients in court or in other forums.

There are a number of legal contexts -- especially in family law -- which use the term advocate. Not all of them use it the same way, so if you want to know what it means in a particular instance you will need to be more specific.