Mike :)

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Note added at 6 mins (2005-06-19 17:16:25 GMT)
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I believe this is the difference after looking at West\'s Legal Dictionary

Not absolutely sure as I don't have time to research it, but I think that's what it is
i.e. Either a fully qualified solicitor or someone who works with a solicitor but who is not fully qualified - a paralegal.

Procurador: Legal representative
Abogado: Lawyer/ solicitor/Barrister
Barrister: abogado que actúa ante los tribunales. Son los letrados que gozan de ese derecho
Los dos conceptos se reúnen en uno como LEGAL REPRESENTATION

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The "procurador" is obviously the prosecutor. The "letrado" is a more general term for an attorney, I would venture to say that it is in reference to "asistencia letrada" or "legal aid attorney", a "public defender".

I am British. Because of the non-equivalence in the figures, here in Madrid at least the convention is not to look for equivalents but just to translate these terms.

The difficulty of translating “procurador” often arises in Proz, given that there appears to be no person with equivalent functions in Anglo-American court systems. In most legal proceedings in Spain it is mandatory that parties be represented by both a “letrado" (lawyer/attorney) and a "procurador", a law graduate who has passed an exam to become a procurador and whose job it is to represent (not defend) his client at the court (not in court) and serve as a liaison between the lawyer and the court, filing papers, checking up on the status of the case, etc. The real problem is trying to find a good translation of "procurador". I suggest "mandatory representative in court" but I would appreciate any additional (less-wordy!) suggestions that actually reflect the real definition of procurador as used in Spain and distinguish him from the letrado/abogado. But I believe that in Spain, “procurador” cannot be translated as "prosecutor," which in Spain is "fiscal." There is much confusion surrounding this term precisely because in Mexico "procurador" does indeed mean "prosecutor", a distinction that is underscored in Thomas West's Spanish-English Dictionary of Law and Business (p. 188) in which he includes both definitions. I do not think it would be appropriate to translate “procurador” as “counsel”, since in Spain the procurador does not actually counsel (give legal advice to) the client, but rather files briefs and keeps the parties informed of the progress of the case. And I don’t believe procuradores can be described as “paralegals”, since as indicated above, in addition to having the same law degree as lawyers, they must also pass a difficult competitive exams ("oposiciones") to become procuradores. In other respects, “letrado” in Spain has several different meanings in legal English, and here it is simply a synonym for “abogado,” as defined in the Diccionario Jurídico Colex: “Letrado: Profesional ocupado en el asesoramiento jurídico y defensa en juicio de intereses ajenos. Véase Abogado.” “Letrado” does also have the meaning of a lawyer who “clerks” (does legal research, drafts initial opinions) for a judge on a court (such as the Letrados del Tribunal Constitucional or the Letrados del Tribunal de Justicia de las Comunidades Europeas), but this is not the meaning of “letrado” as used here. In addition, I believe it is important not to confuse “letrado” in the sense of someone who is clerking for a judge with “court clerk”, which is Spain is the “secretario judicial,” a funcionario within the court system who represents the “administración de justicia” and, thus, cannot represent the client of either a “procurador” or “letrado” (abogado).