it´s a lawyer title

formal title used after a man's name, esp. in a letter, on an envelope

hth

Black's Law Dictionary
Esquire
In the US, title commonly appended after name of attorney.


esquire
n. a form of address showing that someone is an attorney, usually written Albert Pettifog, Esquire, or simply Esq. Originally in England an Esquire was a rank just above "gentleman" and below "knight." It became a title for barristers, sheriffs and judges.

http://dictionary.law.com/definition2.asp?selected=660&bold=||||

The link below corroborates that women use it too.

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Note added at 2002-08-15 01:36:47 (GMT)
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JUST NOTICED THAT MOST OF YOU ANSWERERS AND DISAGREERS ACTUALLY HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THE QUESTION IS. YES, IT SAYS ESQ. IN THE HEADING, BUT THEN MA. JOSE WROTE:

WHEN THE ATTORNEYS ARE MENTIONED/LISTED IN A TRIAL, RIGHT AFTER EACH NAME.

Now, you\'ll be the \"judge\".

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Note added at 2002-08-16 16:12:07 (GMT)
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Need more? Well, here

Original Complaint in Novell v. Microsoft.
U.S. District Court, District of Utah.
October 1, 2001.

13. By letter dated April 6, 2001, a Senior Attorney for Microsoft, Diane D’Arcangelo advised Novell that \"in the spirit of attempting to alleviate any concerns that Novell has, [the author] intends to publish a clarification today that Novell is not leaving or transitioning from the software business in favor of consulting.\" (Ex. C, Letter dated April 6, 2001 from Diane D’Arcangelo, Esq. to Ryan Richards, Esq.)

http://www.techlawjournal.com/courts2001/novell_msft/2001100...

Pleas note Diane D’Arcangelo, Esq.!

My New Oxford Dictionary of English says:

1. Brit. a polite title appended to a man\'s name when no other title is used, typically in the address of a letter or other documents.

N. Amer. a title appended to a lawyer\'s surname.

2. historical. a young nobleman who, in training for knighthood, acted as an attendant to a knight.

an officer in the service of a king or nobleman

(as title)a landed proprietor of country squire.

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Note added at 2002-08-15 07:24:36 (GMT)
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In view of the fact that some of us don\'t understand the question, maybe it would be more helpful if some kind person could translate it for us.
And as the question was written in Spanish, perhaps the asker doesn\'t understand our answers either!

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Note added at 2002-08-15 07:27:00 (GMT)
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Sorry, Maria, I\'ve just looked up your profile and realise that you will understand the answers after all. I should have done that first.

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Note added at 2002-08-15 07:32:25 (GMT)
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Sorry Mag. I see you\'ve already translated it. I think I\'m going back to bed!

This is usually only used in addressing letters and a few other contexts where someone's name has to be written down. If it is used in a legal context I am not surprised and this may be the last place where it is used nowadays.

It is intended to show respect to a man who has no hereditary title or other title that would justify "letters after (his) name" (as the expression goes). Thus it is (or was) the default honorific for men. Where someone else might be known as Joe Blow (Bart.) i.e. "baronet", or another might be known as Joe Blow M.A. (Master of Arts) someone who had no other official "claim to fame" would be referred to as Joe Blow Esq. (Esquire).

Actually on the streets of London it is still very current as a respectful form of address. London taxi drivers will regularly address male clients as "squire". This is something to be grateful for because standard English in the present era has been almost completely stripped of colloquial and current ways of expressing respect in day to day interactions.

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Note added at 2002-08-15 04:11:49 (GMT)
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From a review (by Caroline Cracroft) of \"Titles and Forms of Address: A Guide to Correct Use.\" A&C Black, 1997. xxxi + 191 pages. Paperback, $17:-

( . . . )

In the 1940s, boys at English public schools were still constantly reminded by their middle class school masters not to give their athletic coaches (the \"professionals\" on staff) the prefix \"Mr.\" They were to be addressed and referred to simply by their surname, such as Barker, just as one would address servants. Thus did the schoolmaster, wrapping himself in the gentility conferred by a BA, cling to his precarious perch on the lowest rung of the social hierarchy. Doubtless the same schoolmasters would have been punctilious in their use of \"Esq.,\" a title used indiscriminately after World War II in order not to cause offence, but which became so common as a result that it slowly but surely began replacing \"Mr\" all round. It lingers on in the USA among lawyers, even lady lawyers.

( . . . )

http://www.jasna.org/bookrev/br151p17.html

I have now consulted Americans who have reason to resort to lawyers all the time in corporate life. I am assured that Esq can be and is used by any American, provided only that he is pretentious enough (I can't remember the AE colloquialism used: it may have been 'smart-ass pretentious', or an even stronger term; at any rate, that was the gist of it).

In other words, it's got nothing to do with the person being a lawyer. But many lawyers try to impress non-lawyers and intimidate them, pretending (!) they are cleverer, more important and infallible. Therefore the borrowed practice (from England) of appending the honorific (NOT title!) 'Esq.' to a man's (!) name has spread among American lawyers.

Even in England it is now considered very old-fashioned and pompous, but some people still use it, mainly on envelopes. Thus, some bank managers etc still write to me as 'John Kinory, Esq.', followed by my address.

So much ado about... a three-letter word. One may think all of you here are right.

Here is what 5 dctries say:
1. Cambridge Int'l Dctry of English:
"Esq. [after n], esp. Br dated or fml abbreviation for ESQUIRE (=a title added after a man's name on documents, envelopes, etc. instead of putting "Mr" before it): This envelope is addressed to P.J.Ellis Esq * (Am) Esq, is usually used only after the full name of a man or woman who is a lawyer: Address it to my lawyer, Steven A. Neil, Esq./ Gloria Neil, Esq."

2.Webster
"a general title of respect in addressing letters"

3. BBC English Dctry:
"Esq. is sometimes written after a man's name if he has no other title: James Dickson, Esq.

Esquire is a formal title that can be used after a man's name if he has no other title, especially on an envelope that is addressed to him"

4. Collins Cobuild English Dctry:
"Esq. is used after men's names as a written abbreviation for <esquire>"

Esquire - [same definition as in BBC EngDctry above]

5. Longman Dctry of Contemporary English:
"Esq, also Esquire - rare - n, esp. BrE (used as a title of politeness, usu. written after the full name of a man): The envelope is addressed to Peter Jones, Esq."

For those of you who also speak Polish, here is what is said in http://oup.pwn.pl , my favourite English-Polish dctry of which I'm one of the authors:

6. PWN-Oxford:
"John Roberts, Esq = WP John Roberts" ("WP" = "Wielmo¿ny Pan" which in Polish is just a form of address, used mainly on envelopes to express politeness/respect)

The net result is that "J. Smith, Esq" in BrEng means the same as "Mr J. Smith" (never Mrs J. Smith !) while in AmEng it does the same plus may indicate the person addressed - whether man or woman - is a lawyer to whom one wants to be polite when addressing a letter (in such context, the address "mecenas" is used in Polish). Please note that the latter meaning is provided only by 1 in 5 monolingual sources quoted.