What’s in a Name?

Illustration of the elusive "lawyerbird" by John James Audon

I have been asked more than once where the name “Lawyerbird” came from (per my contract attorney’s website).  Truth is, I am a fan of the television show the Simpsons, and that’s where I first heard the term.  I later learned it is also a nickname for the American Avocet, per “its long bill and oft-repeated vociferations” (according to Grinnell’s Game Birds of California, 1918).

In the Simpsons, Bart’s teacher is administering the Career Aptitude Normalizing Test (or, “CANT”) to uncover what occupation each student would be best suited for.  She reads the test to the class, “First question.  If I could be any animal, I would be (a) a carpenter ant, (b) a nurse shark, or (c) a lawyer bird.”  Incidentally, Bart answers (c).