A somewhat formal or literary term for a legal professional; in modern everyday speech 弁護士 is more common.
He was active as a lawyer for many years.
Refers to the school of Chinese philosophy that emphasized strict laws and state control, associated with thinkers like Han Fei.
The First Emperor of Qin adopted Legalist thought.
From Chinese 法家 (fǎjiā), literally 'law school' or 'legalist school'. The 'lawyer' sense is a Japanese extension of the same characters.