A somewhat formal or literary term for a legal professional; in modern everyday speech 弁護士 is more common.
彼は法家として長年活躍した。
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.
秦の始皇帝は法家の思想を採用した。
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.