The law and bar associations permit lawyers holding J.D. or S.J.D. degrees to call themselves “Doctor,” so long as they are not trying to falsely imply some other kind of expertise or licensing—such as medical.
However the only lawyers I have seen who are routinely referred to with the prefix “Dr.” are patent lawyers who hold Ph.D. degrees in a scientific field in addition to their law degrees.
While we’re on the subject, it may be worth clarifying that both the courtesy title of “Doctor” for physicians and the usage of “doctor” as a synonym for physician predate the invention and certainly the popularity of the Medicinae Doctor degree as the qualification for medical practice and continue to be used in countries for which the qualifying degree is not and never has been a doctorate (such as the United Kingdom). The use of “doctor” to refer to a physician is separate from and much older than the modern system of academic degrees, and in fact predates most formal systems of medical training. It is nearly as old as the use of “doctor” to refer to an academic scholar, both of which date to the 1300s.
IIRC members of the clergy were also traditionally allowed to use “Doctor” in social settings if they had the requisite degree.
Sure, but they also permit ordinary folks with no particular education whatsoever to call themselves that, with the same proviso against fraud.
So what? The question is about lawyers, and authorities that are relevant to lawyers have explicitly spoken on this issue (such as ABA Informal Opinion 1152 (1970)). So it is relevant to the question, and it is relevant in the context of my full comment.
Lawyers with SJDs do go by “Doctor” as it is a proper earned terminal degree and often teach in academia.
Perhaps it happens, but as I said, it’s not a situation that I’ve encountered routinely. I knew a small number of S.J.D.-holding law professors and they didn’t go by “doctor.” In any case, my understanding is that these days, the vast majority of S.J.D. degrees are honorary rather than “earned.”
My understanding is that SJD is a (rare) earned degree while LL.D is an honorary degree.
I think you got it right the second time – yes, that does seem to be a parody web site.
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This reminds me of a conundrum I’ve wondered about from time to time – What is the history of the exclamation “And how!” to mean a strongly affirmative response to a Yes/No question?
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There was a thread on this. We got it directly from German.
But that just punts the question back in time to “why did the Germans start using it?” I’ve never seen an answer to that.
So did mine, and the offer still stands. But I’m not going to exchange my LL.B. for a J.D.–if nothing else, my LL.B. gives me more letters after my name. 
I did study under a few S.J.D.s, and they were never referred to as “Doctor So-and-so.” Commonly, they were “Professor So-and-so,” or “Mr./Ms. So-and-so.”
Bill, this is John and Jane; John and Jane, Bill.
That’s what I’d do/have done.
Right. Chaucer used the term to refer to a physician far before the development of the modern MD degree.
[QUOTE=Geoffrey Chaucer, 14th century, emphasis mine]
With us ther was a doctour of phisik;
In al this world ne was the noon hym lik,
To speke of phisik and of surgerye
For he was grounded in astronomye.
He kepte his pacient a ful greet deel
In houres by his magyk natureel.
[/quote]
This. I’ve been been around lawyers my whole life (child and sibling of lawyers, longtime IT person at large law firms). I’ve never heard a lawyer use “Dr.,” with the exception of some patent lawyers. It’s not unusual for patent lawyers to have a PhD in some technical or scientific field, or even an MD (we’ve got a few of those at my firm).
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Are there any cases in the modern world, other than physicians in countries where the standard medical degree is not a doctorate, where a person can receive general social recognition as a “doctor” without holding a formal doctoral degree from a university? I’m imagining that there might be a sport out there where high-scoring players are commonly addressed by their fellow players as “doctor”, or something of that nature.
Well, there’s the case of Malcolm John “Mac” Rebennack, aka Dr John.
In Australia, vets and dentists are commonly addressed as “doctor”. Nowadays a lot of universities award professional doctorates to graduates in veterinary surgery or dentistry, but this is a recent development and most of the vets and dentists being addressed as “doctor” don’t have doctorates.
The solicitations and alumni mailings that I receive from the university are addressed to Dr. Personal, but those received from the law school itself are addressed to Mr. Personal. That’s the only time I’ve seen it. That may be a marketing thing.
Vets and dentists are “Doctor” in the States, too, but I don’t know what kind of degrees they have.
And you’ll occasionally see a celebrity who is nicknamed “Doctor So-and-so”, and most of them have never earned a doctoral degree.