This phrase has been popping up a lot lately. How long has it been in use, and where did it first appear? Google was not my friend.
Some context might help. How’s it used?
Oh, sorry. It means the person doing the lawyering up has hired lawyers, and is usually invoked when this action has caused them to change their behavior. “He’s not talking since he lawyered up” is an example.
Thanx. Still no clue on origins. Seems like it’d be a very commonsense usage, seeing as we have “fuel up” for get gas or “suit up” for get into uniform, and thus hard to trace precisely.
Have you tried Google Groups? If a phrase is common enough to make it onto Usenet, sometimes that’s a good way to date it, if not track it.
I’ve been a cop for nearly 20 years, and I’ve used it that entire time. It usually refers to a person invoking their right to speak to an attorney after being advised of the Miranda rights.
I’m sure it was popularized by NYPD Blue where it was used constantly during the first few seasons. David Milch, the co-creator, got a lot of his terminology from Bill Clark, an NYPD detective.
I expect that, yeah. Though really, we don’t have any other phrase I can think of in this particular structure as regards to professionals. People don’t doctor up or even bodyguard up.
I never saw so much as a minute of an episode of NYPD Blue, if you can believe it, but I bet that’s what spread it around, all right. Thalion, did older cops use it too when you first joined the force?
Well, this is a total WAG, but I always thought it was like the term “saddle up.” Like for horse riding? Sort of a “here we go” kind of thing. But, I pretty much just pulled that out of my ass.
Well my WAG is that before Miranda a suspect would shut up, or clam up, meaning no longer talking.
Now after Miranda the suspect lawyer ups.
Same result, the suspect is no longer talking.
So it’s not the act of getting a lawyer, but the act of refusing to speak until you have one.
Probably not related to “cowboy up,” which seems to mean either “start drinking” or “stock up on booze.”
No, more the act of refusing to speak after you’ve got one. Clammed up seems a likely connection, but “saddle up” feels more appropriate, because the sense is that this person has gathered their posse around them and is now harder to get at.
I don’t think so.
Before Miranda “He clammed up” = not talking
After Miranda “He clammed up” = not talking, but has not asked for a lawyer
OR
“He lawyered up” = not talking until his lawyer gets here, and probably not then.
I’ve always understood “lawyered up” to refer specifically to the aspect of Miranda that says:
The so-called second-tier Miranda rights. At the first tier, you’ve got the right to refuse to answer questions and the right to request a lawyer. If you request a lawyer, it activates a second-tier of rights: Questioning must cease and not resume until a lawyer is present.
This is pretty close to what some others have said. But the key is that you don’t have to refuse to answer questions after you ask for a lawyer: The questions can’t be asked. Again, there are two options:
a. Refuse to answer questions
b. Ask for a lawyer (which prevents them from continuing to ask questions)
The first time I heard the term was on NYPD Blue, but it pretty clearly predates the show.
On the show, the context was usually:
Q: What did the suspect say (when interrogated)?
A: He lawyered up (He asked for a lawyer, so we had to stop questioning him, and we probably won’t be able to get any more information from him because his lawyer will tell him not to say anything).
Just a guess: “lawyering up” may have originated as the alternative to “fessing up” (clamming up works, too).