Attorneys is the correct spelling. Attornies is incorrect in modern standard English. The singular noun attorney ends in a vowel followed by y—the letters ey—so its plural is formed by keeping the y and simply adding s: attorney → attorneys. Standard dictionary entries list attorneys as the plural form.
- ✅ attorney — one person
- ✅ attorneys — two or more
- ❌ attornies — incorrect modern spelling
What Is the Difference Between Attornies and Attorneys?
The difference between attornies and attorneys is not a difference in meaning. It is a difference between an incorrect spelling and the accepted modern spelling.
An attorney is generally a person authorized to practice law or, in some contexts, a person legally authorized to act for someone else. The plural form recorded in modern dictionaries is attorneys.
That means:
One attorney → two attorneys
The spelling attornies usually appears because writers apply the wrong plural rule to a noun ending in y.
Compare:
- city → cities
- company → companies
- attorney → attorneys
- journey → journeys
- key → keys
Why does city become cities, while attorney becomes attorneys? The letter immediately before the y determines the normal spelling pattern.
Why Correct Spelling Matters
A small spelling mistake can become more noticeable when it appears in professional writing.
Writing attornies instead of attorneys may look especially careless in:
- legal documents
- law firm websites
- professional emails
- job applications
- academic assignments
- business proposals
- client communications
- court-related writing
Readers can usually understand what attornies was intended to mean, but understanding a typo does not make the spelling correct.
Correct spelling matters even more when the word itself refers to legal professionals. A law firm biography saying, “Our attornies have decades of experience,” can weaken the professional impression the sentence is trying to create.
The Core Rule
Rule: If a noun ends in a vowel + y, normally keep the y and add s to form the plural.
The ending of attorney is -ey.
The letter e is a vowel, so you do not replace the y with ies.
attorney + s = attorneys
The general distinction can be seen in these examples:
| Singular | Letter before Y | Correct Plural |
|---|---|---|
| attorney | vowel | attorneys |
| key | vowel | keys |
| monkey | vowel | monkeys |
| journey | vowel | journeys |
| boy | vowel | boys |
| city | consonant | cities |
| company | consonant | companies |
| baby | consonant | babies |
English nouns ending in y do not all form plurals in the same way: some simply add s, while others change y to i and add es.
The Rule in Three Steps
- Look at the letter immediately before the final y.
- If it is a vowel, normally keep the y.
- Add s: attorney → attorneys.
This is why attornies does not follow the normal modern spelling rule.
How to Use Attorney and Attorneys
Use Attorney for One Person
Use attorney when referring to one attorney.
Example:
She contacted an attorney about the contract.
Use Attorneys for More Than One
Use attorneys when referring to two or more.
Example:
Three attorneys reviewed the agreement before it was signed.
The standard plural is explicitly recorded as attorneys.
Attorney’s: Singular Possessive
Attorney’s usually means something belongs to, concerns, or is associated with one attorney.
Example:
The attorney’s office is on the third floor.
Here, the office is associated with one attorney.
Attorneys’: Plural Possessive
Attorneys’ is the possessive form of the plural attorneys.
Example:
The attorneys’ offices were renovated last month.
The sentence refers to offices belonging to or associated with multiple attorneys.
For ordinary plural nouns already ending in s, the possessive is generally formed by adding an apostrophe after the final s.
Do Not Use an Apostrophe Just to Make the Word Plural
A common mistake is:
❌ We spoke with two attorney’s.
The apostrophe does not create the ordinary plural.
Write:
✅ We spoke with two attorneys.
Use an apostrophe only when the sentence requires a possessive form.
Correct Examples of Attorneys
The following examples show how attorneys works across different types of English.
- Conversation: Two attorneys joined us for lunch after the hearing.
- Email: Our attorneys will review the revised agreement tomorrow.
- Workplace: The company consulted several attorneys before changing the policy.
- School: The students interviewed local attorneys for their careers project.
- Academic writing: The study examined communication practices among experienced attorneys.
- Social media: Several attorneys answered questions during the live discussion.
- Business: Both companies hired attorneys to negotiate the final terms.
- Legal context: The attorneys submitted their documents before the deadline.
- News-style writing: Attorneys for both parties appeared at the hearing.
- Client communication: Our attorneys are available to discuss the next steps with you.
In every case, attorneys means more than one attorney.
Incorrect vs. Correct Examples
| ❌ Incorrect | ✅ Correct | Why |
|---|---|---|
| We hired two attornies. | We hired two attorneys. | Attorney ends in vowel + y, so add s without changing the y. |
| Several attornies attended the hearing. | Several attorneys attended the hearing. | Attornies is not the standard modern plural. |
| The company contacted three attornies. | The company contacted three attorneys. | A number greater than one requires the plural attorneys. |
| Our attorney’s are preparing the documents. | Our attorneys are preparing the documents. | An apostrophe is unnecessary because this is a simple plural, not a possessive. |
| Both attornies reviewed the contract. | Both attorneys reviewed the contract. | Both refers to two people, so use the correct plural attorneys. |
| The attorneys office is downtown. | The attorney’s office is downtown. | If one attorney has the office, use the singular possessive attorney’s. |
| The attorney’s offices were all renovated. | The attorneys’ offices were all renovated. | If several attorneys have the offices, use the plural possessive attorneys’. |
| I spoke to four attorney yesterday. | I spoke to four attorneys yesterday. | A count of four requires a plural noun. |
| These attornies specialize in tax law. | These attorneys specialize in tax law. | These normally accompanies a plural count noun here, and the correct plural is attorneys. |
| The two attorney’s disagreed. | The two attorneys disagreed. | The sentence requires a plural, not possession. |
Why Do People Spell Attorneys as Attornies?
The error is understandable because many familiar English words ending in y do change to -ies in the plural.
Overgeneralizing the Y-to-IES Rule
Learners often remember examples such as:
- baby → babies
- company → companies
- city → cities
- party → parties
They may then assume that every noun ending in y follows the same pattern.
It does not.
The spelling pattern depends on what comes immediately before the y.
Consonant + y: commonly change y to ies.
Vowel + y: commonly keep y and add s.
That gives us:
company → companies
but:
attorney → attorneys
The Incorrect Form Looks Familiar
English contains thousands of plural words ending in -ies, so attornies can look believable at first glance.
That visual familiarity makes the mistake easier to overlook.
Pronunciation Does Not Clearly Reveal the Spelling
When someone says attorneys, the spoken form does not tell you whether the writer kept the y or replaced it with ie.
The error is therefore mainly a written spelling problem rather than a meaningful pronunciation distinction.
Autocomplete and Spellcheck Are Not Perfect Substitutes for Knowing the Rule
Writing tools can catch many spelling errors, but writers should not depend completely on automatic correction.
Names, specialized terminology, unusual capitalization, browser forms, search fields, and older text can sometimes make error detection less reliable.
Knowing the rule lets you correct the word yourself immediately.
Translation Interference Can Add Confusion
English learners whose first language forms plurals differently may first need to remember the English plural system itself.
Even learners who already know English plural spelling can accidentally reduce several rules to one simple idea: “words ending in y become ies.”
The better rule is to check the letter before y.
Common Mistakes Checklist
- Writing attornies: Check the final letters of attorney. Because it ends in vowel + y, keep the y and add s.
- Writing attorney’s for a plural: Apostrophes normally show possession or omission, not an ordinary plural.
- Writing attorneys when you mean possession by one attorney: Use attorney’s when the sentence is possessive and refers to one attorney.
- Writing attorney’s when several attorneys possess something: Use attorneys’ for a regular plural possessive.
- Applying city → cities to every y-ending noun: First check whether the letter before y is a vowel or consonant.
- Trusting appearance instead of structure: Attornies may look plausible, but break the word into attorney + s.
- Changing the spelling in formal contexts: The plural does not become different simply because the writing is legal, academic, or highly formal.
Attornies vs Attorneys in Real English
Grammatically Correct English
Attorneys is the grammatically and orthographically correct modern plural of attorney. You can use it in everyday conversation, professional correspondence, academic writing, contracts, legal discussion, news writing, and other standard contexts. The spelling does not change according to sentence formality. Standard dictionary entries give attorneys as the plural.
Possible to Understand but Not Standard
A reader will probably understand a sentence such as “The attornies arrived at court,” because the intended word is obvious from context. However, attornies should not be treated as an acceptable alternative modern spelling. Being understandable is different from being standard. In edited writing, replace it with attorneys.
Natural Everyday English
In American everyday English, both lawyers and attorneys occur naturally when talking about legal professionals. Attorney can sound somewhat more connected with professional or legal contexts, but it is not limited to highly formal writing. The natural choice often depends on the exact institution, title, or sentence. In U.S. legal terminology, an attorney is commonly understood as a lawyer authorized to practice law.
American vs. British English
There is no American-versus-British spelling difference in the plural itself: when the noun attorney is used, its plural is attorneys.
There is, however, a genuine difference in how legal terminology is commonly organized.
In U.S. legal usage, attorney commonly refers to a lawyer authorized to practice law.
British legal terminology more commonly distinguishes roles such as solicitor and barrister. The word attorney remains important in expressions such as power of attorney, where an attorney may be a person appointed to make decisions or act for somebody else and does not necessarily need legal experience.
So the spelling rule is the same, but the everyday legal use of the noun can differ by jurisdiction.
Formal vs. Informal Usage
The correct spelling remains attorneys in both formal and informal English.
Formal
The attorneys submitted their written arguments before the deadline.
This wording works naturally in legal, professional, business, and academic contexts.
Informal
We talked to a couple of attorneys about it.
This is also correct and natural in American English.
In casual conversation, lawyers may sometimes feel simpler:
We talked to a couple of lawyers about it.
The choice between lawyers and attorneys can depend on context, but attornies does not become correct simply because the writing is informal.
Read More: Faring vs Fairing: What’s the Difference?
Attornies vs Attorneys Comparison Table
| Feature | Attorneys | Attornies |
|---|---|---|
| Modern standard spelling | ✅ Yes | ❌ No |
| Plural of attorney | ✅ Yes | ❌ No |
| Keeps the final y | ✅ Yes | ❌ No |
| Follows vowel + y pattern | ✅ Yes | ❌ No |
| Appropriate in legal writing | ✅ Yes | ❌ No |
| Appropriate in academic writing | ✅ Yes | ❌ No |
| Appropriate in professional emails | ✅ Yes | ❌ No |
| Meaning intended | More than one attorney | Usually intended as a misspelling of attorneys |
| Example | Three attorneys attended. | Three attornies attended. ❌ |
| Best action | Use normally | Correct to attorneys |
Attorneys, Attorney’s, and Attorneys’: What Is the Difference?
These three forms are easy to confuse because they differ by only an apostrophe.
| Form | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| attorney | one attorney | I called an attorney. |
| attorneys | more than one attorney | I called two attorneys. |
| attorney’s | belonging to or associated with one attorney | The attorney’s phone rang. |
| attorneys’ | belonging to or associated with multiple attorneys | The attorneys’ meeting began at noon. |
The ordinary plural requires no apostrophe. A singular noun normally takes ‘s for possession, while a regular plural already ending in s normally takes an apostrophe after that s.
What About Attorneys General?
The traditional plural of attorney general is attorneys general.
One attorney general
Two attorneys general
The plural marker attaches to attorney, the main noun in the expression. Legal-writing guidance therefore uses attorneys general.
Some modern dictionaries also record attorney generals as an alternative, but attorneys general remains the conventional form and is the safer choice in careful legal or professional writing.
Do not confuse this with:
❌ attornies general
The spelling of attorneys still keeps the y.
Memory Trick
Remember this sentence:
A vowel protects the Y: attorney + s = attorneys.
Look at the end of attorney:
e + y
Because e is a vowel, the y stays.
You can connect it with three short examples:
- key → keys
- boy → boys
- attorney → attorneys
But when a consonant comes directly before y, the pattern is often different:
- city → cities
- party → parties
- company → companies
So when you are unsure, do not look only at the y. Look one letter back.
Real-Life Situations
Job Interview
Interviewer: Who handled the company’s legal review?
Correct answer:
Two outside attorneys reviewed the documents.
Using attorneys keeps the answer professional and correctly plural.
Business Meeting
Correct:
Our attorneys recommend revising Section 8 before we sign.
The sentence refers to multiple legal professionals, so attorneys is required.
Professional Email
Correct:
I have copied both attorneys on this email so they can review the proposed changes.
A spelling error in an email involving lawyers or legal work can be particularly noticeable, so proofreading the term is worthwhile.
Text Message
Correct:
The attorneys called back. I’ll tell you what they said tonight.
Formal grammar rules still apply even though the message itself is casual.
Exam
Question: Write the plural of attorney.
Correct answer:
attorneys
A useful exam strategy is to identify the final pattern vowel + y before choosing between -s and -ies.
Expert Tips
Check the Letter Before Y, Not Just the Last Letter
The most useful habit is not memorizing attorneys as an isolated exception.
Instead, inspect the final two letters.
attorney → ey
Since e is a vowel, keep the y and add s.
This gives you a reusable spelling strategy for many other words.
Separate Plural Problems From Apostrophe Problems
Ask two different questions:
- Am I talking about more than one attorney?
- Does something belong to or relate to the attorney or attorneys?
If you only mean “more than one,” write attorneys.
If possession is involved, decide between attorney’s and attorneys’.
Use a Substitution Test
Replace attorney with lawyer.
If you would write:
two lawyers
then write:
two attorneys
You would not write two lawyer’s, so do not write two attorney’s when you simply need a plural.
Read More: Check-In vs. Check In: Which One Is Correct?
Proofread High-Visibility Locations Separately
Pay particular attention to the word in:
- page titles
- email subject lines
- legal service pages
- advertisements
- résumés
- professional biographies
- headings
- business proposals
Errors in prominent text are easier for readers to notice.
Be Careful With Historical Text
You may encounter unfamiliar or older spellings when reading historical legal documents. That does not mean those forms should be copied into modern writing. For current standard English, use the modern plural attorneys.
Quick Summary
Attorneys is the correct modern plural of attorney; attornies is not the standard spelling. The rule becomes easy once you look at the letter before the final y. Because attorney ends in -ey, a vowel + y combination, the y stays and you simply add s: attorney → attorneys. Use attorney’s when something belongs to one attorney and attorneys’ when it belongs to multiple attorneys. The spelling attorneys works in both formal and informal writing and does not change between American and British English. To remember it, use this shortcut: a vowel protects the y—keep the y and add s.
FAQ
Is it attornies or attorneys?
Attorneys is the correct modern spelling. Attornies is a misspelling when you mean the plural of attorney. Standard dictionaries list the plural as attorneys.
What is the plural of attorney?
The plural of attorney is attorneys.
Singular: attorney
Plural: attorneys
Because attorney ends in a vowel followed by y, the y stays and s is added.
Why isn’t the plural of attorney attornies?
The y → ies pattern normally applies to many nouns where a consonant comes immediately before the final y, such as city → cities.
In attorney, the letter before y is the vowel e, so the normal pattern is to keep the y and add s.
Is attornies ever acceptable in modern professional writing?
Not as the standard modern plural of attorney. In contemporary professional, academic, business, and legal writing, use attorneys.
Older texts may contain historical spelling variants, but they should not be treated as the normal spelling for present-day writing.
Is it two attorney’s or two attorneys?
Write two attorneys.
The apostrophe in attorney’s normally signals singular possession rather than an ordinary plural.
✅ Two attorneys attended.
❌ Two attorney’s attended.
What does attorney’s mean?
Attorney’s is normally the singular possessive form.
The attorney’s brief means the brief belonging to or associated with one attorney.
The ‘s is showing possession rather than plurality.
What does attorneys’ mean?
Attorneys’ is the plural possessive form.
The attorneys’ conference room refers to a conference room belonging to or associated with multiple attorneys.
First form the plural attorneys, then add the possessive apostrophe after the final s.
Is attorney the same as lawyer?
In U.S. legal usage, attorney commonly refers to a lawyer authorized to practice law, and the terms often overlap in everyday use. The word attorney can also have another legal sense: a person authorized to act for another, as in an attorney-in-fact.
Is the spelling attorneys used in British English?
Yes. When attorney is used as a countable noun, its plural is attorneys.
However, British legal terminology commonly uses more specific professional terms such as solicitor and barrister, while attorney is also prominently used in contexts such as power of attorney.
Is it attorneys general or attorney generals?
Attorneys general is the traditional and conventional plural and is a strong choice for careful professional writing.
Some dictionaries also recognize attorney generals, but attorneys general remains widely established.
Is attorneys written with an apostrophe?
Not when it is simply plural.
✅ Several attorneys arrived.
Use an apostrophe only when possession requires it:
✅ One attorney’s desk
✅ Several attorneys’ desks
What is the easiest way to remember attorneys?
Look at the final two letters of attorney: ey.
The e is a vowel, so remember:
Vowel before Y? Keep the Y.
Then add s:
attorney + s = attorneys
Mini Quiz
| # | Question | Answer | Explanation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Choose the correct plural: attornies / attorneys | attorneys | Attorney ends in vowel + y, so keep the y and add s. |
| 2 | Fill in the blank: Three ___ reviewed the contract. | attorneys | The sentence refers to three people, so the plural is required. |
| 3 | Correct the sentence: “Our attornies will contact you tomorrow.” | Our attorneys will contact you tomorrow. | Attornies is not the standard modern plural. |
| 4 | Choose the correct form: “The ___ office closes at five.” One attorney owns the office. | attorney’s | One attorney + possession requires the singular possessive. |
| 5 | Choose the correct form: “The ___ offices are on different floors.” Several attorneys have offices. | attorneys’ | The noun is plural and possessive, so the apostrophe follows the s. |
| 6 | True or false: Every noun ending in y changes y to ies in the plural. | False | Nouns ending in vowel + y commonly keep the y and add s. |
| 7 | Which follows the same plural pattern as attorney: city, key, company? | key | Both attorney and key end with a vowel before y and form plurals by adding s. |
| 8 | Correct the sentence: “I met two attorney’s after the meeting.” | I met two attorneys after the meeting. | The sentence needs an ordinary plural, so no apostrophe is used. |
| 9 | Fill in the blank: The state officials included several ___ general. | attorneys | The conventional compound plural is attorneys general. |
| 10 | Which sentence is correct? A) The attornies arrived. B) The attorneys arrived. C) The attorney’s arrived. | B) The attorneys arrived. | Attorneys is the correct ordinary plural. |
