Primary tabs. In the United States, esquire (often shortened to Esq.) is a title of courtesy, given to a lawyer and commonly appended to his/her surname (e.g., John Smith, Esq. or John Smith, Esquire) when addressing the lawyer in written form.
In legal terms, the title esquire, in America, simply means someone who can practice law. Any lawyer can take on the title esquire, regardless of what type of law they practice. Family lawyers, personal injury attorneys, and corporate lawyers all have the right to use esquire as a title.
The difference between Esq and JD is that Esq is the title used after name of a lawyer or attorney who has been called to the bar and has a license to practice law while JD is the title of a lawyer who has only graduated from law school but hasn't been called to the bar.
This official term is unique to the profession, and non-lawyers cannot use it. However, anyone can be called an “Esquire” without fearing prosecution for the unauthorized practice of law.
Professional Correspondence. Address an attorney as "Mr." or "Ms." in most contexts. In the salutation for a letter or email, address an attorney the same way you would any other respected professional- using "Mr." or "Ms." followed by their surname.
—used as a title of courtesy for lawyers usually placed in its abbreviated form after the name and capitalized John R. Smith, Esq.
A JD is a full doctoral degree. The only professional in society that can call him/her self a "doctor" are physicians. The more appropriate address for a PhD or a JD at the university is "professor" which by definition means a teacher (doctor) of the highest rank at the university.
Once a person graduates from law school, he can add the initials J.D. after his name, which stands for Juris Doctor, or the degree garnered. Once a person goes through the rigorous process of taking and passing her state's Bar examination, she can then be referred to by the esquire title.