legal beagle

plural legal beagles

1. idiomaticinformalA lawyer, specifically one regarded as astute and skilful.

   He was a prosecutor before entering private practice and gaining a reputation as a legal beagle.

   4 more examples

   He offer'd submission in meekness and tears, / The fierce legal beagles to hush; / But they clapp'd him in Newgate a couple of years, / To keep him from—"Buying a Brush."

   1822 September 9, H[enry] Hunt, “Cobbett and His Man Bristle; or, ‘Buying a Brush’”, in To the Radical Reformers, Male and Female, of England, Scotland, and Ireland, London: […] T[homas] Dolby, […], →OCLC, page 14

   For our part we are quite willing to pass the immortelles to Outerbridge Horsey, Banker Stillman's legal beagle.

   1921 December 24, Implement & Tractor, volume 36, Overland Park, Kan.: Intertec Publishing Corporation, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 21

   Marshall, who didn't know the process server was after him until the legal beagle was called off by his congressional bosses, settled the whole affair late this afternoon by giving the committee the papers it wanted.

   1947, Weekly Commercial News, volume 105, [San Francisco, Calif.?]: [Weekly News Publishing Company?], →ISSN, →OCLC

   You don't want to be a legal beagle about it. You are not a dog! Still, a passing familiarity with employment law isn't such a bad thing when you're working for others.

   2010, Vicky Oliver, “Pounding the Pavement with Panache”, in 301 Smart Answers to Tough Business Etiquette Questions, New York, N.Y.: Skyhorse Publishing, →ISBN, part I (Meetings), pages 103–104

   Synonyms: legal eagle, Philadelphia lawyer