pettifogger

/ˌpɛdiˈfɔgər/

Other forms: pettifoggers

A sneaky, underhanded lawyer is a pettifogger. If your neighbor hires an unscrupulous quack to sue you, you might call his attorney a pettifogger.

You don't hear the word pettifogger much these days, since the word is fairly archaic, but you might come across it in an old book. A bad lawyer, or pettifogger, used dubious means to get clients and to win cases. The mid-16th century word itself combined petty — "small," from the French petit — with the obsolete word fogger, "underhanded dealer," which probably came from a wealthy 15th century Bavarian family of merchants, the Fuggers.

Definitions of pettifogger

1. noun

   a disputant who quibbles; someone who raises annoying petty objections
   synonyms: caviler, caviller, quibbler

   type of:

   malcontent

   a person who is discontented or disgusted
2. noun

   a person (especially a lawyer or politician) who uses unscrupulous or unethical methods
   synonyms: shyster

   type of:

   offender, wrongdoer

   a person who transgresses moral or civil law