Rule 950 As used in this article, “lawyer” means a person authorized, or reasonably believed by the client to be authorized, to practice law in any state or na…

A "lawyer" in this context means anyone who is licensed to practice law, whether in California, another state, or another country. It also covers someone the client honestly believed was a licensed lawyer, even if that turned out to be wrong.

This matters because the law protects private conversations between a client and their lawyer. If you shared personal information with someone you genuinely thought was your attorney, that protection may still apply, even if the person was not actually licensed.