legal beagle

From legal +‎ beagle. Beagle was probably chosen for the rhyme and because beagles were traditionally used for hunting hares or rabbits, due to their keen sense of smell and tracking instinct. Compare legal eagle.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌliːɡl̩ ˈbiːɡl̩/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌliɡəl ˈbiɡəl/

• Audio (General American):

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• Audio (General Australian):

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• Rhymes: -iːɡəl
• Hyphenation: le‧gal bea‧gle

legal beagle (plural legal beagles)

1. (idiomatic, informal) A lawyer, specifically one regarded as astute and skilful.

   Synonyms: legal eagle, Philadelphia lawyer

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

   • 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:

     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."

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

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

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

     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.

   • 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:

     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.

• “legal beagle, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, September 2025.