Did they have to go to school? Were there degrees? Could they be disbarred? Furthermore, given that there was no police force or prison/jail system, what impelled anyone to care enough to hire a lawyer?
Anyone could serve as an advocate, if asked. One could technically ask a barnyard animal to be advocate. Of course, you won't win a case that way. There were no "degrees" or state-driven qualifications, but education was obviously an important aspect towards what made an advocate good: ability with public speaking, persuasion--that is, rhetoric. Those who received rhetorical training were usually aristocratic, and they usually started off as an "apprentice" of an elder. This was a one-on-one pedagogical relationship which was informal but was, like many aspects of Roman society, institutionalized by practice. Cicero was the pupil/apprentice of the powerful senator and advocate called Quintus Mucius Scaevola, who taught him many things about being a good Roman citizen, senator, philosopher, and, yes, rhetorician. Cicero in turn had Marcus Caelius Rufus as his "apprentice."
"Lawyer" was not typically a career in and of itself, but was a lucrative pursuit for senators and was a good way to get one's name out there in the public sphere. Some figures we know almost exclusively from their activities in the courts, like Cicero's great rival Hortensius. Plenty of others were senators and advocates at the same time.
Your perception of the consequences of the legal courts at Rome is a bit off. It was not some sort of lawless society without any means of enforcement. Losing in the courts, depending on the case and the plaintiffs, could mean hefty fines, exile, and other summary judgments, and the verdicts of the jury and praetor were binding.
Interesting, thanks for the in-depth answer!
Had a feeling I was off on ancient Roman repercussions. If you’ll allow a follow up on that: Who would enforce the exile? Who impelled people to show up to their court date?
In HBO’s Rome, a character who commits a murder is taken to a dungeon to await his trial. He’s then sentenced to death in the arena.
Would there be some sort of holding jail like a dungeon? And since there was no police force who was taking him around? (Hopefully this wasn’t too rambling)