Can I be a lawyer in the States even if I have an accent?

Well, LAWYER can be pronounced as LIAR:

http://cfprod01.imt.uwm.edu/Dept/FLL/linguistics/dialect/staticmaps/q_14.html

Where does it say "lawyer" = "liar" on that page? They only say there are two pronunciations and show where the two are prevalent. They don't say that either of those pronunciations are the same as the pronunciation of liar. In fact, the vowel sound approximates they give for either word does not sound like the vowel used in the first syllable of "liar" for me.

Yeah, I don't see anywhere on the map where they list "liar" for "lawyer".

By the way, I pronounce "lawyer" as /lOI.@`/.

I don't pronounce "lawyer" as "liar", but I generally think of them as synonyms. It's just that lawyers here in Wisconsin lie so much.

I have a similar opinion. Also synonymous with "thief" in many instances (have you seen the exorbitant rates some charge?) But of course this is an altogether separate issue from pronunciation.

I pronounce "lawyer" like Mike does. The two common pronunciations of "lawyer" in the US, and the two pronunciations indicated in the above survey, are (using interdialectal phonemes) /"lOI.@`/-->["lOI.@`]/["loI.@`] and ["lO.j@`]-->["lO.j@`]/["lQ.j@`]. Neither of those would be homophonous with "liar".

<<I pronounce "lawyer" like Mike does. The two common pronunciations of "lawyer" in the US, and the two pronunciations indicated in the above survey, are (using interdialectal phonemes) /"lOI.@`/-->["lOI.@`]/["loI.@`] and ["lO.j@`]-->["lO.j@`]/["lQ.j@`]. Neither of those would be homophonous with "liar".>>

What about "liar" and "lyre"? Are those homonyms for you? They're not for me.

By the way, here's my pronunciations for the following words:

lawyer - /lOI.@`/

liar - /l@I.@`/

lyre - /laI@`/

<<I pronounce "lawyer" like Mike does. The two common pronunciations of "lawyer" in the US, and the two pronunciations indicated in the above survey, are (using interdialectal phonemes) /"lOI.@`/-->["lOI.@`]/["loI.@`] and ["lO.j@`]-->["lO.j@`]/["lQ.j@`]. Neither of those would be homophonous with "liar".>>

I've tried saying "lawyer" as */lA.j@`/ and it does sound closer to "liar" than my actual pronunciation /lOI.@`/, but still not the same. Maybe someone was hearing that and misinterpreted it as "liar".

Misheard is as being the same as "liar", that is.

Do you think that's possible, Lazar?

<<What about "liar" and "lyre"? Are those homonyms for you? They're not for me.>>

Those are homonyms for me, as ["laI.@`].

<<I've tried saying "lawyer" as */lA.j@`/ and it does sound closer to "liar" than my actual pronunciation /lOI.@`/, but still not the same. Maybe someone was hearing that and misinterpreted it as "liar".>>

Yeah, it's conceivable that someone with a very open vowel for the /O/ phoneme (for instance a NCVS speaker), or someone with the cot-caught merger, could pronounce "lawyer" as ["lA.j@`], which could in turn be misheard as "liar".

<<Those are homonyms for me, as ["laI.@`].>>

That's interesting. It appears that you have r-breaking in your dialect. What about the following words:

"beer" and "freer"

"sour" and "power"

"coir" and "employer"

Do those pairs rhyme for you? Here's how I pronounce them:

beer - /bir/

freer - /fri.@`/

sour - /saUr/

power - /paU.@`/

coir - /kOIr/

employer - /EmplOI.@`/

"Beer" and "freer" do not rhyme for me:

beer - [bI@`]
freer - ["fri.@`]

However, the other two pairs do rhyme for me:

sour - ["saU.@`]
power - ["paU.@`]

coir - ["kOI.@`]
employer - [Im"plOI.@`]