I’ve noticed in Russia that professional services firms often like to describe themselves as consultants rather than advisers. This is also quite common in the UK and, I think, the US, but it’s worth examining the verbs to consult and to advise, because they often seem to be used wrongly by Russian speakers.
I also have a preference to use the phrase professional advisers in relation to law firms rather than the favoured use in Russia of legal consultants. Somehow professional advisers sounds slightly more authoritative to me, but I’ve tried unsuccessfully to search online and look in reputable reference materials for evidence to support my view. I probably therefore now have to file this under a personal foible rather than something I seek to impose when editing.
Anyway, putting that to one side, the point with the verb stands. The OED defines to consult as meaning to seek information or advice from (someone, especially an expert or professional). The same resource defines the verb to advise as to offer suggestions about the best course of action to someone. (Note the spelling, by the way: advice, spelled with a 'c' as the penultimate letter, is a noun.)
Thus if you’re a lawyer and you write that you consulted a client about the tax implications of paying dividends to foreign shareholders, this means that you asked the client for its comments on this topic. Presumably it was the client coming to you to tap into your knowledge of such topics, in which case you advised (or gave advice to) the client.
