Counsellors and councillors — it doesn’t matter when you are talking, because they sound almost the same. But in writing you have to be careful. A councillor is a member of a council, a group brought together to work on a defined topic. A counsellor is someone who gives advice (student-counsellor) and the advice they give is a counsel. Lawyers are called counsels, not counsellors. Thus it’s right to say, ‘A counsel was appointed for the defendant by the court.’ The two words should not be confused. Never!
If you are referring to an advisor use counsel because she‘ll say something useful. If you mean a group choose c to denote crowd, write council.
