ABSTRACT

This collection provides an innovative and engaging way of assessing the development of legal profession scholarship and its potential future development by presenting an analysis of the ‘leading works’ of the discipline. The book was written by prominent and emerging international scholars in the field, with each contributor having been invited to select and analyse a work which has for them shed light on what the legal profession is and what it does. The chapters explore the effect that the chosen work has had upon legal profession scholarship as a whole, both within particular jurisdictions and internationally. Contributors also reflect upon the likely implications of the leading work on the future study of and application to the legal profession. They relate the works to recent and contemporary developments in law and access to justice, such as the rise of technology, impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, and issues of funding, to highlight the interpretative value of such scholarship. Presenting an overview and introduction to the field of legal profession research, the collection will be required reading for researchers looking to study any aspect of the legal profession. It will also prove compelling for a wide variety of access to justice and justice system research projects. The book will also appeal to scholars interested in legal ethics.

chapter |8 pages

Introduction

The Legal Profession

chapter 1|13 pages

Colouring, Highlights, and Pompadours

25 Years From ‘Fragmenting Professionalism’ and Bleached-Out Lawyering

chapter 2|16 pages

Toward a New Legal Common Sense

chapter 3|13 pages

Pierre Bourdieu's The Logic of Practice

Understanding the Working Practices of Lawyers

chapter 4|13 pages

The Replacement of the Legal Profession

Vilhelm Aubert's Theory and Heritage in the Sociology of the Legal Profession

chapter 5|13 pages

‘Two Versions of the American Dream’

Well-Being and Unhappiness in the Law School and Legal Profession: The Work of Lawrence Krieger and Kennon Sheldon

chapter 6|14 pages

Behind Clerked Doors

A Ground Breaking Ethanography

chapter 7|14 pages

Are Poor People's Lawyers Still in Transition?

Assessing the Relevancy of Jack Katz's Work Four Decades On

chapter 8|13 pages

(In)visible Legal Careers

Eliane Junqueira's Kaleidoscopic View of Latin America

chapter 9|14 pages

Four Decades of Future

Assessing Susskind's Predictions for the Future of Legal Services

chapter 10|15 pages

Feminist Judging in the ‘Real World’

From Theory to Practice Through the Eyes of Judges

chapter 12|12 pages

Criminal Defence Lawyers in England and Wales

Critiquing Criminal Practice

chapter 13|19 pages

Gender and Commitment in the Legal Profession

Revisiting Sommerlad and Sanderson

chapter 14|13 pages

Judicial Independence in an Authoritarian Regime

The Case of Contemporary Spain (José J. Toharia)

chapter 15|15 pages

Lawyers Who Want to Make the World a Better Place – Scheingold and Sarat's Something to Believe In

Politics, Professionalism, and Cause Lawyering

chapter 17|10 pages

Beyond Critique

The Pragmatic Turn in the Study of Social-Change Litigation

chapter |5 pages

Afterword

Leading Works in the Legal Profession