ABSTRACT
An appraisal of the legal profession and its steadily growing role in society touches onfundamental issues in sociological and sociolegal theory-issues involving power, social control, stratification, socialization, and the social organization of law work. This chapter examines the character of the legal profession and the social forces shaping it. It begins with a historical background of law, with an emphasis on the professionalization of lawyers and the evolution of the legal profession in America. Next, the chapter focuses on the legal profession today: what lawyers do and where, their income, and how they compete for business. The emphasis is then placed on the accessibility of legal services to the poor and the not so poor, followed by a portrayal of law schools and the training and socialization of lawyers into the profession. The chapter concludes with some comments on bar admission, bar associations as interest groups, and professional discipline.
