ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book analyses the changing nature of contemporary legal professionalism within England and Wales. It focuses on two recent research studies, which focus on the student experience at the margins of legal education and the difficulties that outsider students face in securing access to the profession. The book examines research conducted on the Pivot Legal Society, a not-for-profit legal advocacy and community organization in Vancouver. It presents the first academic analysis of the Society of Trusts and Estates Practitioners (STEP). The book argues that although the Law Society remains heavily constrained by the institutional logics of the field, it retains relevance and influence. Law is now practised by groups, individuals, and in settings, far removed from the core of legal professionalism. The legal profession in England and Wales has faced significant changes since the mid-1980s.
