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Deregulating the legal profession will benefit society by improving access to legal services and the efficacy of public policies. Lawyers dominate a judicial system that has come under fire for limiting access to its services to primarily the most affluent members of society. Lawyers also have a pervasive influence throughout other parts of government. This is the first book offering a critical comprehensive overview of the legal profession's role in failing to serve the majority of the public and in contributing to the formation of inefficient public policies that reduce public welfare. In Trouble at the Bar, the authors use an economic approach to provide empirical support for legal reformers who are concerned about their own profession. The authors highlight the adverse effects of the legal profession's self-regulation, which raises the cost of legal education, decreases the supply of lawyers, and limits the public's access to justice to the point where, in general, only certified lawyers can execute even simple contracts. At the same time, barriers to entry that limit competition create a closed environment that inhibits valid approaches to analyzing and solving legal problems that are at the heart of effective public policy. Deregulating the legal profession, the authors argue, would allow more people to provide a variety of legal services without jeopardizing their quality, reduce the cost of those services, spur competition and innovation in the private sector, and increase the quality of lawyers who pursue careers in the public sector. Legal practitioners would enjoy more fulfilling careers, and society in general and its most vulnerable members in particular would benefit greatly.
By any measure, the law as a profession is in serious trouble. Americans' trust in lawyers is at a low, and many members of the profession wish they had chosen a different path. Law schools, with their endlessly rising tuitions, are churning out too many graduates for the jobs available. Yet despite the glut of lawyers, the United States ranks 67th (tied with Uganda) of 97 countries in access to justice and affordability of legal services. The upper echelons of the legal establishment remain heavily white and male. Most problematic of all, the professional organizations that could help remedy these concerns instead jealously protect their prerogatives, stifling necessary innovation and failing to hold practitioners accountable. Deborah Rhode's The Trouble with Lawyers is a comprehensive account of the challenges facing the American bar. She examines how the problems have affected (and originated within) law schools, firms, and governance institutions like bar associations; the impact on the justice system and access to lawyers for the poor; and the profession's underlying difficulties with diversity. She uncovers the structural problems, from the tyranny of law school rankings and billable hours to the lack of accountability and innovation built into legal governance-all of which do a disservice to lawyers, their clients, and the public. The Trouble with Lawyers is a clear call to fix a profession that has gone badly off the rails, and a source of innovative responses.
A noble profession is facing its defining moment. From law schools to the prestigious firms that represent the pinnacle of a legal career, a crisis is unfolding. News headlines tell part of the story—the growing oversupply of new lawyers, widespread career dissatisfaction, and spectacular implosions of pre-eminent law firms. Yet eager hordes of bright young people continue to step over each other as they seek jobs with high rates of depression, life-consuming hours, and little assurance of financial stability. The Great Recession has only worsened these trends, but correction is possible and, now, imperative. In The Lawyer Bubble, Steven J. Harper reveals how a culture of short-term thinking has blinded some of the nation’s finest minds to the long-run implications of their actions. Law school deans have ceded independent judgment to flawed U.S. News & World Report rankings criteria in the quest to maximize immediate results. Senior partners in the nation’s large law firms have focused on current profits to enhance American Lawyer rankings and individual wealth at great cost to their institutions. Yet, wiser decisions—being honest about the legal job market, revisiting the financial incentives currently driving bad behavior, eliminating the billable hour model, and more—can take the profession to a better place. A devastating indictment of the greed, shortsightedness, and dishonesty that now permeate the legal profession, this insider account is essential reading for anyone who wants to know how things went so wrong and how the profession can right itself once again.
Who can forget the terror of a new job? Entering an unfamiliar world, with unknown expectations, is a nerve-wracking experience. In law, the new attorney is tackling not only a new job but also a very new, very different, and exceptionally stress-filled professional life...and mountains of student debt. Each year, tens of thousands of new law graduates enter an already saturated job market...yet many are ill-prepared for survival in an ever more unforgiving, fast-paced profession. As law students, you're offered a wide array of guidebooks to succeed in law school, to excel in law exams, and to pass the bar exam. Upon entering the real world of law, however, you're are pushed back into a dark, dangerous jungle. The Young Lawyer's Jungle Book will be your guide to help you find your way to safety and career success.
"Burke drills deep into America's unique culture of litigation and is rewarded with a powerful insight: it is not the public or even lawyers that are so darn litigious, but American law itself. This meticulous, dispassionate book stands not only to advance the debate but—I hope—to reshape it."—Jonathan Rauch, author of Government's End: Why Washington Stopped Working "Lawyers, Lawsuits, and Legal Rights is a fascinating study of the American penchant for public policies that rely on lawsuits to get things done. Burke's analysis is insightful and original. This book compellingly shows that litigious policies have deep roots in our Constitution, culture, and politics."—Charles Epp, author of The Rights Revolution: Lawyers, Activists, and Supreme Courts in Comparative Perspective "Burke's authoritative book demonstrates that the highly litigious American system is not an isolated anomaly but in fact fits in with deeply-rooted elements of American political culture. Where citizens of other countries rely on expert or bureaucratic judgment to resolve disputes, Americans turn to the courts. Equally novel and compelling, Lawyers, Lawsuits, and Legal Rights marshals an impressive set of evidence and delivers a refreshingly well-written look at the state of American litigation."—Frank R. Baumgartner, co-author of Agendas and Instability in American Politics
Lawyers Crossing Lines is a collection of true stories about lawyers from all segments of the legal profession who transgressed ethical boundaries. Most of them ended up being sanctioned by their state Bar, sued for malpractice, prosecuted, or some combination of all three. All of the cases are rich in detail, many are bizarre, and in a few the attorney's conduct is so outrageous as to stretch the reader's credulity. Each tale is followed by comments and questions designed to explore the issues in greater depth. This diminutive but captivating volume is intended as a supplemental text for students in professional responsibility courses at American law schools. It can also be used as the foundation for an advanced seminar in ethics. It is based on the proposition that, although the rules of professional responsibility are, of course, of supreme importance, sometimes the study of them can be monotonous and dry. More important, students--none of whom have been in law practice and most of whom have never been out in the working world--often find it hard to believe that the rules can be so easily and egregiously broken. These real world scenarios bring the ethical quandaries faced in everyday legal practice to life. The stories come from all segments of the legal profession and make fascinating and memorable reading. No other book on the market takes this narrative approach, making this an important and unique contribution to the field.
A broad, comprehensive foray into the debate about the legal crisis, written by one of the most respected and authoritative scholars of the legal profession.
This book provides examples of innovative and successful business models from remade law firms to inspire change that goes beyond thinking and planning, and leads straight to implementing change and better client service.
This collection explores developments in the regulation of legal services by examining the control of the markets in several key countries and in jurisdictions within countries. The contributions consider emerging adjustments in regulatory structures and methods; examine the continuing role, if any, of professionals and how this may be changing; and speculate on the future of legal services regulation in each jurisdiction. The introductory and concluding chapters draw together similarities, differences and conclusions regarding directions of change in the regulation of legal services. They consider the emergence of alternatives to professionalism as a means of regulating legal services and some implications for the rule of law.