The Organization of lawyers' Work: Size, Intensity, and Co-Practice of the Fields of Law |
| |
| Authors: | Edward O Laumann John P Heinz |
| |
| Institution: | Edward O. Laumann;is Professor of Sociology and Director of the Center for Social Organization Studies, University of Chicago, and Affiliated Scholar, American Bar Foundation. A.B., Oberlin College, 1960;Ph.D., Harvard University, 1964. John P. Heinz;is Professor of Law, Northwestern University, and Research Attorney, American Bar Foundation. A.B., Washington University, St. Louis, 1958;LL.B., Yale Law School, 1962. |
| |
| Abstract: | Using data from personal interviews with 777 Chicago lawyers, constituting a random cross section of the urban bar, the authors estimate the relative volumes of effort devoted to each of several fields of law, analyze the degree to which practitioners specialize in fields or groups of fields, and examine the patterns of co-practice of the fields. They find that the total effort of the Chicago bar is about evenly divided between work for corporate clients and work for individual clients. They also suggest that, while relatively few lawyers are highly specialized to a particular doctrinal area of the law, most are specialized to the service of the needs of a particular type of client. Exploring possible implications of their findings, the authors speculate that lawyers who are specialized to clients rather than to substantive fields may lack the incentive to devote their resources to the rationalization of legal doctrine. |
| |
| Keywords: | |
|
|
