Keeping the Law Up to Date: The Idiom of Legalism and the Reform of Administrative Law in England and Wales

The political effectiveness of legal expertise in the United States has rested on the ability of a peak association to present itself as representing the opinion of the profession as a whole. It has also relied on a broad epistemology in which lawyers claim to know the right thing to do. However, the effectiveness and placement of such expertise is a comparative issue. This article argues that organizations other than peak associations can muster the support required for legitimacy in the modem state. The legal profession's epistemology could lead it to narrow rather than broaden its claims in order to effectively claim expertise in something. The ability of the central state to shape a profession's mandate and to reject its advice will also influence the deployment of legal expertise. The article explores these issues in the context of the reform of administrative law in England and Wales. In England and Wales, an expertise-based commission mimicked the processes expected of a peak association. In anticipation of rejection by the central administration, it constrained rather than broadened its policy recommendations.