The re-landscaping of the legal profession

Large law firms and professional re-regulation

Bibliographic Data

ID2305591
AuthorsJ Flood (0000-0003-3490-0157, Griffith University, corresponding author)
Year2011
Volume59
Issue4
Pages507-529
Publication date2011-07-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueCurrent Sociology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0011-3921 • E-ISSN: 1461-7064
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0011392111402725
OpenAlexW2096095380
LanguageEN
Citations received18
References cited45

The size and scope of global law firms has made them difficult to encompass within a single regulatory jurisdiction. As the UK government sought to take control of the legal profession and market by removing self-regulation and introducing external regulation under the Legal Services Act, the large law firms were able to countermand the new regime. Through a combination of associations like CityUK, the City of London Law Society, as well as through individual firms, large law firms lobbied successfully to reinstate a new form of self-regulation known as AIR. The elites of the legal profession constructed a new logic of professionalism that accorded with the firms' ideologies and government's market-oriented objectives. Further attempts to consolidate their position at the EU and at the GATS levels are still in negotiation. Despite the legal market shifting to a more diffuse combination of actors, of which lawyers are only a segment, elite law firms have apparently strengthened their hold

Business · Discretion · Individualism · Landscaping · Law and economics · Legal Ethics · Legal profession · Political science · Professional Conduct · Professional responsibility · Sociology · Artificial Intelligence in Law · Law · Legal Education and Practice Innovations · Occupational and Professional Licensing Regulation

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