The authors look at how divorce lawyers actually work to address the question of legal professionalism in practice. Through a detailed and systematic study of legal practice at the micro level, they show how lawyers create their own controls over work through their social relationships, formal and informal norms, common knowledge, and shared values. While much of the research on legal professionalism centers on the formal standards of the bar as reflected in codes of professional responsibility, Mather et al. show how the discretionary judgments that lawyers make, and the choices they face, are actually understood in relation to norms and standards of other lawyers with whom they interact or compare themselves.
Reviews
"This book adds significant insights into the body of knowledge about how lawyers are influenced by one another through different communities of legal practice. It will become a classic 'must read' for all students of professionalism and socio-legal scholarship."--Canadian Journal of Law and Society "An outstanding contribution to our understanding of the effects of context on lawyers' practice."--Buffalo Law Review "An outstanding contribution to our understanding of the effects of context on lawyers' practice."--Buffalo Law Review "This book adds significant insights into the body of knowledge about how lawyers are influenced by one another through different communities of legal practice. It will become a classic 'must read' for all students of professionalism and socio-legal scholarship." --Canadian Journal of Law and Society "All in all, this book deserves wide readership among all sociologists with an interest in professional work, not just those with a specialist concern for law and lawyering." - - American Journal of Sociology "Mather, McEwen, and Maiman have produced a splendid book, persuasive in its arguments and a pleasure page by page." - -Contemporary Sociology "This is a fine book. It is clearly written, concise, and packed with useful insights into the professional life and values of practitioners of divorce law. It deserves to be read by scholars of family law and by sociologists of work and the professions." - - Contemporary Sociology Divorce Lawyers at Work offers a rich, vivid account of the changing nature of family law practice. It will be invaluable to those interested in understanding the legal profession and the operation of the legal system, warts and all, in one of the most emotionally fraught legal arenas. It also would be an excellent companion to anyone suffering the travails of divorce--and an accurate (if sometimes unflattering) mirror of the lawyers who represent them."--Richard E. Abel, Connell Professor of Law, UCLA This is, first of all, a suburb study of one segment of the practicing bar--divorce lawyers--but it also addresses a host of questions about the meaning of professionalism and the contemporary tensions within the practice of law. Every scholar of the legal profession must read this book. It will also be of immense interest to almost every practicing lawyer, and, indeed, to students trying to find out what the real practice of law is all about."--Sanford Levinson, University of Texas Law School How do the demands and expectations of divorcing people in the U.S. intersect with the practice of divorce lawyers? This book offers a learned answer to a question that has occupied much speculation. We now have a comprehensive study to inform our relentless desire to understand how legal practice constitutes the demise of marriage."--Christine Harrington, Associate Professor of Law and Society, New York University "Mather, McEwen, and Maiman have written an invaluable book for scholars and practitioners alike. Everyday, divorce lawyers face conflicts about how to balance contending demands from clients, colleagues, and courts. In this thoughtful, probing, and important book, the authors demonstrate that the norms of professional collegiality are alive and well--if in multiple and complicated ways."--Carroll Seron, author of The Business of Practicing Law: The Work Lives of Solo and Small-Firm Attorneys "This topic is of great interest to not only those concerned with the practice of law, but also with broader social welfare interests in the management of the divorce process, and with a sociological interest in the development and pressures on the legal profession. The authors are in the first rank in their field, and write with clarity and authority. Their book is an important contribution to the field."--Mavis Maclean, Director, Oxford Center for Family Law Policy



Book Information
ISBN 9780195145168
Author Lynn Mather
Format Paperback
Page Count 256
Imprint Oxford University Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
Weight(grams) 374g
Dimensions(mm) 147mm * 226mm * 18mm