SOC293H1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Cultural Capital, Social Capital, Social Reproduction
Lecture 8: Legal Profession
What do lawyer do? Where do they work?
Law firms (defence lawyers) – how do they function?
- Can be an individual lawyer who work for themselves
- Smaller firms (5) criminal, family, etc that are organized together because it costs money to have office
- 100-1000 lawyers have pyramid structure
In house counsel – inside counsel, general counsel
- Lawyers working for corporations (Microsoft)
- These would be business transactions not crimes, etc
Government
- Policy
- Prosecutors, judges
Public interest
Law professors
Two hemisphere
Heinz and Laumann’s Two Hemispheres – there isn’t a single legal profession (at least two professions)
- Defines by the types of clients lawyers serve:
Personal vs corporate
Personal tends to be done by smaller firms and large corporations by larger firms
- This is related to a whole set of other factors:
Different settings in which layers work (small/solo vs. larger firm)
Different kinds of legal work (securities, corporate, tax vs. wills, family criminal)
Characteristics of the lawyers (religion – anglosaxon were business and jew & catholics more individual,
law school attended)
Transformations
Increase in the number of lawyers starting in the 1950s
Majority of lawyers in 1950 worked in solo practice, by 1991 only 33%
4.6% of lawyers in 1951 were associates compared to 14% in 1991
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- Associates – employee of a law firm
Growth of “private employment” – inside counsel
- Globalization, growth in service economy has fed growth of inside counsel AND in law firm itself
Mega Lawyering
What is a mega firm? Firm with 1000s of lawyers
Growth of mega firms – over 50 to 50-500+ and are not global
Revisiting how large firms work – pyramid structure, associate to partner tournament, billable hours
- The lawyers own the law firms who are small group and so need employees
- Bring in more lawyers of support (younger associates, legal secretaries)
- Associates promoted to senior associates and keeps going – pyramid structure
- Billable hours – lawyers charge clients for their time (account for their time every 6 mins)
Cravat system
Hired associates from prestigious law schools because we are elite. Firms grew by promoting associates to
partner rather than hiring from the outside (grew their own men)
Firms primarily represented large corporations
Emphasized office work, not litigation (paper works not about going to court)
Used office technology
Relied on law books and case reports – entrenched system for other firms to angulate
Problems – who gets to be partner? 25 associates, very few become partners
- Partner-associate pyramid – primarily men who are WHITE
Why work in a large law firm?
1. Money
- Toronto vs US (more starting salary in US)
- Salaries peak for those who are working in larger firms
2. You work 60+ hours per week for private big firms
What does it take to get a large firm job?
Grades
- Low GPA you can start with non profit or educational law firms (solo)
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Can be an individual lawyer who work for themselves. Smaller firms (5) criminal, family, etc that are organized together because it costs money to have office. In house counsel inside counsel, general counsel. These would be business transactions not crimes, etc. Heinz and laumann"s two hemispheres there isn"t a single legal profession (at least two professions) Defines by the types of clients lawyers serve: Personal tends to be done by smaller firms and large corporations by larger firms. This is related to a whole set of other factors: Different settings in which layers work (small/solo vs. larger firm) Different kinds of legal work (securities, corporate, tax vs. wills, family criminal) Characteristics of the lawyers (religion anglosaxon were business and jew & catholics more individual, law school attended) Increase in the number of lawyers starting in the 1950s. Majority of lawyers in 1950 worked in solo practice, by 1991 only 33%
