Lawyers in Society The Common Law World

In this reprint from 1988, Abel (law, U. of California, Los Angeles) and Lewis (Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, Oxford, UK) put together eight chapters in which contributors, who are sociology and law professors from around the world, each describe the law profession in their respective countries: Canada, the US, Scotland, England and Wales, Australia, New Zealand, and India. These common law countries and their law professions are analyzed in terms of economics, political science, history, and sociology, with examinations of entry into law, the social organization, professional associations, education, demographics, attitudes towards lawyers, stratification within the profession, controlling the production of lawyers, the development of institutions, and class. The volume includes a supplementary bibliography to this edition. The book is a companion to Lawyers in Society: The Civil Law World and Lawyers in Society: Comparative Theories, which are results of the Working Group for Comparative Study of Legal Professions, created by the Research Committee of Sociology of Law, part of the International Sociological Association. Most of the chapters were presented in different versions at a meeting at the Villa Serbelloni, the Rockefeller Foundation's Conference Center in Bellagio, Italy in July of 1984. Annotation ©2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)