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"This book is about the role of lawyers in constructing a just society. Its central objective is to provide a deeper understanding of the relationship between lawyers' commercial aims and public aspirations. Drawing on interdisciplinary and comparative perspectives, it explores whether lawyers can transcend self-interest to meaningfully contribute to systems of political accountability, ethical advocacy and distributional fairness. Its contributors, some of the world's leading scholars of the legal profession, offer evidence that although justice is possible, it is never complete. Ultimately, how much - and what type of - justice prevails depends on how lawyers respond to, and reshape, the political and economic conditions in which they practise. As the essays demonstrate, the possibility of justice is diminished as lawyers pursue self-regulation in the service of power; it is enhanced when lawyers mobilize - in the political arena, workplace and law school - to contest it"--

THIS STUDY CONFIRMS AND ENLARGES UPON A PARTIAL EXPLANATION OF THE DOMINANCE OF LAWYERS IN AMERICAN POLITICS: THAT LAWYERS ARE ADVANTAGED BY HAVING SKILLS WHICH GIVE THEM A MONOPOLY OVER ONE IMPORTANT ROUTE OF ADVANCEMENT-THE CLUSTER OF OFFICES RELATED TO THE JUDICIAL SYSTEM. THIS ARTICLE USES DATA FROM INTERVIEWS CONDUCTED IN 1957 WITH STATE LEGISLATORS ON THEIR POLITICAL CAREERS.

In the wake of the devaluation of the Russian ruble in 1998 and the resulting flight of foreign investment, which was exacerbated by allegations of massive corruption and capital flight at the highest levels of government in 1999, the question of an appropriate role for the United States in helping Russia to establish an environment able to attract and retain foreign and domestic capital, to maintain a viable globally integrated market-based economic system, and to create a stable civil society, is under discussion. The authors believe that a viable market economy will not flourish in Russia until a more stable legal environment, based on the rule of law, is in place. No fully developed economy currently exists that is not firmly rooted in the rule of law. However, the focus of U.S. aid should support the rule of law not merely as a necessary, indeed essential, support to business, but also as a pre-condition to the development of a civil society. In recent years, United States law-based assistance to Russia has been based principally on the training of judges and the provision of computer technology through various aid programs. The United States has also made scholarships available to Russian lawyers, enabling them to pursue Master of Laws' degrees in the United States. When and if these lawyers return home, most practice law in Western law firms or are employed in international joint ventures. An increasing number have begun to seek employment outside Russia as that country's economy spirals downward. By 2000 virtually no programs provide the opportunity for undergraduate law students those who, unlike Russian lawyers, must return in order to complete their legal education and obtain their credentials to study in the United States. This article takes note of Russia's unmet need for well-trained lawyers who fully understand the critical importance of the rule of law to the development of Russia's economic system and civil society. The article also describes Russia's system of legal education and university ...

Lawyers advertise to attract clients. Politicians advertise to attract voters. Businesses advertise to attract customers. All of these advertisers advertise with a common subtext: choose me, because I'm better than the rest. Hire me, vote for me, buy my product, and good things will happen. The message may be blunt, explicit, direct, linear. But often it is not. The bludgeon is not the tool of choice in modem mass advertising. The message, more commonly, is presented with subtlety, often merely suggested, often presented with indirection, irony, camp, or comedy. Information as such is not the point. The stuff of modern advertising is not information, but imagery. Advertisers sell imagery. The honest politician, compassionate for the common man and tough as nails on crime. The enterprising business, primed for the technologies of the new millennium, creative, responsive, ready and able to serve the customer's needs. And the lawyer, tough and aggressive, able to stand up to insurance companies and fight for the rights of the injured and wronged.

"Intellektuelle in strategisch relevanten Positionen als oppositionelle und kritische Sozialwissenschaftler bzw. Kulturschaffende oder reformorientierte Parteimitglieder und technokratische Manager bzw. Bürokraten haben sich in unterschiedlichen Handlungskonstellationen am demokratischen Übergang beteiligt und zur Konstituierung einer politischen Öffentlichkeit beigetragen. Insofern sie Bildung von Bürgerbewegungen und neuen Parteien beeinflußt haben, gehören sie nach den ersten parlamentarischen Gründungswahlen zu den neuen politischen Eliten der postsozialistischen Länder. Der damit eingeleitete Perspektivenwechsel von zivilgesellschaftlich orientierten Bürgerbewegungen zur Elitendemokratie hat aktuelle Kontroversen unter Beteiligten wir externen Beobachtern u.a. über den Verfassungspartriotismus als Ausweg ausgelöst. Über den Vorwurf des Elitismus wird leicht vergessen, daß diesem einmalig institutionalisierten Rekrutierungskanal für den politischen Elitenwechsel unter Bedingungen der sich selbstbeschränkenden, ausgehandelten oder sanften Revolutionen eine richtungsweisende Bedeutung für die pluralistische Strukturierung des Politischen wie auch für die Geltung des Rechts zukommt. Die anfängliche und von Szelenyi konstatierte Dominanz der teleologischen Intelligenz mit ihren traditionellen osteuropäischen Vorlieben für Gesellschaftsentwürfe bildet den notwendigen politischen Rahmen für die Einführung der Marktwirtschaft und die unvermeidliche 'Selbsthinüberrettung' der ehemaligen Nomenklatura und der Spezialisten. Wo dieser politische Systemwechsel - wie z.B. in Rußland - ausgeblieben ist, verlagert sich das strategische Gewicht der Transformation zugunsten der manageriellen und bürokratischen Elitegruppen aus spätsozialistischer Zeit, die ihr positionales, kulturelles und ökonomisches Kapital ohne politische Kontrolle und unter Bedingungen der Rechtsunsicherheit für regionale Wirtschaftsinteressen und korporatistische Einflußnahmen im ungewissen Prozeß der Staatenneubildung einsetzen. Wenn gelegentlich in Ostmitteleuropa die bloße Modifikation der ehemals sozialistischen Verfassungen während des Übergangs kritisiert wird, so ist auf die Konsensbildungsprozesse in der politischen Öffentlichkeit nach 1989 zu verweisen, die möglicherweise verfassungsgebende und erneut polarisierende Akte überflüssig machen könnten, wenn sie die Rechtssicherheit und die soziale Akzeptanz von Verfassungsgerichtsbarkeit stützen. Neue Verfassungen wären ohnehin nicht geeignet, die Rekrutierung ökonomisch erfolgreicher Gruppen zu beeinflussen, die inmitten von ungleichzeitigen und vielschichtigen Reproduktionsstrukturen agieren, deren gesamtgesellschaftliche Koordination allerdings des Rechtes bzw. der Legalität bedarf. Neue Verfassungen könnten allenfalls dazu dienen, das - etwa in Polen - virulent gebliebene Verhältnis zwischen Präsidial- und parlamentarischer Demokratie auszubalancieren bzw. einvernehmliche Staatenauflösungsprozesse - wie im Falle der Tschechoslowakei - zu begleiten. Als Gegenbeispiel möge Rußland herangezogen werden, dessen neue Verfassung eine autoritäre und zentralistische Dominanz gegenüber den Regionen zu behaupten versucht." (Autorenreferat)

AbstractThis paper investigates how individuals such as judges, lawyers, clients, and court staffers as well as institutions are elevating litigation costs in Bangladesh in multiple ways. It explores how the existing law and procedures as well as key institutions further promote case delay. It also examines the ways in which police departments and the prosecution contribute to elongate criminal trials and invite additional litigation costs. Empirical data collected through in-depth interviews are analyzed, drawing propositions to individuals' contributions to delay in case-processing time and hike up litigation costs. Data analysis also assesses common people's perceptions and expectations from the justice sector. Contemporary legal research has been critically analyzed, where needed.

Financial Crime and Knowledge Workers examines the role of lawyers in court cases involving white-collar crimes, revealing fresh insights into the relationship between a lawyer''s stature and a case''s potential verdict