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SOCIALIZING THE LEGAL PROFESSION: Can Redistributing Lawyers' Services Achieve Social Justice?
Author(s) -
ABEL RICHARD L.
Publication year - 1979
Publication title -
law and policy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.534
H-Index - 45
eISSN - 1467-9930
pISSN - 0265-8240
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9930.1979.tb00179.x
Subject(s) - redistribution (election) , subsidy , politics , legal service , legal profession , socialization , economic justice , political science , law , principal (computer security) , social justice , sociology , law and economics , social science , computer science , operating system
Redistributing laywers' services is a principal focus of efforts to reform contemporary legal systems. Such reforms generally attempt to modify the market distribution in oneof two ways: by subsidizing lawyers for the unrepresented, or by rendering lawyers unnecessary through deprofessionalization. This essay analyzes the contribution that redistribution could make to social (rather than formal) justice by extrapolating the consequences of the greatest conceivable redistribution: a socialization of the profession that would withdraw lawyers from those who presently purchase lawyers' services, while simultaneously subsidizing lawyers for the unrepresented. It then turns to the political prospects forsocialization. Concluding that socialization appears either feasible nor likely to attainsocial justice if it were possible, the essay reflects on the implications of continued pursuit of reformist goals.