The business of law : social, economic and ethical perspectives on lawyers and legal services

Legal Services around the world, but particularly in England and Wales, are undergoing a profound change. Commercial pressures have increased. Regulatory structures are changing. Innovation has begun to bite. Traditional paradigms of professionalism and lawyering are challenged by new entrants and more assertive regulators. Consumer power is on the rise. The impact on the quality, price and ethicality of lawyering needs serious scrutiny. Law students, policy makers and practitioners need to understand that inquiry. This book aims to document and explore the dynamics of law as a business.

It will provide extensive commentary and materials on the developing market for legal services in England and Wales. It will include a set of conceptual and evidence-based materials to help law students and other readers understand the evolution of that marketplace. It will take a law and society approach to lawyers combining empirical, policy and ethical perspectives. It is aimed in particular at undergraduate and postgraduate courses on lawyers, legal ethics, and lawyers in society. It would work with embedded and standalone courses.

It will be of interest to legal systems courses as well as legal ethics courses and to others seeking to understand the brave new world of legal services after the Legal Services Act 2007. There is considerable interest in these reforms outside of the UK by educators, lawyers and regulators.