Editorial Reviews
Review
“A valuable report on the findings of research on a long-neglected segment of the American legal profession. Previous studies of lawyers and organized legal communities focus almost exclusively on metropolitan settings. These studies depict legal communities that are highly stratified into segments of large law firms representing corporations and solo practitioners representing individuals and small businesses. Landon's study, based on interviews with 201 lawyers practicing in 94 rural counties in Missouri and 77 attorneys in the medium-sized city of Springfield, shows important differences between urban and rural lawyers and legal communities in degree of stratification, work tasks performed, social and political value orientations, and reference groups. Much of the data on rural lawyers is skillfully compared to those collected on lawyers in Chicago by J. Heinz and F. Laumann (Chicago Lawyers,). Landon finds rural legal communities to be relatively homogeneous, reflecting the homogeneity of the rural setting. The book offers persuasive evidence showing the intimate ties of rural lawyers to their towns and the conflicts of interest that arise when being an advocate for an individual may involve challenging the norms of the local community. Although repetitious at times, the information constitutes a useful addition to the literature on the US legal profession. Recommended for all undergraduate libraries.”–
“. . . convincingly shows that lawyers do indeed tend to practice very differently depending on how `rural' or `urban' they are.”–
Book Description
The first broad-based study of its kind, this volume focuses on lawyers practicing in small towns and villages in order to determine whether the practicing rural bar is as profoundly shaped by the environment in which it operates as the metropolitan bar has been shown to be in previous studies. Based on interviews with 201 attorneys from 116 different communities, and using comparative data from a metropolitan setting, the author identifies the structuring influences that operate in small-town settings and argues that the rural bar is shaped more by external forces than by the internal logic of the legal doctrine or fields of practice.
Country Lawyers
Country Lawyers,Donald D. Landon,Praeger Publishers,0275930424,Country lawyers,General,Law,Legal Profession,Legal Reference / Law Profession,Practice Of Law,United States,Law / General
English Books:
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