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Trials of Strength: The Reconfiguration of Litigation as a Contested Terrain

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 April 2024

Andy Boon  and
John Flood
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Abstract

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The past 15 years have seen a significant attempt by governments in the United Kingdom to restructure the market for legal services. As a part of this program, in 1992 the English bar finally lost its exclusive jurisdiction over advocacy. Although solicitors could qualify to appear as advocates in the higher courts, few have so done. We explore the perceptions of legal professionals, solicitors, and barristers through a qualitative study. By examining the legal profession as a set of connected but differentiated and competing fields of practice, we show how change resonates with the legal market. We find that institutional coherence and client service vie with the desire to become complete lawyers in the rationale for solicitor advocacy. The identification of institutional constraints on the pursuit of professional hegemony leads us to qualify the proposition that professionals are motivated purely by economic returns or market dominance.

Type
Articles
Information
Law & Society Review , Volume 33 , Issue 3: Changing Employment Statuses in the Practice of Law , 1999 , pp. 595 - 636
Copyright
Copyright © 1999 by the Law and Society Association

Footnotes

The research was funded by a grant from the Lord Chancellor's Advisory Committee for Legal Education and Conduct (ACLEC). We are grateful to the members, and former members, of ACLEC, especially the late Mary Tuck, Kim Economides, Richard Jones, and Lee Bridges. ACLEC is not responsible for any of the views expressed in this article. A number of colleagues contributed to the fieldwork and analysis for which we thank them: Avis Whyte, Eleni Skordaki, Alicia Ash, Tim Anslow, and Robert Abbey. Philip Lewis generously and carefully read a long early draft and made many perceptive comments, most of which found their way in. Hugh Collins also acutely commented on a draft. And we are grateful to the editor and two anonymous reviewers for their assistance. Finally, we thank the lawyers who participated in the research.

References

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