Careers of Misconduct: The Structure of Prosecuted Professional Deviance Among Lawyers

Abstract

We develop a career model of prosecuted misconduct among lawyers. This model combines labeling theory's emphasis on the role of sanctions in structuring deviant careers with a focus on the asynchronic interaction between life cycle changes among precariously positioned actors and system conditions. This conceptualization suggests that complaints of misconduct against inexperienced solo practitioners are more prone to prosecution because of social conceptions and lay theories about lawyer misconduct, perceived threats to the profession's public image, and the relative powerlessness of these lawyers to defend themselves, especially during economic recession. An event history analysis of misconduct complaints against lawyers in a Canadian province confirms that complaints against inexperienced solo practitioners are more likely to move to prosecution during an economic recession. Ourfindings encourage the application of career conceptualizations to other research on deviance.