Lawyers In Private Practice Research Articles

A very short guide to an awful lot

Dr Ulrich Hildebrandt, a lawyer in private practice in Berlin and a lecturer at the Heinrich-Heine-University in Düsseldorf, has had an interesting and useful idea. In this book he has produced a compilation of the case law of the European Court of Justice interpreting the Council Directive 89/104 to approximate the laws of the Member States relating to trade marks (including decisions interpreting the parallel provisions of Council Regulation 40/94 on the Community trade mark). The method adopted by Dr Hildebrandt is to lay out the provisions of the Directive and, after each provision, to set out in a systematic fashion quotations from the relevant paragraphs of each judgment of the Court interpreting that provision. In addition there is an introductory section on general principles. Where an official translation of a judgment is available, it is quoted. Where no official translation is available, Dr Hildebrandt provides his own. When, as...

The 1984 Covenant between the Republic of Italy and the Vatican: A Retrospective Analysis after Fifteen Years

The 1984 Covenant between the Republic of Italy and the Vatican: A Retrospective Analysis after Fifteen Years Get access Mauro Giovannelli Mauro Giovannelli lawyer in private practice in Prato and Florence Italy Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Journal of Church and State, Volume 42, Issue 3, Summer 2000, Pages 529–538, https://doi.org/10.1093/jcs/42.3.529 Published: 01 July 2000

Law, Legal Services, and the Postcommunist Transition in Germany's New Bundesländer

One of the key features that culminated in the collapse of Communism in the late 1980s and early 1990s was a growing demand from within the societies affected that the state and the people be seen as separate, and that there be explicit recognition of the role of civil society—distinct and separate from the state. A key element in this transformation has been the creation and establishment of independent legal systems; the authors analyse the evolution of legal services in Germany's New Bundesländer since 1989, assessing the extent to which access and social justice have been achieved. The analysis is based on data from a survey of lawyers in the former East Germany, which formed the major part of a three-year research project. The authors first look back to the former East Germany and show how independent lawyers ( Rechtsanwälte) were progressively eliminated and marginalised as the Communist state became established, with dire consequences for the creation of an indigenous legal service after unification. In the second section they examine the evolution of the service provided by lawyers in private practice since 1990, concentrating on the growth in numbers, the composition of the profession, and its geographical distribution within the New Bundesländer. Third, attention is directed at changing attitudes to the law and legal services through the eyes of the lawyers who chiefly provide them. The authors conclude that given the magnitude of the task, progress has been encouraging and that very few people in the New Bundesländer are completely denied a local legal service, even if it may not be as attuned to their needs as they would ideally wish.

The Effects of Sexual Harassment on Job Satisfaction, Earnings, and Turnover among Female Lawyers

Using data from the American Bar Association's National Survey of Career Satisfaction/Dissatisfaction (1990), the authors estimate the incidence and impact of sexual harassment in the legal profession. Nearly two-thirds of female lawyers in private practice and nearly half of those in corporate or public agency settings reported either experiencing or observing sexual harassment by male superiors, colleagues, or clients during the two years prior to the survey. Female lawyers who had experienced or observed sexual harassment by male superiors or colleagues reported lower overall job satisfaction than did those who had not, as well as a greater intention to quit. The authors speculate that employers and coworkers may sometimes be able to sexually harass female employees in ways or degrees that are not sanctionable but that induce the victims to quit. Sexual harassment may contribute to an undetermined extent to many aspects of women's employment experience, including absenteeism, turnover, productivity rates and work motivation, job dissatisfaction, and unemployment. —MacKinnon, Sexual Harassment of Working Women

From General Estate to Special Interest: German Lawyers 1878-1933

The history of German lawyers in private practice from 1878 to 1933 helps answer questions about the inability of German liberalism to withstand National Socialism in 1933. Lawyers connect the procedural focus of legal thinking with procedural notions of individual liberties. In Germany they won free entry and self-government for their profession in 1878, thinking that these changes would lead to civic leadership and expanded liberty, but the forces that were unleashed revealed internal tensions and the limits of professional influence. Exaggerated expectations for the legal profession in public life exposed the limitations of procedural liberalism, with tragic consequences for Germany.

A View as to the Profile of a Lawyer in Private Practice

This article presents a view of the qualifications a lawyer in private practice ought to possess, based on the experiences that the author has had in his years in practice and as a Bencher of the Law Society of Alberta. He lists the professional and personal characteristics that the public should expect from a lawyer.

Lawyers' Earnings under Market Growth and Differentiation, 1970-80

The unprecedented rate of growth and changes in the composition of the legal profession in Canada during the 1970s were associated with a 17 percent decline in the average real earnings for lawyers in private practice. The conventional methodology for decomposition of cross-sectional earnings differentials is extended to analyze this intertemporal differential. After taking account of compositional changes and an interactive effect, it is found that the principal factor in this decline was the greater growth in supply than in demand for lawyers' services.

A Comparative Perspective on Legal Professions in the 1980s

The scale of the quantitative changes in the legal profession of the United States described by Curran seems to be not unusual in the Western industrialized world. Many countries have similarly experienced large increases in the absolute number of lawyers, the ratio of lawyers to population, and the proportions of comparatively young and inexperienced lawyers and women lawyers. Nevertheless, the United States remains unusual in its high proportion of lawyers in private practice.

The Korean Lawyer: A Study of Career Development

This study, based on a sample of 134 lawyers in private practice in the Republic of Korea, examines the career profile of the modern Korean lawyer. Korean lawyers generally come from privileged backgrounds; the children of landlords and professionals comprised nearly two-thirds of our sample. The paucity of law firms in Korea has led young lawyers to enter government service for judicial experience before "retiring" to private practice. Consequently the youngest lawyers in private practice are in their thirties, while most are in their fifties. Korean lawyers recognize the need for specialization. However, the tradition of establishing one's position with the help of personal contacts and through judicial experience remains strong, and most of the lawyers in this study still accept cases of all types, even when they might be inclined to specialize. The lawyers in our study are generally quite satisfied with law as a career, presumably due to the high prestige accorded the legal profession and the nature of the work itself.

The proposed Swedish systems of free legal assistance and of compensation to victims of crime.

A project for a new system of free legal aid is considered in Sweden, and a bill was presented to the Riksdag in January 1972. Under the auspices of regional public authorities legal assistance will under the new scheme be provided by public law firms or lawyers in private practice. The costs involved will be wholly or partly financed out of public funds. Only persons with an annual income less than 12000 U.S. dollars will be beneficáries of the system and have in principle themselves to make a contribution to the costs, in relation to income and economic status. The system will in principle be applicable in all legal matters whether or not the case is brought before a court, a tribunal or an administrative authority, but professional business activities are excluded from the scope of the system, and legal aid may be denied where the applicant's claim is manifestly ill-founded. Since July 1971 a new system for compensation for personal injury to victims of crime is in force in Sweden. In principle, compensation will be paid only where the circumstances are socially and economically particularly distressing, and there is no guarantee, that full and adequate compensation will be paid. Only claims exceeding 60 U.S. dollars will be considered and amounts exceeding 10000 U.S. dollars will normally not be paid. Compensation for moral damage will be paid only in exceptional cases. The system is administered by the Ministry of Justice, and the total amount available during the first fiscal year is 200000 U.S. dollars.