Legal Career Research Articles

Crisis as opportunity: legal career paths at two historical turning points in Hong Kong

AbstractThis article investigates the career trajectories of Hong Kong solicitors during two historical turning points, specifically 1994–1997 and 2018–2021, when hundreds of lawyers left private practice to pursue alternative career options such as business and finance, government and politics, or relocation to other countries. Data are sourced from the career mobility records of law firm partners reported in 336 monthly issues of the Hong Kong Lawyer journal between 1994 and 2021, as well as other relevant archival sources. The research examines the underlying forces that led these law firm partners to abandon their high-status positions and pursue alternative career paths during these pivotal moments in Hong Kong’s history. The findings suggest that the career trajectories of these elite professionals are not solely based on individual choices but are also shaped by their social origins and the physical and social spaces that influence their careers over time. This study contributes original insights into the complex interplay between individual, spatial and temporal factors that drive career mobility among legal professionals.

Elite career expectations of adolescents: Popularity, gender differences, and social divides.

The supply of elite professionals is crucial for economic development, yet little is understood about the appeal and influencing factors of these careers among young people across different economies. It remains unclear whether adolescents in academically high-performing economies growingly expect emerging technological jobs in response to evolving workforce demands. This research used the Programme for International Student Assessment 2000-2018 data in 24 high-performing educational systems to examine the two-decade trends in adolescents' expectations for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM), medicine, law, business, and teaching careers. The popularity trend of these careers and the major impacts of gender, socioeconomic status, and academic ability were examined with multilevel logistic regression models. The findings indicated that developed economies such as Singapore, Canada, the United States of America, and the United Kingdom have successfully attracted a greater proportion of students to elite careers. In contrast, many high-performing Asian economies, such as Korea, Japan, and Taipei, have not. STEM and medical fields primarily drew students with high math abilities, whereas legal professions attracted those with superior reading skills. Although girls generally expected teaching and legal careers and boys expected STEM fields, social and gender differences have narrowed over the past decades. Many Western developed economies effectively attract a larger share of adolescents to STEM careers than their Asian counterparts. Although gender and social disparities persist, their impact has diminished. Effective human resource planning should be based on each country's unique trends and influencing factors to promote greater equality and inclusion in the workforce.

Lawyer, Littérateur, and Legislator: On Gronemann’s Profession, Self-Perception and Place in Scholarship

Abstract The essay explores the multifaceted career of Sammy Gronemann, emphasizing his overlooked role as a lawyer within the context of his better-known identities as a Zionist and a man of letters. Gronemann’s professional life, particularly his work as a lawyer and judge, is examined in detail, shedding light on his significant contributions to Zionist legal institutions such as the Court of Honor. The paper highlights the evolving trends in scholarly research on Gronemann, which primarily focuses on his literary achievements while neglecting his legal career. Through Gronemann’s own writings and historical documents, the paper delves into his self-perception, revealing a complex interplay between his identities as a lawyer and a writer. Ultimately, it argues that Gronemann’s passion and success spanned across his various roles, challenging conventional categorizations and underscoring the interconnectedness of his legal, literary, and Zionist endeavors.

Bad, mad or both: A legal history of battered woman syndrome

AbstractThe legal struggle for women's right to self‐defence since the feminist mobilisation against violence in the 1970s reveals the startling history of the briefly expanded, and swiftly foreclosed, strategies for battered women's freedom in the late twentieth century. Voluminous legal scholarship focuses on the uses, promises and shortcomings of battered woman syndrome in the courts. But a historical accounting of the development and legal career of battered woman syndrome is essential to contextualising why this defence strategy took such tenacious root in the courtroom after the feminist self‐defence cases of the 1970s and what was lost in the lurch toward a psychological theory of women's protective violence.

Zdeněk Kratochvíl: od občanského zákoníku (1964) k zákonu o soudní rehabilitaci (1968)

This article deals with the life and career of a lesser-known personality of Zdeněk Kratochvíl (1922–2012), a civil servant, legislator, university lecturer and writer who contributed to the formation of the new concept of socialist civil law and other issues related to the fixation of the so-called consolidation of socialist legality and the people’s judiciary according to the requirements of Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. The article looks at Kratochvíl’s legal career among others through the lens of two important contemporary Czechoslovak regulations (the Civil Code of 1964 and the Judicial Rehabilitation Act of 1968) which implementation he personally participated. While the first named statute brought him to the top of his career the second heralded his steep fall.

Using Reflection to Engage with the Affective Domain in Legal Education in the Context of Cultural and Institutional Diversity

In legal education, the affective domain plays a vital role in shaping future lawyers’ professional identities, values and ethical decision-making capabilities. However, law schools in England and Wales face specific challenges in addressing the affective domain successfully in the context of cultural and institutional diversity. These include the predominant emphasis on doctrinal instruction and analytical thinking, neglecting emotional intelligence and ethical development and the emotional demands placed on law students. Law schools must also address implicit biases, combat discrimination and foster a supportive and inclusive environment. To overcome these challenges, law schools can integrate courses addressing the affective domain, offer opportunities for self-reflection, mentorship and peer support and invest in faculty development programmes. Collaboration with the legal profession can also bridge the theory–practice gap. By understanding and addressing these challenges, law schools can equip students with emotional intelligence, empathy and ethical foundations for successful legal careers.

Professional characteristics of board secretaries and litigation risks

This paper selects China's A-share listed companies from 2010 to 2022 as the research sample to investigate the impact of the financial and legal career background of the secretary of the board of directors on the litigation risk of listed companies. It is found that board secretaries with financial career background significantly increase the litigation risk of the company; board secretaries with legal career background significantly reduce the litigation risk of the company; board secretary with a professional background in finance elevates analysts' attention to the company, which in turn increases the company's litigation risk.

The price women attorneys pay for being mothers in South African law firms

AbstractThis paper presents the findings of a study undertaken amongst women attorneys in South Africa, to determine the impact motherhood has on their legal career. The argument is that motherhood is incompatible with the hyper‐competitive male dominant professional culture of the legal profession. The paper employs Edgar Schein's concept of organisational culture and Pierre Bourdieu's concepts of field, habitus and culture to understand how women continue to experience unequal outcome in their careers, despite the removal of formal barriers and the enactment of laws and policies. The concepts further illuminate how and why the male dominant culture of the profession embeds itself and remains one of the hardest elements to change. The study was furthermore underpinned by a feminist standpoint epistemology, interviewing 27 attorneys across three corporate law firms in South Africa. The key findings show that when becoming a mother, many women attorneys experience a disjuncture between their mothering and professional role, which is attributed to the hyper‐competitive culture of the profession. This leads to many women having less successful legal careers which is manifested in different ways. These findings demonstrate how women are perpetually marginalized in the profession and why we continue to see the lack of women in the senior ranks of the profession despite a robust legal and policy framework promoting equality.

A qualitative study on how traditional Yeshiva education prepares students for law school

ABSTRACT This qualitative study explores the potential ways that a traditional Yeshiva education (TYE) helps prepare students for entering and succeeding in law school. The researcher interviewed five rabbi-law professors for their take on this phenomenon and compared the results of those findings with the scholarly literature on the topic to date. Much of that existing scholarly literature focuses on how a Yeshiva education might help students who later switch to law school because of the Yeshiva’s focus on Talmud study, as well as the Yeshiva’s use of the Socratic Method and dyadic Chavrusa study models. To that end, this study sheds light on the various aspects of traditional Yeshiva education that could be beneficial for those pursuing a legal career. The findings demonstrate that there is a broad consensus that Yeshiva education fosters critical thinking and analytical skills through its emphasis on Talmud study, which can be advantageous in comprehending complex legal concepts and arguments. Moreover, exposure to aspects of the law school culture and methodology during Yeshiva education can arguably prepare students for its use by law teachers in law school, contributing to their ability to productively engage in thoughtful and probing discussions.

Can astrology foretell a legal career? A comprehensive exploration of celestial signifiers and natal chart indicators for aspiring lawyers, underpinned by an innovative framework and the pivotal astrological influences of mars and Saturn

Can astrology foretell a legal career? A comprehensive exploration of celestial signifiers and natal chart indicators for aspiring lawyers, underpinned by an innovative framework and the pivotal astrological influences of mars and Saturn

The Administration of Justice: Justice Rosalie Abella’s Contribution to Canadian Administrative Law

Over the course of her impressive legal career, Justice Rosalie Abella has been a champion for the administration of justice – a constitutional paradigm in which the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government all share a fundamental duty to ensure that constitutional principles and values are sustained in practice. Thus, she has repeatedly urged judges to exercise restraint when assessing the legality of administrative decisions because administrative officials have valuable experience and expertise regarding the purposive interpretation of legislation. Understanding this constitutional paradigm helps one to identify unifying themes in Abella J’s administrative law jurisprudence and draw important connections between her work and other leading Canadian jurists like Justices Ivan Rand and Bora Laskin. Moreover, it helps one to distinguish this constitutional paradigm from another formalistic constitutional perspective that perceives the judicial role primarily in terms of maintaining an institutional hierarchy in which judges have an interpretive monopoly to determine the content of the law. While the tension between these two constitutional paradigms is apparent in Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration) v Vavilov, Abella J’s work provides important insights on how to grapple with this tension in a productive and principled manner.

International connections within the national government: Brazilian public legal careers and international circulation (2008–2018)

International connections within the national government: Brazilian public legal careers and international circulation (2008–2018)

Racismo estrutural e cotas nas carreiras jurídicas: a perspectiva decolonial

Abstract This study investigates the effects of the implementation of racial quotas on the representation of black people in the legal sector, based on structural racism as a slave-holding practice of racial discrimination. A qualitative methodology was adopted, with semi-structured interviews and documental analysis of public notices and results of public tenders, with a prediction of racial quotas for legal careers in the state of Rio de Janeiro in the last ten years. Eleven holders of leadership positions in legal careers were selected - prosecutor, judge, attorney, and defender - self-declared black. Based on the interviewees’ perception’, an analysis was made of applying the quota policy in public tenders for legal careers. The results point to evidence of failures in the implementation of this policy, both based on legal provisions and document analysis, and on the respondents’ perceptions. It is concluded that the simple prediction of vacancies was not enough to increase bureaucratic racial diversity and structural racism is one of the impediments to the success of the quota policy.

Structural racism and quotas in legal careers: the decolonial perspective

Resumo O objetivo do estudo foi investigar os efeitos da implementação das cotas raciais na representatividade de negros no setor jurídico, tendo por base o racismo estrutural como prática escravocrata de discriminação racial. Para tanto, adotou-se uma abordagem qualitativa, com a realização de entrevistas semiestruturadas e análise documental dos editais e resultados dos concursos públicos com previsão de cotas raciais para as carreiras jurídicas do estado do Rio de Janeiro nos últimos dez anos. Foram selecionados 11 ocupantes de posições de liderança nas carreiras jurídicas - promotor, juiz, procurador e defensor - autodeclarados negros. Baseando-se na percepção dos entrevistados, realizou-se uma análise da aplicação da política de cotas nos concursos públicos para as carreiras jurídicas. Os resultados apontam evidências de falhas na implementação dessa política, tanto com base nos dispositivos legais e na análise documental, quanto na percepção dos respondentes. Conclui-se que a simples previsão de reserva de vagas não foi suficiente para aumentar a diversidade racial burocrática e que o racismo estrutural é um dos impedimentos para o sucesso da política de cotas.

Legal series and legal careers: Investigating relationships between watching the legal drama Suits and law school enrollment

The paper investigates whether watching legal series leads to law school enroll- ment. First, the study analyses if series consumption is related to enrolling at law school. This is achieved by analyzing data of 1,353 students from Münster, Germany. Hence, lo- gistic regressions are conducted. Thereafter, the odds ratios of studying law are compared for the periods before and after the first broadcasting of the series Suits. Results suggest that watching legal series is highly significantly related to studying law. Moreover, findings indicate that the broadcasting of Suits is followed by a rise in application and enrollment numbers at Münster Law School.

Sacred Socialism

Sacred Socialism

Brian Christopher Jones, Review of Jack Beatson, Key Ideas in Law: The Rule of Law and the Separation of Powers

Perspectives on the UK constitution from prominent former judges have been coming thick and fast as of late.1 John Laws’s posthumous The Constitutional Balance argues for less emphasis on parliamentary sovereignty and more emphasis on a balance of complementary principles.2 Even Lady Hale’s recent memoir, Spider Woman, which details her phenomenal life and legal career, devotes the final chapter to the subject of what the UK Supreme Court is for: to be a guardian of the constitution.3 These works are illuminating, and provide a nuanced perspective on the UK constitution. But Jack Beatson’s recent book is a bit different. While Martin Loughlin has written a short but accessible introduction to the British constitution,4 in many ways Beatson’s latest work could be classified as a brief introduction to the operation of judicial review in the UK. Key Ideas in Law: The Rule of Law and the Separation of Powers provides an eloquent and insightful view of the UK constitution in operation. Whereas The Constitutional Balance is more principled, Beatson’s book provides a realist perspective on how the separation of powers and the rule of law play out in the UK. And unlike Tom Bingham’s classic The Rule of Law,5 Beatson’s book is less focused on articulating how things should operate, and more focused on how things actually operate. Given its alluring title, comparative constitutional law scholars may find it slightly frustrating: although Beatson does at times mention developments in other jurisdictions (at 97), his focus is squarely on how the rule of law and separation of powers function in the United Kingdom. Nevertheless, there is a lot that comparative constitutional law scholars would find of interest, as it sheds light on how fundamental constitutional principles have been upheld without a codified constitution in place.

Postrzeganie przez studentów przesłanek Ruchu na rzecz Prawa Kompleksowego. Raport badawczy

The increasing crisis of the public judiciary, associated with the excessive length of court proceedings, the decline in public confidence in the institution and its excessive formalization, encourages the need to seek alternative methods of conflict resolution. According to the author, the answer to the above is the implementation of an innovative legal movement functioning under the name of Comprehensive Law Movement. The above-mentioned movement is based on the principles of positive influence of law, it promotes the development of internal virtues and at the same time revalorizes therapeutic elements in the process of law practice. In view of the multi-faceted nature of the application and social operation of law, holistic lawyers use a range of tools that constitute the modules of the Comprehensive Law Movement, such as Therapeutic jurisprudence, Procedural justice, Holistic justice, Creative problem solving, Preventive law, Collaborative law, Transformative Mediation, Restorative justice and Problem-solving courts. The development of the Comprehensive Law Movement in Poland and Europe is determined by the involvement of the legal communities, the raising of awareness of alternative methods of dispute resolution and appropriate therapeutically-oriented legal education. In order to study the possibility of implementation of the movement’s elements, research was conducted to examine the potential recipients’ attitudes towards the assumptions of the individual modules. The article describes the methods and presents the results of the conducted social research, with an indication of the influence of legal education and predispositions to perform particular legal careers on the acceptance of the various modules of the Comprehensive Law Movement.

The struggle for marital equality beyond Cold War political divides: transnational relationships between Polish and Spanish women lawyers in the 1960s and 1970s

ABSTRACT This article discusses the transnational relationships between women lawyers from Poland and Spain that developed within the International Federation of Women in Legal Careers (Fédération Internationale des Femmes des Carrières Juridiques, FIFCJ) from the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s. Drawing on archival material and published sources, it traces the history of relations between the Spanish lawyer María Telo Núñez and the Spanish Association of Women Lawyers, and Zofia Wasilkowska and Maria Stypułkowska from the Section of Women Lawyers (Sekcja Kobiet Prawników, SKP) of the League of Women (Liga Kobiet) in Poland. Women lawyers from both countries joined the Federation at the turn of the 1950s and 1960s, and met at international meetings, two of which were held in Warsaw and Madrid. This analysis focuses on the forms and meanings of exchange between these women and their influence on legal changes in civil and family legislation in Poland and Spain during the mid-1970s. Developing a mutual interest in the family law of both countries, these women strategically framed their activity as apolitical. Transnational relationships between lawyers and activists from two contrasting dictatorships reveal the importance of professional networking in overcoming political and ideological divides in the struggle for women’s rights in Cold War Europe.

The Glory and the Sorrow; a Parisian and his World in the Age of the French Revolution

This is a fascinating and tantalizing volume. The letters of Adrien-Joseph Colson in the Archives départementales of the Indre are not a new discovery—a selection was published in French in 1993—but Timothy Tackett has here placed them meticulously into the context of surviving evidence of Colson’s life, demonstrating that he was a far more curious figure than the ‘bourgeois de Paris’ he was dubbed by that previous text. Sixty-two in 1789, Colson had lived a life of intriguing liminality. Never married (Tackett skates gently over a few tiny hints of same-sex interest), Colson had made his way from a possible first vocation as a provincial priest into a long legal career, primarily as the agent for a noble family. Living for decades in a modest apartment on the central Parisian rue des Arcis, his life was a constant round of neighbourhood interactions with the respectable artisans of his building and neighbourhood, walks across the city to consult authorities and pursue proceedings, and mountains of correspondence about his employers’ tortured legal affairs. More than a thousand letters in which this business was mingled with reporting Parisian and national news to his friend and colleague Roch Lemaigre, resident in Berry, form the central corpus of this study.