Social Mobility and the Legal Profession

<p>This book will be crucial reading for students across a variety of disciplines. A broadly socio-legal text, using a mixed-methods design combining grounded theory with an in-depth case study, this research explores a rarely-seen facet of the legal profession. Sociologists studying the practical effect of sociological concepts from theorists such as Bourdieu and Weber; those studying the legal profession from the sociological, law or psychological angles; anyone examining elite professions; management students examining the operation of professional associations and the ways in which these mobilise to take action on controversial topics; those studying the role and creation of outreach: all will find something of interest in this monograph. For those within the legal profession itself it also provides a look into an oft-hidden world: that of the English Bar. A notoriously secretiveprofession, traditional, elite and suspicious of research – the case study evaluatingan outreach programme sheds light on how this fascinating world operates when trying to engage in progressive steps. Through the eyes of a professional association seeking to improve socio-economic diversity in the profession through instituting an access programme focussed on work experience, it examines not just how professional association action may succeed or fail, but why.</p><p></p><p>With foreword by Lord Neuberger, former President of the Supreme Court and Chair of the Working Party on Entry to the Bar.</p> <p>1. Social mobility and the professions in the 21st Century 2. Social mobility and the legal profession – getting in and getting on 3. Conceptualising professional associations – powerful or power-hungry? 4. Values, attachment and professional associations 5. The importance of individuals within professional associations 6. Transformative action for social mobility: Radical innovation or maintenance of status quo? 7. Wider constraints on interventions by professional associations: Challenges within and challenges without? 8. Putting theory into practice – general themes for access schemes 9. Conclusions and postscript </p>