I owe a debt of gratitude, and apology, to Michael J. Kelly, who sent me his recent book, Lives of Lawyers Revisited: Transformation and Resilience in the Organizations of Practice, some time ago. Through no fault of his, I have neglected to mention the book yet on the blog. Let me remedy that by saying that Kelly’s book is a rich and interesting read and should be of interest to any student or sociologist of law and legal practice. His book’s summary of its theme, and its endorsers, say it better than I can:
The past two decades have seen profound changes in the legal profession. Lives of Lawyers Revisited extends Michael Kelly’s work in the original Lives of Lawyers, offering unique insights into the nature of these changes, examined through stories of five extraordinarily varied law practices. By placing the spotlight on organizations as phenomena that generate their own logic and tensions, Lives of Lawyers Revisited speaks to the experience of many lawyers and anticipates important issues on the professional horizon.
“Michael Kelly believes that professional values and conduct are not realized in codes, but in the experiences of practice, and that practice draws its routines and ideals from organizations. Through his studies of lawyers in various firms, closely observed and sympathetically described, Kelly reveals how differently organizations adapt to the intense pressures of today’s practice environment. His method of linking individual life-experiences to organizational strategies and the external constraints of competition and client demands infuses realism and richness into the concept of professionalism and makes this one of the most interesting and original books on professions and professionalism to appear in years.” —Robert W. Gordon, Yale Law School
“In his two volumes of Lives of Lawyers, Michael Kelly explores legal ethics in an unusual, and unusually rewarding, way. Rather than focusing on rules or arguments, Kelly looks at the kind of lives lawyers lead. Ethics, Socrates thought, is about how to live one’s life, and Kelly takes the Socratic question to heart. He explores the institutions lawyers work in and the choices they make. He writes with intelligence, great insight, and above all with heart. This is a superb book.”
—David Luban, Georgetown University
Highly recommended. My apologies, Michael, for the delay in promoting a fine book.
Posted by Paul Horwitz on July 3, 2008 at 12:21 PM
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Tracked on Jul 3, 2008 2:45:33 PM