Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
|
Your cart is empty |
|||
Books > Law > Jurisprudence & general issues > Legal profession
How does one become a member of an elite profession? Managing Elites examines how elites-in-training contest, rationalize and ultimately enthusiastically embrace their dominant positions in society. Using interviews with 79 law and MBA students, the author argues that elite socialization requires both accommodation and resistance to professional ideologies. Students develop a collective cynicism about elements of their education, learning that their discipline imparts esoteric knowledge - but also claiming that they didn't learn anything. They struggle with the idea that fellow students are all equally intelligent and therefore deserving of elite status, and the continuing emphasis on activities that sort students. Students resist that paths to success promoted by school cultures-investment banking, consulting, or becoming partner in a large law firm. Such cynicism is indeed ultimately revealed to be temporary, as most students end up in full support of these 'jobs of least resistance'. Their critiques do, however, create tensions: between competition and cooperation, between the individual and the collective, and between egalitarianism and elitism. Part of elite socialization is learning to deal with these tensions, or more specifically, to hold contradictory ideals at the same time.
Trial by jury is one of the most important aspects of the U.S. legal system. A reflective look at how juries actually function brings out a number of ethical questions surrounding juror conduct and jury dynamics: Do citizens have a duty to serve as jurors? Might they seek exemptions? Is it acceptable for jurors to engage in after-hours research? Might a juror legitimately seek to "nullify" the outcome to express disapproval of the law? Under what conditions might jurors make a valid choice to hold out against or capitulate to their fellow jurors? Is it acceptable to form alliances? After trial, are there problems with entering into publishing contracts? Unfortunately, questions such as these have received scant attention from scholars. This book revives attention to these and other issues of jury ethics by collecting new and insightful essays along with responses from leading scholars in the field of jury studies. Is it acceptable for jurors to engage in after-hours research? Might a juror legitimately seek to "nullify" the outcome to express disapproval of the law? After trial, are there problems with entering into publishing contracts? Unfortunately, questions such as these have received scant attention from scholars. This book revives attention to these and other issues of jury ethics by collecting new and insightful essays along with responses from leading scholars in the field of jury studies. Contributors: Jeffrey Abramson, B. Michael Dann, Shari Seidman Diamond, Norman J. Finkel, Paula Hannaford-Agor, Valerie P. Hans, Julie E. Howe, Nancy J. King, John Kleinig, James P. Levine, Candace McCoy, G. Thomas Munsterman, Maureen O'Connor, Steven Penrod, Alan W. Scheflin, Neil Vidmar
THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 'Eye-opening, damning and hilarious' Tim Shipman, author of All Out War and Fall Out “I’m a barrister, a job which requires the skills of a social worker, relationship counsellor, arm-twister, hostage negotiator, named driver, bus fare-provider, accountant, suicide watchman, coffee-supplier, surrogate parent and, on one memorable occasion, whatever the official term is for someone tasked with breaking the news to a prisoner that his girlfriend has been diagnosed with gonorrhoea.” Welcome to the world of the Secret Barrister. These are the stories of life inside the courtroom. They are sometimes funny, often moving and ultimately life-changing. How can you defend a child-abuser you suspect to be guilty? What do you say to someone sentenced to ten years who you believe to be innocent? What is the law and why do we need it? And why do they wear those stupid wigs? From the criminals to the lawyers, the victims, witnesses and officers of the law, here is the best and worst of humanity, all struggling within a broken system which would never be off the front pages if the public knew what it was really like. Both a searing first-hand account of the human cost of the criminal justice system, and a guide to how we got into this mess, The Secret Barrister wants to show you what it’s really like and why it really matters.
This book demonstrates that law can be newly interrogated when examined through the lens of literature. The book creates simple pathways which energise and illustrate the links between legal theory and legal science and doctrine through the wider visions of history, literature and culture. This broadening approach is integral to understanding law in the context of wider debates and media in the community. The book provides a collection of essays, with additional commentary which reflects upon very recent scholarship and debate on a range of ethico-legal topics; it also illustrates how conventional legal matters may be rendered lively and palatable, as an adjunct to approaching doctrine and cases 'cold' in the conventional textbook manner. The chapters range from examination of current thought on cohabitation and marriage laws (via Jude the Obscure), 19th century medico-legal cases relevant to current narratives of insanity in women and the nature and status of expert evidence generally; assisted suicide and autonomy (via a poem by Jon Stallworthy) to an essay on the nature of race and ethnicity (via a poem by R S Thomas), a discussion of obscenity and moral philosophy (via an essay on Crash by J G Ballard and the philosophy of Bernard Williams) and a history of ideas discussion of positivism, natural law and political crisis, war and terrorism through legal and political theory texts and a poem by Auden. The materials refer to case law where appropriate.
For some time criminologists have been occupied by the question of whether crime and crime control differs from country to country and between cultures? This book addresses the issues of crime and social control in the 21st century and is designed to provide a comprehensive account of key issues in comparative. cross-cultural and transnational criminology. It considers the nature of comparative and cross-cultural criminology; presents an examination of crime and social control issues in selected regions or countries; focuses on the analyses of major forms of transnational crime and critically examines social control in a transnational perspective. Transnational and Comparative Criminology provides the most comprehensive analyses available to students and others interested issues surrounding comparative and transnational criminology.
This book provides clear and comprehensive coverage of the policing system and police powers. This second edition has been revised and updated to take account of new legislation, case law and other developments in the area.
The Lawyer's Guide to the Future of Practice Management provides law firm leaders with expert opinion on the very latest guidance and market knowledge on what today's legal marketplace might look like tomorrow, organized into four crucial areas of practice management - technology, people and culture, finance and strategy - before taking a horizon-scan of the future, and what law firms need to be aware of in the coming months and years.
Mid-sized law firms in today's legal marketplace are often given three choices: merge, grow, or die. That's accepted wisdom. Mid-sized firms may try to compete for profitable corporate litigation, deals and other bread-and-butter work, but everyone knows they (1) don't have the IT and other systems heft to innovate with the big players (2) don't have the scale to market and compete for global business and (3) can't attract the talent they need to go head-to-head with Big Law on major work. But what if that's wrong? What if mid-sized firms are in an ideal position to fix what's wrong with law practice today? Competitive Strategies for Mid-Sized Law Firms - a collection of essays by and about mid-sized firms - offers a new perspective.
This is an original empirical and theoretical study of the use of law to secure land tenure in the face of poverty. urban and peri-urban growth and changing social structures. How easy is it to replace customary law with individual land rights?; is this the road to poverty reduction and capitalist development. as de Soto suggested in The Mystery of Capital? The result of a research project commissioned by the UK Department for International Development. this multidisciplinary book offers case studies from Botswana. Trinidad and Zambia. and analyses wider issues. including colonial legacies that create illegality in peri-urban areas; the impact of HIV/AIDS on social structure and inheritance; and land readjustment approaches in customary areas. The book will be of interest to academics and policy-makers in the areas of land law. law and development. geography. development studies. land economy and human rights.
Explaining in clear terms some of the main methodological approaches to legal research, the chapters in this edited collection are written by specialists in their fields, researching in a variety of jurisdictions. Covering a range of topics from Feminist Approaches to Law and Economics, each contributor addresses the topic of 'lay decision makers in the legal system' from their particular methodological perspective, explaining how they would approach the issue and discussing the suitability of their particular method. This focus on one main topic allows the reader to draw comparisons between methods with relative ease. The broad range of contributors makes Research Methods in Law well suited to an international audience, and it is ideal reading for PhD students in law, undergraduate dissertation students in law, LL.M Research students and early year researchers.
This book critiques the decision-making process in Article 53(a) of the European Patent Convention. To date, such decisions have been taken at high levels of expertise without much public involvement. The book eschews traditional solutions, such as those found within legislative, judicial and patent office realms and instead develops a radical blueprint for how these decisions can be put to the public. By examining wide-scale models of participatory democracy and deliberation, this book fills a significant gap in the literature. It will be invaluable for patent lawyers, academics, practitioners and intellectual property and patent officials.
Legal skills are an important and increasing part of undergraduate law degrees as well as postgraduate vocational law courses. This fully updated fourth edition continues to bring together the theory and practice of these skills in an accessible and practical context. The authors draw on their experience of teaching and of law in practice to develop the core skills taught on both undergraduate and postgraduate courses. Skills covered include: * written communication; * mediation; * opinion writing; * drafting; * advocacy; * interviewing; * negotiation; * legal research. The text also considers the professional and ethical context of legal practice, provides an insight into the legal services landscape as well as offering valuable careers advice. Diagrams and flow charts help to explain and develop each skill and each chapter ends with suggestions for further reading. A Practical Guide to Lawyering Skills is essential reading for all undergraduate and vocational law students seeking to develop the necessary skills to work successfully with law in the twenty-first century.
First published in 1999, this international collection of essays on legal education addresses the following issues: The Law School and the University. Research into legal education has often been regarded as a marginal activity as compared with research into substantive areas of law. However, recent years have seen a growing interest in discussions about the purpose of the university law school and the ways in which law is taught within it. Are we educating professional lawyers or legal scholars? What do we really mean when we say we want to offer 'a liberal education in the law'? What effect are the current changes in higher education funding and policy having on law schools and what takes place within them? The international group of scholars who have contributed to this collection come from very different jurisdictions, but they have written about topics which, while they have local resonances, are of concern globally. Global Issues, Local Questions addresses matters which concern all law teachers, whatever their field of substantive legal expertise.
Understood one way, the branch of contemporary philosophical ethics that goes by the label "metaethics" concerns certain second-order questions about ethics-questions not in ethics, but rather ones about our thought and talk about ethics, and how the ethical facts (insofar as there are any) fit into reality. Analogously, the branch of contemporary philosophy of law that is often called "general jurisprudence" deals with certain second order questions about law- questions not in the law, but rather ones about our thought and talk about the law, and how legal facts (insofar as there are any) fit into reality. Put more roughly (and using an alternative spatial metaphor), metaethics concerns a range of foundational questions about ethics, whereas general jurisprudence concerns analogous questions about law. As these characterizations suggest, the two sub-disciplines have much in common, and could be thought to run parallel to each other. Yet, the connections between the two are currently mostly ignored by philosophers, or at least under-scrutinized. The new essays collected in this book are aimed at changing this state of affairs. Dimensions of Normativity collects together works by metaethicists and legal philosophers that address a number of issues that are of common interest, with the goal of accomplishing a new rapprochement between the two sub-disciplines.
There is significant asymmetry of information and knowledge between insurers and insureds in relation to consumer insurance contracts involving home buildings, home contents, motor vehicle cover, travel, personal accident and consumer credit. In some respects, the insured is in a superior position - he or she is aware of the particular circumstances surrounding the subject matter of the insurance contract and any specific risks to which the property is exposed or where liability may be incurred. Conversely, the insurer is in an advantageous position as regards the scope and content of the insurance cover being sought. The insured is aware of the primary features of the transaction (such as the type of cover, the quantum of cover and the premium payable) but is unlikely to have a clear (or any) understanding of subordinate terms such as average clauses, subrogation provisions and the myriad of exclusions, excesses and limitations upon liability.
The contemporary legal landscape is no longer a rigid hierarchy composed of limited and complacent behemoths, but rather an ecosystem, filled with a wide variety of players that facilitate disruption and revolution and jostle for clients' attention with agility and innovation. This includes - but is certainly not limited to - entities such as technology companies, consultants, alternative legal service providers, and paraprofessionals. Law firms are not the only ones in this environment that must adapt or fail; the legal department and in-house counsel, too, must transform in order to remain relevant and competitive. The world of the general counsel (GC) has already seen massive shifts - ever-increasing globalization has meant more legal issues and corporate activism, which in turn has generated new challenges and heightened demand. The GC cannot simply act in the role of outsourcer of work to external counsel, as in the past. With the growth of legal departments (it is now not uncommon for legal departments to number in the hundreds or even thousands, often formed of expensive lateral hires) the GC must now wear a number of hats, including that of the "CEO" of their department. The introduction of data analysis into the legal space and the oft-repeated mantra of "less with more" has meant that the GC must now think in terms of spend and budget more than ever before, transforming the legal department from a cost-center to a value-add. They must cultivate a breadth and scope of vision, able to organize and lead their department as an innovator. The flourishing legal ops role also provides yet another challenge for the GC. As the incorporation of legal ops within the law department becomes increasingly essential, the GC must work to ensure alignment and manage change. The present time has been hailed as the golden age of in-house lawyering, yet - and perhaps because of this - it is an uncertain and challenging time for the GC. Tipping Point: Transformation and Innovation in the Legal Department is intended as a handbook for the GC looking to build a truly modern legal department and revolutionize their role. Encompassing aspects from leveraging influence with the c-suite to reimagining organizational hierarchies and seeking the right operational professional, this publication features contributions from those at the frontiers of the profession as it transforms and embraces new areas of expertise.
Hermann Cohen (1842-1918) was a leading figure in the Neo-Kantian philosophical movement that dominated European thought before 1918. He is also the inaugural figure for what is meant by "modern Jewish philosophy" in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. This book explores Cohen's striking claim that ethics is rooted in law - a claim developed in both his philosophical ethics and his philosophy of Judaism, in particular in his writings on "love-of-neighbor," up to and including his well-known Religion of Reason. Dana Hollander proposes that neither Cohen's systematic philosophy nor his "Jewish" philosophy should be seen as the dominant framework for his oeuvre as a whole, but that his understanding of key philosophical questions takes shape in the passages between both corpuses, a trait that could be seen as paradigmatic for modern Jewish philosophy. Ethics Out of Law taps into one of the prime topics of current interest in the field of Jewish philosophy: the nature of Jewish political existence and the changing configurations of "law" that this entails.
Today's law firm is an entity in flux. Economic and technological disruption - along with a range of other factors - have contributed to this change, meaning that firms are not what they used to be. It is therefore a necessity that the way they are managed also needs to change. This means, among many things, the need to corporatize the running of the firm; a move away from the focus on the billable hour towards more intangible activities such as business development and marketing and - perhaps the most important factor - the development of a new kind of leader within the legal landscape. The new kind of leader now demanded by a transformed legal profession is not readily forthcoming, however. Legal culture stresses individualism and independence, which is reinforced by firm governance, practice management, and performance management systems that are ill-suited to foster supportive and collaborative leadership practices; lawyers are trained and conditioned to be combative, autonomous, and didactic. To position oneself as a contender in a fast-moving and competitive market, the legal leader of the future must push back against these trends by acting strategically, engaging in people management, investing in their employees, and creating a working environment that places emphasis on communication, teamwork, and growth and development. Legal leadership: a handbook for future success combines the latest and most relevant intelligence from those on the frontline of law firm leadership and management, to serve as the catalyst for change and the foundation on which a strong leadership practice can be built. Drawing on their expertise and experience, our authors - ranging from behavioral psychologists to senior management figures and pofessional coaches -present a wide range of competencies and strategies to cultivate as part of a leader's personal and professional development. Whether you are already a member of your firm's senior management, or in a junior position with big aspirations, Legal leadership: a handbook for future success provides the essential tools to equip you to become a leader of the future.
Doping is undoubtedly one of the most controversial issues within sport. Doping scandals wreck the careers of sportsmen and women, they can bankrupt governing bodies, infringe personal liberties, threaten livelihoods, tarnish images, galvanise the European Union, undermine the Olympic Movement and invoke invective from politicians. In recent years, sports law has developed into one of the most exciting and challenging legal disciplines and the importance of the law in doping matters has been heightened by the influx of money into sport and the development of sport as a global economy. Drugs and Doping in Sport brings together work from leading academics, practitioners and administrators, analyses contemporary socio-legal and political themes related to doping in sport. It provides a challenging and often controversial view of doping issues and confronts political and legal orthodoxy, supplying the reader with a unique insight into this fascinating area of academic study.
The organizational competence of project management provides a solid foundation for every activity conducted by a business and the practice of law. Legal project management (LPM) provides the discipline that enables lawyers and those who manage legal work - in law firms, law departments and alternate legal services providers - to define, demonstrate and deliver greater value by balancing the scope of work, time, and resources as they strive for optimal efficiency, outcomes and client satisfaction. Although many distinguish the business of law from the practice of law, innovators in legal project management take an integrated approach. In commercial and governmental settings, practicing law is not an academic exercise, nor an end in itself. Effective legal services address a client's business needs, opportunities and risk profile, and may also implicate public policy and legal precedent. The client experience is personal as well as professional. LPM provides a framework for meeting all these challenges. Innovations in Legal Project Management profiles those who have done the difficult work of harnessing the relevant aspects of legal project management as a strategy that is explicitly aligned to a law firm's or legal department's business objectives and culture. The authors describe communication strategies and techniques to train, coach and mentor those acquiring the skills to implement legal project management practices as a core aspect of the firm's business strategy, operations, quality legal services, and focus on the client experience. All the contributors to this book are professionals who continuously see around corners in improving the legal profession. They have created value for their firms, clients, and organizations; others have advanced the legal profession. They have systematically: - Used deep insights about particular clients to create new services and ways of doing things that impact the client's business goals; - Incrementally improved the speed, value (cost/margin), and quality/ benefits of the product or service they deliver; and/or - Relied on technology that is homegrown or highly customized to meet users' needs.
The role of the professional support lawyer (PSL) first emerged in the early- to mid-1990s amongst London's Magic Circle, and quickly became essential for mid-size and even smaller firms. However, this golden period for the PSL came to an abrupt end with the global financial crisis and the subsequent recession, which rocked the legal landscape; the greatest shockwaves were inevitably felt by legal support teams, as many firms sought to maintain profitability by shifting their focus to fee-earners and cutting what was quickly perceived as superfluous business functions. The slow but steady recovery of the economy and the consequent pick-up of client demand since then has meant that the importance of PSLs to law firm operations has once again been recognised. However, the legal profession is not the same as it was before the recession; this is reflected in not only the changes in what is expected from fee-earners, but also support staff such as PSLs. Traditionally seen as a backstage position that mainly involved administrative work and the drafting of precedents, the PSL role is rapidly transforming. A PSL cannot only contribute to a firm's competitive edge by providing the traditional technical expertise; it has now become essential to perform tasks ranging from involvement in business development to the provision of training, the capture and dissemination of knowledge, product selection, and project management. This kind of flexibility is a quality that has made the role of the PSL attractive to those seeking an alternative to legal practice; however, it brings its own challenges. With such a wide variety of responsibilities and functions, it can be difficult to find relevant information on what career development might look like, or the skills needed for the progression. Identifying current issues and future challenges, too, is rendered problematic by this versatility. The Evolving Role of the PSL aims to fill this information gap.
Created by programmers from the mid-90s onwards and launched by technology disruptors in 2008 on the back of the biggest corporate failings in trust and honesty the modern world has seen, Blockchain collects facts as diverse as Wikipedia and churns them out as randomly as Alexa in a playschool. Heralded as the next big thing, blockchain has the potential to radically change the way lawyers work, and even threaten their very existence. So, what is it, and how does it work? This book, featuring opinions and experience from some of the most knowledgeable thought leaders on the subject, aims to cut through the hype and explore the many different facets of blockchain, and what it will mean for the legal profession.
The modern legal library is caught in a transformative stage. Often seen by firm management as unnecessary and outdated, legal libraries are facing a double-pronged challenge: it is now essential for librarians to demonstrate the continuing value of their profession whilst battling with shrinking budgets and the development of new, disruptive technologies that are transforming working practices and processes at a rapid rate. |
You may like...
Remediation of Hazardous Waste in the…
Clayton J. Clark, Angela Stephenson Lindner
Hardcover
R5,049
Discovery Miles 50 490
Gradient Microstructure in Laser Shock…
Liucheng Zhou, Weifeng He
Hardcover
R4,485
Discovery Miles 44 850
Rheology and Processing of Polymers
Khalid Lamnawar, Abderrahim Maazouz
Hardcover
R1,810
Discovery Miles 18 100
Textbook of Engineering Chemistry
C Parameswara Murthy, C V Agarwal, …
Hardcover
R3,634
Discovery Miles 36 340
Women in Bioorganic Chemistry
Francesca Cardona, Camilla Parmeggiani, …
Hardcover
R1,648
Discovery Miles 16 480
Advances in Hydrogen Embrittlement Study
Vladimir A. Polyanskiy, Alexander K. Belyaev
Hardcover
R4,262
Discovery Miles 42 620
|