Designed for the general reader and students of law, this is a concise history and analysis of the civil law tradition, which is dominant in most of Europe, all of Latin America, and many parts of Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. The fourth edition is fully updated to include the latest developments in the field and to correct and update historical details gleaned from newly-published research on Roman and Medieval law. In the past ten years, the legal profession has changed radically, with the growing international ubiquity of large law firms operating across borders (which was previously a uniquely American phenomenon). This new edition updates the book from the post-Soviet era to ongoing current issues, including Brexit and the status of the European Union. It discusses how civil law codes have shifted in some countries to adapt to modern and changing ideologies and also includes brand-new material on legal education, which is of central importance to the legal profession today.

This book, part of the Stanford Law School research project on the future of the legal profession, thoroughly examines the future of "big law," defined as the large and mid-size multiservice highly specialized law firms that provide sophisticated, complex and generally costly legal work to multinationals, large and mid-size domestic corporations, and other business clients. By systematically gathering, assessing, and analyzing the best available quantitative and qualitative data on the first tier of the corporate legal services market of Latin America and Spain, and interviewing a broadly representative sample of corporate legal officers, law firm partners, and other stakeholders in each of the countries covered, this book provides a nuanced perspective on changes in "big law" during the last two decades until the present. It also explores the factors that are driving these changes, and the implications for the future of legal profession, legal education and its relationship with the corporate sector and society in general.

This law and society reader taps a rich and diverse literature to compare and contrast the legal experience of many different cultures and nations. Drawing on a variety of methodological approaches, the selections allow students to evaluate whether there are general patterns that explain how legal systems work (or fail to work) and how these patterns relate to the structural and cultural facts of society.
Every country, of course, has its own legal system, and no two systems are the same. But in teaching law and society, texts have focused nearly exclusively on American readings to the neglect of comparative and international work. This reader fills an obvious gap. It recognizes that law is increasingly global and cross-national, and shows how law relates to society in different times and places, the world over.

This book, part of the Stanford Law School research project on the future of the legal profession, thoroughly examines the future of "big law," defined as the large and mid-size multiservice highly specialized law firms that provide sophisticated, complex and generally costly legal work to multinationals, large and mid-size domestic corporations, and other business clients. By systematically gathering, assessing, and analyzing the best available quantitative and qualitative data on the first tier of the corporate legal services market of Latin America and Spain, and interviewing a broadly representative sample of corporate legal officers, law firm partners, and other stakeholders in each of the countries covered, this book provides a nuanced perspective on changes in "big law" during the last two decades until the present. It also explores the factors that are driving these changes, and the implications for the future of legal profession, legal education and its relationship with the corporate sector and society in general.

.,."Perez-Perdomo combines scholarship with first-hand knowledge to successfully synthesize for the first time a multitude of national studies on the history of lawyers....This volume constitutes an important academic contribution as well as a fascinating long term perspective into a profession that is crucial for the conduct of modern states and the improvement of justice and the rule of law in Latin America."--Law and Politics Book Review
"Latin American Lawyers" is an important work. It analyzes the role of law and lawyers in more than twenty Latin American countries over several hundred years, building on a vast body of literature that has never before been synthesized. The issues raised in this book are important both for the general history of the region and for an understanding of the several legal professions."--David Trubek, University of Wisconsin-Madison