Postmodern Professions? The Fragmentation of Legal Education and the Legal Profession

Authors: Boon, Andy; Flood, John; Webb, Julian

Source: Journal of Law and Society, Volume 32, Number 3, September 2005 , pp. 473-492(20)

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Abstract:

This article considers the institutional dimensions of professionalism and the legal profession's struggle with the challenges of post-modernity. An aspect of this is the Law Society's Training Framework Review (TFR) which promises changes to solicitors' education from ‘cradle to grave’. The first part of the article analyses the structure and drivers of the TFR, their origins, and how they will be articulated. Secondly, the TFR is considered in the context of the political economy of higher education and its role in the new capitalism. Finally, we examine the potential effects of the TFR for the legal profession in the context of increasing practice segmentation and the threat of deprofessionalization, and also for the Law Society itself, whether it can retain a key role in the life course of the legal profession.

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6478.2005.00333.x

Affiliations: 1: School of Law, University of Westminster, 4 Little Titchfield Street, London W1W7UW, England J.A.Flood@wmin.ac.uk J.Webb01@wmin.ac.uk, Email: A.Boon@wmin.ac.uk

Publication date: 2005-09-01