Barker, D --- "At the Edge of Law" [2012] LegEdDig 32; (2012) 20(2) Legal Education Digest 53

• At the Edge of Law

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BOOK REVIEW

At the Edge of Law

Andrew Francis

Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2011, 215 pp

The sub-heading to this title is ‘Emergent and Divergent Models of Legal Professionalism’ but potential readers should not be put off from acquiring a copy of this text because of this description. Admittedly the book jacket reinforces this view by stating that: ‘It focuses on those operating at the margin of legal professionalism in England and Wales’.

Nevertheless whilst it does contain an all-embracing account of those operating outside of what would be regarded as the normal confines of the legal profession, it also examines the significant changes which have taken place with respect to the contemporary legal scene, particularly the outcomes resulting from the Legal Services Act 2007. Therefore in Chapter 1 Introduction: Lawyering at the Edge, the author sets out what he considers to be the current issues facing the English legal profession, emphasising the contrast between the sole practitioner and the domination of the largest firms together with the fact that the latter have a greater influence than the numbers they directly employ. He also deals with the problems of diversity: ‘Particularly around gender, ethnicity and socio-economic background.’

The contents of this chapter lead into explanation within Chapter 2 as to what the author explains is his notion of ‘the edge’ being both the: ‘Internal stratification of the legal profession and those who are moving away from the core of mainstream legal professionalism.’ It is in this chapter that the reader is introduced to control exercised by the two traditional legal professions, barristers and solicitors, their professional organisations and the ongoing influence of these over legal education and training. The chapter supports this explanation with an all embracing number of case studies.

It is in Chapter 3 that the text is able to focus on the real core subject matter of the book. The title of the chapter; Outsiders in Legal Education and Beyond: Marginal Students, Professional Identity and Access to the Legal Profession encapsulates its subject matter, two major case studies relating in particular to part-time law students, a group who do not normally feature in studies relating to exclusionary strategies within the legal profession. This theme is followed in Chapter 4 which again covers another neglected part of the legal profession; that of legal executives, founded as the Institute of Legal Executives (ILEX) in 1963 and its predecessor organisation, the Solicitors’ Managing Clerks Association founded in 1892. In this respect the author draws attention to the fact whilst ILEX is an independent professional organisation it is still subject in some respects to the control of the Law Society which also reflects the employer/employee workplace relationship of solicitors over legal executives.

The Pivot Legal Society forms the case-study of Chapter 5. This, it explains, is a not-for-profit campaigning legal advocacy organisation operating in a downtown suburb of Vancouver, Canada, and compares its relationship with mainstream legal professionalism in North America to that of the ‘marginalized position of legal aid lawyers within England and Wales.’

In Chapter 6 the author engages in another eclectic case study of an organisation outside the normal parameters of the legal profession with a first claimed academic analysis of the Society of Trusts and Estates Practitioners (STEP). This is described as a: ‘Multi-disciplinary and cross-jurisdictional professional association representing and educating lawyers, accountants, bankers, trusts specialists and independent financial advisors working in the field of trusts and estates.’ It is argued that the strength of STEP is that it is not constrained by the normal institutional boundaries, whether these be law, accountancy or banking, but is more in the nature of a ‘boundary bridging’ organisation.

Collective Professional Projects, Individual Models of Advancement and the Legal Services Act 2007, the title of the penultimate Chapter 7, is concerned with both the effects of the Legal Services Act 2007 and the fact that in the view of the author, one of the outcomes has been that the elite corporate law firms have moved away from the traditional professional role and are now engaged in what he describes as ‘institutional entrepreneurship’ avoiding the need to take over the national Law Society of England and Wales, by promoting their own regional law society, the City of London Law Society (CLLS). In this respect he empathises with the influence of what are described as ‘Magic Circle’ firms upon legal education and the fact that they have become large-scale providers of legal training for their own employees. Within this chapter there is also a review of the manner in which the Legal Services Act 2007 separated the Law Society’s previous regulatory and representative roles by the creation of the Solicitors Regulatory Authority and also a further supervisory authority, the Legal Services Board.

In the final Chapter 8, the author endeavours to set out his central themes of the book and explore its main findings. In this respect he is concerned with the fact that in the contemporary legal services landscape there are still exclusionary patterns of closure exercised by the legal profession.

In the opinion of this reviewer the influence of this text will be long-reaching and thought provoking as regards the future of legal professionalism and in particular its effect on legal education and training.

Emeritus Professor David Barker AM

Editor