The American Legal Profession
Technically there is no such thing as an “American lawyer”: every state admits its own, and a lawyer licensed to practice in Florida is strictly speaking a layperson as far as Alabama or Alaska is concerned. Nonetheless, in the aggregate, this is a vast army of law-trained men and women.
The profession is, and always has been, quite diverse. There are many legal worlds. To begin with, there is the world of the big firm. These big firms recruit their lawyers, by and large, from the “national” law schools – with big reputations and long traditions, like Harvard and Yale. We know in general what the work is: it includes securities law, antitrust law, bond issues, mergers, tax work, international trade. In both big and little firms, up to half the
work could be described as “litigation”.
Another staple of law practice is real estate: buying and selling houses or concluding elaborate deals for shopping centers, suburban developments, and office buildings, or converting luxury apartments into condominiums. Estate work is also common to big firms and little firms alike. Big firms handle these affairs for captains of industry and for great old families. Middle-sized do the same for the medium-rich – manufacturers of plastic novelties, owners of restaurants, car-wash companies, apartment buildings. Small-town lawyers and solo practitioners handle farm estates. And so on.
Some branches of practice do tend toward specialization. There are lawyers who work on port trade, on chartering ships, on show business (“entertainment law”), on trademarks and copyrights. However, few lawyers are totally specialized. Big-firm lawyers cover many fields and many problems. But there are areas they definitely do not touch. One is divorce. It is the lawyers in smallish firms and in law clinics, and the solos, who handle “one-shot” clients – couples who want a divorce, victims of car crashes, people arrested for drunk driving. Some lawyers with one-shot clients struggle to make ends meet; others earn heaps of money.
Since the early nineteenth century, law has been a prominent way “to get ahead” in the society. For much of American history, a lawyer meant “white male.” Black lawyers were rare birds in American history. Not a single woman was admitted to the bar before the 1870s. Indeed, when women tried to break into this all-male club, they met resistance and reluctance, to say the least. Opinions changed, but slowly and grudgingly . Equality of opportunity is not an easy goal to achieve, especially with regard to barriers of class. The cost of legal education is one of these barriers. Lawyers tend to come from the families of businessmen, teachers, professionals; they are not sons of grocery clerks or coal miners’ daughters. Over 73 percent of the practicing lawyers in Chicago came from “solidly middle-class or upper-middle-class-homes,” far more than if lawyers were selected from Chicago families at random. Many came from lawyerly or professional backgrounds not from working-class backgrounds.
There are law schools in every major city and in almost every state, Alaska is one of the few that lacks this modern amenity. These law schools are both different from each other and much the same. They are remarkably similar in curriculum and method. They also tend to impose the same general requirements: a college degree, and the Law School Admission Test (LSAT). But law schools are quite different in prestige, money and power – and in quality of
faculty and students. The stronger older schools are able to “skim off the cream”. Harvard, Yale, Berkley, and Chicago can afford huge research libraries; small schools cannot.
Lawyers, like Americans in general, are joiners. They are united into a strong, permanent organization – the American Bar Association, the ABA, in short. There are also state, county, and city bar associations. But the ABA is still not an association of all American lawyers. No one has to join it though it has a huge membership.
Law and lawyers are expensive. Many people who want or need a lawyer have trouble paying the price. But the state provides a lawyer, free of charge “public defenders”, to anyone accused of a serious crime who cannot afford to pay on his own. For civil cases, the situation is more complicated. A few lawyers have always made it a practice to do some work free for poor clients. There are now a number of law firms organized for the “public interest”.
Task 2.Mark the statements which are true.
1. An “American lawyer” is licensed to practice in any state of the country.
2. The number of people working in legal field is great
3. Big law firms prefer to employ specialists from the well-known law schools.
4. Most big firms do not deal with litigation.
5. Lawyers’ work includes antitrust law, international trade, tax work, bond issues, etc.
6. Real estate practice is the work which doesn’t interest big firms.
7. The social position of a client defines the firm which will handle the affair.
8. Nobody wants to deal with farm estates.
9. Specialization among lawyers is not very popular.
10. Practically there are no fields which big-firm lawyers do not touch upon.
11. The profession of a lawyer has always been a prestigious one and only for the white.
12. Not all lawyers are members of the American Bar Association.
Task 3.Complete the following sentences.
1. Big firms handle estate work for … .
2. Middle-sized firms do the work for the medium-rich – … .
3. Some lawyers specialize in … .
4. Small-firm lawyers and solos deal with … .
5. For many years of American history a lawyer meant … .
6. Women were not admitted … .
7. Equality of opportunity is not … .
8. Lawyers tend to come from … .
9. Law schools are similar in … .
10. But law schools are quite different in … .
11. American lawyers are united into … .
12. The state provides a lawyer, free of charge “public defenders”, to … .
Task 4.Think of a brief outline of the text.
Task 5.Read the text below and think of the word which best fits each space.
Even lawyers with the same (1) ___ and professional title may (2) ___ doing very different kinds of work. Most towns in the United States, for example, have small (3) ___ of attorneys who are in daily contact (4) ___ ordinary people, giving advice and acting (5) ___ matters such as consumer affairs, traffic accident disputes and contracts for the (6) ___ of land. Some may also prepare defences for clients (7) ___ of crimes. However, in (8) ___ the United
States and other industrialized countries, lawyers are becoming more and (9) ___ specialized. Working in small firms lawyers now tend (10) ___ restrict themselves to certain kinds of work, and lawyers (11) ___ in large law firms or (12) ___ in the law department of a large commercial enterprise work on highly specific areas (13) ___ law. One lawyer may be employed (14) ___ a mining company just to (15) ___ contracts for the supply of coal. Another may work (16) ___ a newspaper advising the editors on libel matters. Another may
(17) ___ part of a Wall Street firm of over a hundred (18) ___ who specialize (19) ___ advising stockbrokers (20) ___ share transactions.
Vocabulary Check
Task 1.Fill in the gaps with the correct prepositions.
1. The legal profession is divided … two branches.
2. Both barristers and solicitors are professions held … high regard.
3. The training and career structures … the two kinds of lawyers are quite separate.
4. If a person has a legal problem she or he is … trouble or concerned … a question of inheritance or transfer … property he will go to a solicitor.
5. Solicitors deal … all the day-to-day work of preparing legal documents … buying and selling houses, they do the legal work involved … conveyancing, probate, divorce.
6. Solicitors work … court cases for their clients outside the court.
7. Solicitors have the right to speak … the lowest Courts.
8. When Solicitors have passed all the necessary exams they may apply … the Law Society to be “admitted”, then they can start business … their own.
9. Barristers are experts … the interpretation of the law.
10. Barristers advise … really difficult matters.
11. Solicitors engage a barrister to whom they hand … the task of representing the client … the court.
12. Barristers spend a lot of time … paper work apart from their actual appearances … court where they wear wigs and gowns in keeping … the extreme formalities of the proceeding.
13. District judges are responsible … procedural steps in court proceedings.
14. District judges’ administrative functions have now been transferred … substantial staffs of clerks and bailiffs.
15. Judges themselves are not a separate profession: they are barristers who have demonstrated competence … litigation.
16. Closely related … judicial independence is the doctrine of judicial immunity.
17. A federal magistrate judge is a full-time judicial office, although in some courts it is filled … a part-time basis
18. A number of reforms have been suggested: solicitors could be given a full right … audience in all courts, all barristers could be permitted to form partnership … solicitors.
Task 2.Produce the whole sentence in English.
1. (Юридическая профессия) in England is divided into two branches: barristers and solicitors.
2. Barristers and solicitors have their own (характерные функции и от- дельный аппарат управления).
3. The solicitor is (юрист широкого профиля).
4. Solicitors deal with all the day-to-day work of (подготовка юридических документов) for buying and selling houses, (составление завещаний).
5. Solicitors work on court cases of (развод, супружеские вопросы, возврат долгов, незначительные преступления).
6. In a civil action the solicitor has the right (выступать в низших судах).
7. Most barristers are (профессиональные адвокаты) but it is a mistake (считать барристера только адвокатом).
8. A student must pass a group of examinations (чтобы получить юридическую степень) and then to proceed to a vocational course.
9. Federal magistrate judges are (назначаются) by the court.
10. Barristers (консультируют) really difficult legal matters.
11. (Статусом королевского советника награждаются) about 30 counsellors a year by the Queen.
12. The judge is (председательствующий чиновник в суде).
13. The traditional function of judges is (применять существующие нормы права) to the case before them.
14. (После того, как все доказательства представлены) the judge summarizes the case for the jury.
15. Closely related to (судейской независимости) is the doctrine of (судейской неприкосновенности).
16. Federal magistrate judges (занимают должность) for eight years.
17. The magistrate judge is (уполномочен) to decide the case and (вынести окончательное судебное решение) in the name of the district court.
18. When you are your own boss you can (отказаться от дел или клиентов) when you disagree morally with the legal principles expensed by the clients.
19. Federal magistrate judges (выполняют) two kinds of functions.
20. During the apprenticeship students are taught how (ведутся предварительные расследования, составляются документы, осуществляется подготовка к слушанию дела
Task 4.Choose the correct item.
1. England is almost unique in having two different kinds of … .
a) barristers b) lawyers c) legal executives
2. If a person has a legal problem he will go to a … .
a) judge b) solicitor c) barrister
3. In a civil action solicitors have the right to speak in … .
a) the lowest Court b) the highest Court c) any court in between
4. … is a governing body of barristers.
a) Law Society b) The Bar c) The Institute of Legal Executives
5. Barristers are experts in … of the Law.
a) examining b) creating c) interpretation
6. … is expected to appear only in the most important legal matters.
a) The Lord Chancellor b) The Queen’s Counsel c) Justice of the Peace
7. The judges … new laws.
a) create b) summarize c) criticize
8. Magistrates are … by special committees.
a) appointed b) selected c) voted
9. All federal judges hold office during … .
a) good manners b) good studies c) good behaviour
10. Judges in the United States initially come to the bench after a … of professional
experience.
a) substantial number of years b) year c) vocational course
11. Most of the professional bodies who gave evidence including the Senate and the Law Society … fusion.
a) adopted b) opposed c) delayed
12. Each lawyer could … his own practice to the needs of his clients.
a) fit b) adjust c) correct