Hot Topics In The Legal Profession 2017

The topic of "too many lawyers" is timely. The future make up and performance of the legal profession is in contest. What do we mean by "too many"? Is there a surplus of lawyers and what sort of lawyers are and will be needed? How best can we discern this? This book, is composed of scholarly articles presented at the Onati International Institute for the Sociology of Law (Spain), by some of the best researchers in the field, aims to answer these questions. This collection, with an introduction by Prof. Richard L. Abel, addresses methodological, normative and policy questions regarding the number of lawyers in particular countries and worldwide, while connecting this phenomenon to political, social, economic, historical, cultural and comparative contexts. This makes this book a source of interest to lawyers, law students, academic and policy makers as well as the discerning public. This book was previously published as a special issue of the International Journal of the Legal Profession.

Law has become a buyer's market, and it's never going back. Re-envisioning the purpose of law firms and the role of lawyers, Jordan Furlong has designed a transformative client-first law firm that rethinks the business model, culture, service, competitiveness, growth strategies, diversity, and leadership of modern legal enterprises.

"This collection of articles is an effort to create a greater understanding of the empirical issues that lie behind the debate over whether in the practice of law the ideals of professionalism have been replaced by the demands of commercialism. This book is the most systematic attempt so far to examine what professionalism means in the various arenas of legal practice in the United States. It also seeks to advance the theoretical interpretations that lie at the heart of the scholarship on professionalism and establish a framework for analyzing the issues that is more grounded than previous idealist accounts, yet retains some of the ideas of contingency and changeability that structualist accounts have ignored"--Preface.

The Lawyer's Almanac provides vital facts and figures on the courts, government, law schools, lawyers, and their work and organizations. Complete and up-to-date, it is the standard reference guide on the American legal scene and is useful for attorneys, law librarians, judges, law students, journalists, and anyone who needs quick access to information on the legal profession. The Lawyer's Almanac reflects the size and density of the legal profession. It includes a detailed listing of the nation's 700 largest law firms, along with their contact information, data on law firm finances, and detailed statistical analysis of corporate attorney compensation.

Advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology have opened up new markets and new opportunities for progress in critical areas such as health, education, energy, and the environment. In recent years, machines have surpassed humans in the performance of certain specific tasks, such as some aspects of image recognition. Experts forecast that rapid progress in the field of specialized artificial intelligence will continue. Although it is very unlikely that machines will exhibit broadly-applicable intelligence comparable to or exceeding that of humans in the next 20 years, it is to be expected that machines will reach and exceed human performance on more and more tasks. As a contribution toward preparing the United States for a future in which AI plays a growing role, this report surveys the current state of AI, its existing and potential applications, and the questions that are raised for society and public policy by progress in AI. The report also makes recommendations for specific further actions by Federal agencies and other actors.

Current important events in legal ethics, with up-to-the-minute research, are explored by Tulane students and a legal ethics professor in his Foreword. Purchase of this book benefits Tulane PILF, a nonprofit student group which funds public interest and indigent client representations. Topics include social networking and ads; judicial bias and Caperton; ancillary businesses; and negotiations.

Current important events in the U.S. legal profession and legal ethics, with useful research and analysis of the rules and the profession's current status, are explored by Tulane law students from an advanced ethics seminar. The collection is edited by Tulane legal ethics professor Steven Alan Childress, and he previews in his Foreword the students' explorations of the big stories of 2011. Purchase of this book benefits Tulane's Public Interest Law Foundation, a nonprofit student group that funds public interest placements and indigent client representations throughout the country. The timely topics include: prosecutorial relationships with public defenders, bar discipline for behavior outside the practice of law, false guilty pleas, the capital defense of Jared Loughner, Justice Scalia's seminar for conservative congressmembers, sensitivity to "cultural competence," legal outsourcing and competition, the dilemma of student debt in a slowed legal economy, the practice of law by legal websites like LegalZoom, and the advocate-witness rule.