Lawyers And The Rule Of Law

A GlassHouse book.

"This book will examine lawyers' historical and contemporary relationship to the rule of law, one of the pillars of a liberal democracy. It does so by firstly identifying a range of rule of law issues confronting society; secondly by illustrating how lawyers interact with them; thirdly by examining how legal independent professions support are key to rule of law and finally; fourthly by exploring arguments that satisfactory support for the rule of law is available by other means."--

First published in 2011. Lawyers and the Rule of Law in an Era of Globalization focuses on the national and transnational processes transforming both the rule of law and the role of lawyers. The book draws on a framework that emphasizes the relationship between the national the international, the strategies of lawyers at various political levels, and the circulation of ideas and people. As such, it considers the 'rule of law', not as a normative ideal that has to be accomplished and realized, but rather as a field of action and discourse that emerges through complex relationships among experts, national elites and global institutions. Through detailed empirical work, the contributors all examine the relationship between law, politics and the state, focusing on lawyers and the social capital they possess and deploy, in order to understands the efficacy of the rule of law in different polities. This book will be invaluable for socio-legal scholars, students of the legal profession, as well as those with interests in law and development studies.

A study of the relationship between judicial activism and government lawyers.

Big-ticket litigation is a way of life in this country. But something new is afoot--something typified by the $246 billion tobacco settlement, and by courtroom assaults that have followed against industries ranging from HMOs to gunmakers, from lead paint manufacturers to "factory farms." Each massive class-action suit seeks to invent new law, to ban or tax or regulate something that elected lawmakers had chosen to leave alone. And each time the new process works as intended, the new litigation elite reaps billions in fees--which they invest in fresh rounds of suits, as well as political contributions. The Rule of Lawyers asks: Who picks these lawyers, and who can fire them? Who protects the public's interest when settlements are negotiated behind closed doors? Where are our elected lawmakers in all this? The answers may determine whether we slip from the rule of law to the rule of lawyers.

An account of the lawyers who helped - over centuries - to develop and protect civil liberties, human rights and the Rule of Law. Also discusses breaches of the Rule of Law in modern cases and in response to terrorism.

This timely book explores the complexities of the rule of law - a well-used but perhaps less well understood term - to explain why it is so often appealed to in discussions of global politics. Ranging from capacity building and the role of the World Bank to the discourse(s) of lawyers and jurisprudential critiques, it seeks to introduce non-lawyers to the important and complex political economy of the rule of law.