Lawyers Of Los Angeles

Lawyers of Los Angeles is an intriguing account of L.A. law from 1950 to 2020 - lawyers, the Los Angeles County Bar Association's growth and impact, civil rights, high-profile trials, advisors to L.A.'s creative culture, members of the bench and bar dedicated to the public good. Tuttle presents the untold story of a fascinating legal world.

An Equal Place is a monumental study of the role of lawyers in the movement to challenge economic inequality in one of America's most unequal cities: Los Angeles. Breaking with the traditional focus on national civil rights history, the book turns to the stories of contemporary lawyers, on the front lines and behind the scenes, who use law to reshape the meaning of low-wage work in the local economy. Covering a transformative period of L.A. history, from the 1992 riots to the 2008 recession, Scott Cummings presents an unflinching account of five pivotal campaigns in which lawyers ally with local movements to challenge the abuses of garment sweatshops, the criminalization of day labor, the gentrification of downtown retail, the incursion of Wal-Mart groceries, and the misclassification of port truck drivers. Through these campaigns, lawyers and activists define the city as a space for redefining work in vital industries transformed by deindustrialization, outsourcing, and immigration. Organizing arises outside of traditional labor law, powered by community-labor and racial justice groups using levers of local government to ultimately change the nature of labor law itself. Cummings shows that sophisticated legal strategy — engaging yet extending beyond courts, in which lawyers are equal partners in social movements — is an indispensable part of the effort to make L.A. a more equal place. Challenging accounts of lawyers' negative impact on movements, Cummings argues that the L.A. campaigns have achieved meaningful reform, while strengthening the position of workers in local politics, through legal innovation. Dissecting the reasons for failure alongside the conditions for success, this groundbreaking book illuminates the crucial role of lawyers in forging a new model of city-building for the twenty-first century.

A history of the Los Angeles Bar Association from its organization in the 1870s.

This detailed portrait of American lawyers traces their efforts to professionalize during the last 100 years by erecting barriers to control the quality and quantity of entrants. Abel describes the rise and fall of restrictive practices that dampened competition among lawyers and with outsiders. He shows how lawyers simultaneously sought to increase access to justice while stimulating demand for services, and their efforts to regulate themselves while forestalling external control. Data on income and status illuminate the success of these efforts. Charting the dramatic transformation of the profession over the last two decades, Abel documents the growing number and importance of lawyers employed outside private practice (in business and government, as judges and teachers) and the displacement of corporate clients they serve. Noting the complexity of matching ever more diverse entrants with more stratified roles, he depicts the mechanism that law schools and employers have created to allocate graduates to jobs and socialize them within their new environments. Abel concludes with critical reflections on possible and desirable futures for the legal profession.

People need lawyers for many things, including tax and immigration advice, drafting contracts, preparing wills, buying and selling houses, forming and dissolving companies, and representation and advice during divorce, probate, personal injury and criminal charges. But many people do not trust lawyers. With good reason, they fear that lawyers will neglect or overcharge them, betray them out of self-interest or on behalf of others, or obstruct the pursuit of justice out of overzealousness. Although the legal profession drafts ethical rules, law schools teach those rules, the bar exam tests lawyers' knowledge, and disciplinary bodies enforce them, we know that violations by lawyers are all too common. Lawyers on Trial: Understanding Ethical Misconduct by California Attorneys, by Richard L. Abel, presents six dramatic accounts of California lawyers who betrayed their clients and the legal system. Through the detailed records of the disciplinary proceedings, it examines some of the most common complaints about lawyers: chasing ambulances, charging excessive fees, violating conflict of interest rules, and displaying excessive zeal. These complex and compelling dramas serve to make the ethical rules, and the temptations they seek to curb, come vividly alive for law students, lawyers, those thinking of becoming lawyers, anyone who has been or might some day be a client, and the general public. The lessons to be drawn from these situations can help the legal profession and the public devise better strategies for ensuring that lawyers abide by the rules.