Incorporating and Selling Legal Services Plans: The Declineof Solo Practice

合并和销售法律服务计划：单独执业的衰落

• 批准号: 8808754
• 负责人: Carroll Seron
• 金额: $ 1.2万
• 依托单位: CUNY Baruch College
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 1988
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1988-07-01 至 1989-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=8808754&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Incorporating; Selling; Legal; Services; Plans

Solo and small-firm lawyers face increasing competition today from the for-profit and not-for-profit law firm. The marketing strategies of these "new providers" of legal services are varied but each has met with considerable success. The impact of this tier of the legal profession on the practice of law, however,has not yet been systematically examined. This is the task of the present pilot or planning study. Four new modes of private legal services have been identified: (1) "clinical" law firms with a walk-in practice, (2) "mass" market law firms which offer walk-in service and legal insurance programs, (3) "traditional" law firms which receive insurance referrals, and (4) non-profit law firms attached to labor unions. The pilot project will include open-ended interviews with new providers of legal services as well as on site observation of each of these work settings. Because they appear to be replacing attorneys in solo practice, the latter also are in included in this typology to develop a control group for comparison. The success of for-profit new providers rests on the incorporation of a business model into the delivery of a professional service. But each of the requirements of the new model undermines traditional notions of professional work. Marketing a legal commodity contradicts the passive, service orientation of traditional law practice. Standardization challenges the tradition of individualized treatment. And comparing the output and productivity of lawyers throws into question the professional's control and autonomy of work. While the not-for-profit firm does not operate in a competitive market environment, attorneys are treated as "employees", with analogous erosion of the old professionalism. These ongoing changes in the delivery of private legal services raise descriptive and analytic questions that are germane to socio-legal research, organizational theory, and the sociology of the professions. The project investigates how attorneys have responded to these changes in the fabric of their practice and addresses the implications of these developments for understanding the nature of professional work in the late twentieth century.

如今，个体律师事务所和小律师事务所面临着来自营利性和非营利性律师事务所的日益激烈的竞争。 这些“新的法律服务提供商”的营销策略各不相同，但都取得了相当大的成功。 然而，这一层次的法律职业对法律实践的影响尚未得到系统的研究。 这是当前试点或规划研究的任务。 已经确定了四种新的私人法律服务模式：(1) 提供上门服务的“临床”律师事务所，(2) 提供上门服务和法律保险计划的“大众”市场律师事务所，(3) “接受保险转介的传统律师事务所，以及 (4) 隶属于工会的非营利律师事务所。 该试点项目将包括与新的法律服务提供者进行开放式访谈以及对每个工作环境的现场观察。 因为他们似乎正在取代单独执业的律师，所以后者也包含在这种类型中，以建立一个对照组进行比较。 营利性新提供商的成功取决于将商业模式纳入专业服务的提供中。 但新模式的每一项要求都破坏了专业工作的传统观念。 营销合法商品与传统法律实践的被动、服务导向相矛盾。 标准化挑战个体化治疗的传统。 比较律师的产出和生产力引发了对专业人员对工作的控制和自主性的质疑。 虽然非营利性公司不在竞争性市场环境中运营，但律师被视为“雇员”，旧的专业精神也受到了类似的侵蚀。 私人法律服务提供方面的这些持续变化提出了与社会法律研究、组织理论和职业社会学密切相关的描述性和分析性问题。 该项目调查了律师如何应对其执业结构的这些变化，并探讨这些发展对理解二十世纪后期专业工作性质的影响。