Incorporating and Selling Legal Services Plans: The Declineof Solo Practice

独立律师事务所和小律师事务所面临的竞争日益激烈 来自营利性和非营利性律师事务所 的 这些法律的服务"新提供者"的营销战略 有各种各样的，但每一个都取得了相当大的成功。 的 这一层法律的专业对 然而，法律尚未得到系统的审查。 这是 目前的试点或规划研究的任务。 四种新模式 私人法律的服务的主要特点是：（1）"诊所" 律师事务所与步行实践，（2）“大众”市场的律师事务所 提供上门服务和法律的保险计划，（3） 接受保险转介的"传统"律师事务所，以及 (4)附属于工会的非营利性律师事务所。 试点 项目将包括与新的供应商的开放式访谈， 法律的服务以及现场观察 工作设置。 因为他们似乎在更换律师 独奏练习，后者也包括在这个类型学 建立一个对照组进行比较。 营利性新提供商的成功取决于 将商业模式纳入到 专业服务。 但新的每一项要求 这种模式破坏了传统的专业工作观念。 营销一种法律的商品与被动的、服务的 传统法律实践的取向。 标准化 挑战了个体化治疗的传统。 和 比较律师的产出和生产力， 质疑专业人员对工作的控制和自主权。 而 非营利组织并不在竞争性市场中运作 环境，律师被视为“雇员”， 旧的专业精神也受到了类似的侵蚀。 这些正在进行的变化，在交付私人法律的 服务提出了描述性和分析性问题， 与社会法律研究、组织理论和 职业社会学。 该项目调查如何 律师们对这些变化的反应是， 实践和解决这些发展的影响， 了解后期专业工作的性质 世纪。

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.