Making of Lawyers' Careers

Robert L. Nelson is the MacCrate Research Professor at the American Bar Foundation and professor of sociology and law at Northwestern University. Ronit Dinovitzer is professor of sociology at the University of Toronto. Bryant G. Garth is Distinguished Professor of Law Emeritus at the University of California, Irvine. Joyce S. Sterling is professor of law emeritus at the University of Denver College of Law. David B. Wilkins is the Lester Kissel Professor, Vice Dean for Global Initiatives on the Legal Profession, and Faculty Director of the Center on the Legal Profession,  Harvard Law School. Meghan Dawe is a resident research fellow at the Center on the Legal Profession at Harvard Law School. Ethan Michelson is professor of sociology and law at Indiana University.

"[The Making of Lawyers' Careers] disputes law firms' explanation for why women and minorities disproportionately leave law firms before partnership consideration. . . . [their] data provides important insight into why current efforts to improve diversity in the legal profession are plateauing."

• Note on AuthorshipPart 1   Introduction1          Introduction: The Making of Lawyers’ Careers2          From the Golden Age to the Age of Disruption: Setting the Context for Lawyers’ Careers in the New MillenniumPart 2   The Structure of Lawyers’ Careers3          Change and Continuity in the Legal Field: From Walled-Off Hemispheres to More or Less Mixed Hierarchical Sequences4          Race, Class, and Gender in the Structuring of Lawyers’ Early Careers5          Two Hemispheres Revisited: Fields of Law, Practice Settings, and Client TypesPart 3   The Narratives of Lawyers’ Careers6          Moving Up and Moving On: Careers in Law Firms7          Rethinking the Solo Practitioner8          Moving Inside: Practicing Law in Business Organizations9          Commitment, Careerism, and Stratification: Careers in Government, Nonprofits, and Public Interest OrganizationsPart 4   Inequalities of Race and Gender10        White Spaces: The Enduring Racialization of American Law Firms, with Vitor M. Dias11        Student Debt and Cumulative (Dis)Advantage in Lawyers’ Careers12        Hegemonic Masculinity, Parenthood, and Gender Inequality, with Andreea MogosanuPart 5   Public Roles and Private Lives13        Dualities of Politics, Public Service, and Pro Bono in Lawyers’ Careers, with Ioana Sendroiu14        Lawyers’ Satisfaction and the Making of Lawyers’ Careers, with Ioana SendroiuPart 6   Conclusion15        Conclusion: Structure and Agency in the Making of Lawyers’ CareersAcknowledgmentsNotesReferencesIndex