Business of Practicing Law

"The changing small law practice is portrayed in this lively and astute book, against the backdrop of the complex web of a changing urban environment, the participation of women in the profession, and the new technology. Seron's rich and important study will be a resource for scholars on the professions and the general public wanting to know what it means to be 'on your own' these days." - Cynthia Fuchs Epstein, author of Women in Law "In this book Carroll Seron provides invaluable new insight into the work lives of lawyers practicing solo and in small firms... This book cautions scholars to be more sensitive to the heterogeneity of the legal profession and offers to prospective lawyers practical insights on the complex choices they will face if they enter solo or small firm practice, while providing bar leaders with a fresh perspective on an important part of the profession." - Robert MacCrate, Former President, American Bar Association "Carroll Seron has written a penetrating, comprehensive account of that half of all American lawyers who practice alone or in small firms... Through lengthy interviews with more than a hundred lawyers in greater New York, Seron makes their work, feelings, and aspirations come vividly to life... Her book will be invaluable to sociologists of the professions; but its most avid readers are likely to be solo and small firm practitioners, who will find their daily dilemmas sympathetically portrayed and perceptively explained." - Richard L. Abel, Connell Professor of Law, UCLA

• Preface Acknowledgments 1. Professionalism versus Commercialism 2. The Terrains of Postindustrialization 3. Negotiating Time 4. Getting Clients 5. Organizing Practices 6. "The Managing-Marketing End" 7. Serving Clients and Consumers 8. Serving the Public 9. The Social Patterns of Private Professional Practice Notes Cases Cited References Index