This is the first theory-guided empirical research seeking to identify the correlates and contributors to the well-being and life satisfaction of lawyers. Data from several thousand lawyers in four states provide insights about diverse factors from law school and one’s legal career and personal life. Striking patterns appear repeatedly in the data and raise serious questions about the common pr...

Earnings inequality has increased substantially since the 1970s. How much does this re‡ect decreases in coordination costs that allow individuals to better exploit returns to skill? We provide evidence on this question using con…dential Census data on U.S. law o¢ ces. We …rst show that earnings inequality among lawyers increased substantially between 1977 and 1992, and that the distribution of ...

The legal profession has relatively high rates of depression and career dissatisfaction. It has been suggested that positive psychology, which correlates the greater use of individual character strengths with increased life satisfaction and success, may have the answers. In this study, 17 women lawyers named to a top lawyers list compiled by the Super Lawyers rating service, took the online Bri...

As a law student with some background in moral philosophy and applied ethics, naturally I was drawn to thinking about the big ethical questions facing lawyers. “Read Lawyers and Justice, by David Luban,”1 my legal ethics seminar professor suggested. I did, and I was immediately hooked. Lawyers and Justice was a powerfully argued, elegant, and persuasive refutation of the view that the obligatio...

This paper takes the increasing internationalisation of professional service firms (PSFs) and recent institutionalist perspectives on embedded agency as opportunity to explore how the interplay of normative settings can create opportunities for institutional work. Using observational and interview data from an embedded single case study in a global law firm, the paper examines how banking lawye...