The Legal Profession and Legal Services: Explorations in Local Bar Politics

Abstract

“Students of law and society have grown increasingly aware of the contribution to the character of the legal system made by the attorney in his professional role.” In his capacity as “gate keeper to the courts” the private attorney is a significant actor in the judicial process, especially at the community level (Jacob and Vines, 1963: 251). His decisions, formulated within limits set by the norms, rules, and expectations of the profession (i.e., bar associations) initially determine who has a right to lodge a grievance, at what cost, under what conditions, and to what ends. The Legal Services Program of the Office of Economic Opportunity provides a unique opportunity to explore the professional values and attitudes of lawyers, because the Program challenges the traditional prerogatives of bar associations in controlling access to the legal resources. The three aspects of the Program representing the most serious challenge to the traditional practice of law are: (1) OEO's insistence that local programs utilize the legal process as an instrument of social and political reform on behalf of the poor; (2) the conscious, though wavering, effort to structure programs so as to insure their independence from local bar domination; and (3) the concept and practice of “maximum feasible participation” of the poor in the actual management of local programs. The response of private practitioners to the OEO challenge provides some insights into such matters as the profession's criteria for gatekeeping and the lawyers' instruments of control.

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