Once court-centered, lawyer work now chiefly keeps clients out of litigation

Evidence

Nowadays, many lawyers never see the inside of a courtroom. They give advice and, if possible, keep clients out of litigation. In the early nineteenth century, lawyers’ work centered much more on the courtroom than today. Judges in many parts of the country “rode circuit.” That is, they went from county seat to county seat, hearing cases. Lawyers traveled along with them. Abraham Lincoln rode circuit in Illinois before he went into politics. — Lawrence M. Friedman and Grant M. Hayden, American Law, 1218

Categorization

• DEFINE: Clarifies ‘riding circuit’ as a concrete early-American institutional practice.
• XREF: connects to: Corporate lawyers’ real value lay in transactional skill, not courtroom advocacy — Lawrence M. Friedman and Grant M. Hayden, American Law: An Introduction, 1228; Lawyer involvement may substitute for judicial supervision in approving employee settlements — Henry M. Hart, Jr. and Albert M. Sacks, The Legal Process: Basic Problems in…, 4623; The practice of law shifted from courtroom litigation to transactional work — Lawrence M. Friedman, A History of American Law, 3621 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• The practice of law shifted from courtroom litigation to transactional work #corroborates (1.00) — Lawrence M. Friedman, A History of American Law, 3621
• Most practicing lawyers serve as counselors rather than courtroom litigators #corroborates (0.95) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 892
• Continuous corporate legal needs drove the shift to retainer practice #expands (0.88) — Lawrence M. Friedman and Grant M. Hayden, American Law, 1227