Three postwar developments transformed lawyers from autonomous professionals into employees

Evidence

Finally, a transformation has occurred in the practice of law and the delivery of legal services in the United States. For most of the nation’s history, the typical lawyer was a solo practitioner or a partner in a very small firm. But three developments during the second half of the twentieth century have altered the practice of law. First, the number of large law firms has increased dramatically, as have the size of those firms, with the largest firms employing hundreds of attorneys in branch offices throughout the nation and abroad. Second, corporations and governments at all levels now hire far more lawyers than in the past. As a result, attorneys today increasingly are employees rather than autonomous professionals. Third, governmental officials and the legal profession have recognized that segments of the American public cannot normally afford the legal services they need. This recognition has led to government programs designed to provide legal aid, such as public defender programs and the Legal Services Corporation. It has also led the legal profession to introduce innovations designed to attract new clients by making legal services more affordable. Such innovations as legal clinics, the contingent fee, and prepaid legal services have altered the way legal services are delivered and paid for. How successful these efforts to increase the accessibility of legal services have been, and to what extent they have given reality to the goal of equal justice for all, remains a matter of dispute. — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 769

Categorization

• SEED: The contingent fee, legal clinics, and prepaid services as access tools could anchor an article on how legal affordability mechanisms reshape the justice/equality ideal.
• XREF: connects to: American legal practice shifted from solo and small-firm work toward large firms. — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 1196; Even preeminent professionals become constrained by rigid organizational rules — Michael Lipsky, Street-Level Bureaucracy: Dilemmas of…, 197

Broader Connections

• American legal practice shifted from solo and small-firm work toward large firms. #expands (0.85) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 1196
• Even preeminent professionals become constrained by rigid organizational rules #corroborates (0.80) — Michael Lipsky, Street-Level Bureaucracy, 197