Lawyers, the State and the Market: Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea

Chapter 2 suggested that the 1970s and 1980s were a time of change for the profession. It argued that both the state and capital were demanding alterations in the way the profession delivered its services. This chapter will put some flesh on those suggestive bones. The basic argument is that both of these groups sought changes in terms of the ideology and the practices of the profession. Thus they set about changing the way in which the services delivered were assessed, they questioned the professionals’ methods, they favoured firms that they deemed more responsive to client needs, and so on. In short, they demanded changes from within professional firms and from the profession more generally. There thus ensued a dispute over the definition of professionalism. However, the emergence of this dispute is not to suggest that the profession rejected these advances. Some of the profession rejected them, while others saw opportunities in them which they eagerly reached out to take. The profession’s response was not homogeneous nor, it should be stated, is it here suggested that the state or capital were completely united behind these changes. It seems reasonable to suppose that elements of all three groups initiated change while other elements rejected it. Given that the state has been so forceful in its relationship with the professions over the past twenty years, it may be helpful to start with the state-professional relationship in the 1980s (Burrage 1992).