Chicago Lawyers: The Social Structure of the Bar.

TLDR

The legal profession has expanded in size, diversity, and influence, yet it remains stratified largely by client type rather than service type, leading to unequal status and power among lawyers. The study seeks to uncover what drives the systematic allocation of status, power, and economic reward among lawyers and how a social structure organizes their roles within the bar and the broader community. Using extensive personal interviews with nearly 800 Chicago lawyers, the authors examined client–lawyer relationships to assess how lawyers’ client choices shape their professional trajectories. The analysis shows that lawyers who serve one client type rarely serve another, and that their political, ethno‑religious, and social ties align with those of their clients, mirroring the prestige distribution tied to client dichotomy. Originally published in 1983, this work has been substantially revised to better serve students and laypersons alike.

Abstract

The legal profession has grown immensely in size, diversity, and influence but some lawyers clearly have more influence than others. What determines the systematic allocation of status, power and economic reward among lawyers? What kind of social structure organizes lawyers' roles in the bar and in the larger community? As John P. Heinz and Edward O. Laumann demonstrate, the legal profession is stratified primarily by the character of the clients served, not by the type of legal service rendered. Using data from extensive personal interviews with nearly 800 Chicago lawyers, the authors show that lawyers who serve one type of client seldom serve the other. Furthermore, lawyers' political, ethno-religious and social ties are very likely to correspond to those of their clients, and the distribution of prestige among lawyers reflects the dichotomy of client types. This volume raises questions about law and the nature of professionalism, questions addressed in the provocative and far-ranging final chapter. This work was originally published in 1983 and has been substantially revised to better serve students and laypersons alike. It offers a sophisticated and comprehensive analysis of lawyers' professional lives.