Where Are the Legal Professions Heading? Selected Papers of the International Working Group for Comparative Studies of Legal Professions

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue represents a collection of selected papers of the International Working Group for Comparative Studies of Legal Professions. This call is addressed to all members of the different sub-groups:

1. Ethics, Deontology;
2. Family, policy and the Law;
3. International Lawyering and Large Law Firms;
4. Judiciary;
5. Lawyers and Clients;
6. Legal Aid;
7. Legal Education;
8. Legal Professional Values and Identities;
9. Regulatory Reform;
10. Women/Gender in the Legal Profession;
11. Project 2018;
12. Histories of Legal Professions;
13. Lawyers and Imperialism.

This Special Issue is centered on a fundamental research question that characterizes the comparative studies on these topics: where are the legal professions heading? The focus is therefore on past, present, and, especially, future of the legal professions, both in Europe and outside Europe, in civil law and common law systems, in the north and south of the world. The legal professions, in fact, are facing important challenges, as expecially the issue of their internal heterogeneity—e.g., the gap between the now dominant business lawyers and the judicial bar, each one with different interests, ethics and regulations. This Special Issue aims to contribute to the current interdisciplinary debate on the legal professions, which represent the pivotal “protagonists” of interpretation and application of law, delivery of justice and protection of people’s rights.

Dr. Benoit Bastard
Dr. Luca Verzelloni
Guest Editors