The 40 pieces in this volume address a wide range of questions concerning the legal profession and its increasing impact on American society, which contains more lawyers per capita than any other country.

Lawyers brings together thirty-five outstanding excerpts and articles on the legal profession in the first reader to address the whole range of vital questions concerning lawyers and their increasing impact on all aspects of society. Are lawyers merely hired guns or are they morally responsible for the clients they represent? Who does and does not obtain legal services? How does law school make students more conservative? Can law contribute to the creation of a more just society?

Comprehensive and provocative, Lawyers offers a broad overview, critically examining the occupation’s claim to professional status, describing dramatic changes both at home and abroad, and looking at the ways lawyers govern and monitor themselves. The book also examines who is admitted to the bar, emphasizing those long excluded—women and racial minorities—and the range of jobs lawyers perform, especially the two extremes of private practice: solo or small firms, and megafirms with thousands of employees in offices around the world.

Lawyers is the perfect book for a country of would-be Clarence Darrows—and their many admirers and critics.