LPRG director and members present papers at the Legal Profession Working Group

The meeting took place in Oñati, Spain at the International Institute for the Sociology of Law.

On 24 and 25 June 2024, Legal Professions Research Group (LPRG) director Professor Hilary Sommerlad and members Dr Laurène Soubise and Mr Alex Batesmith remotely presented papers at the Legal Profession Working Group’s annual meeting.

This was an excellent opportunity for LPRG academics to publicise the Group and to advance its aim of engaging with global interdisciplinary scholars.

Professor Sommerlad presented her paper ‘Rise and fall of activist lawyers’ cultural capital: reflections on a linked process of de-professionalisation and the de-humanisation of a clientele’ in the first session on Legal Professional Values and Identities.

This was followed by Mr Batesmith who discussed his paper ‘Our “authentic” professional selves’: experiences of identity formation, power relations and EDI among aspiring and junior barristers.’

Dr Soubise delivered her paper ‘The impact of managerialism on CPS lawyers’ sense of legitimacy’ in the final session.

Professor Sommerlad will collate the papers presented in the legal professional values and identities stream. They will be published in a guest-edited special issue of the International Journal of the Legal Profession entitled ‘A Crisis of Identity: the impact of neo-liberal reforms on law and justice professionals a leading journal on the legal profession.’