Alex Batesmith contributes a chapter to 'Leading Works on the Legal Profession'
Alex Batesmith has contributed a chapter to the collection 'Leading Works on the Legal Profession', published on 28 July 2023 by Routledge and edited by Dr Daniel Newman.
Mr Batesmith, joint co-ordinator of the Legal Professions Research Group, discusses Austin Sarat and Stuart Scheingold's 'Something to Believe In: Politics, Professionalism and Cause Lawyering', published in 2004 and still widely regarded as one of the seminal texts on cause lawyering.
Mr Batesmith said. “In writing this chapter to explain the ongoing influence and relevance of this book, not just on my own work but on contemporary understandings of the role of lawyers in society, I was delighted to be able to speak to Professor Sarat about what motivated him in his scholarship on the legal profession.
“We agreed that themes of lawyers' motivation and professional self-perception, and independent, ethically-driven legal representation, often in the face of considerable state disapproval, continue to be of real relevance today.”
Routledge describes the collection as “an innovative and engaging way of assessing the development of legal profession scholarship and its potential future development by presenting an analysis of the "leading works" of the discipline.”
A representative said: “The book was written by prominent and emerging international scholars in the field, with each contributor having been invited to select and analyse a work which has for them shed light on what the legal profession is and what it does.
“The chapters explore the effect that the chosen work has had upon legal profession scholarship as a whole, both within particular jurisdictions and internationally. Contributors also reflect upon the likely implications of the leading work on the future study of and application to the legal profession.”
