The thesis proposes an alternative conceptualisation of legal professional identity through consumer-based lifestyles. It examines how cultural practices of consumption and consumer-based lifestyles provide the platfom for the articulation of legal professional identity and contemporary legal practice. The thesis deploys, challenges and supplements the Maffesolian notion of neo-tribal sociality concerning the conceptualisation of legal professional identity. It conveys new meanings to legal professional identity by exposing the shift towards a consumer-based sociality. It takes into account more sensuous forms of cultural practices of consumption and consumer-based lifestyles. I so doing, it uses a wide range of methodological approaches such as analysis of legal press material and qualitative interviewing in order to expose the consumer-based aspects of the legal profession. In addition, the thesis uses the leisure-based consumption of clubbing, as a case study, an example of neo-tribal sociality that is regarded as sensuous, aestheticised and emotional but outside the scope of legal practice. It also explores the impact of clubbing on professional identity formation. Based on the study of a small group of radical lawyers, the use of clubbing reveals alternative forms of transgression, socialising and networking, which conform to the changing consumer-based ethos of contemporary legal practice. It also offers distinctive interpretations of gender, class and age in modern day legal profession. The thesis exposes the potential of consumer-based identications to add new perspectives to the conceptualisation of legal professional identity formation.

This thesis presents the results from a study that qualitatively assessed how practicing lawyers perceive effectiveness in legal negotiations. The results from this study suggest that practicing lawyers primarily perceive effectiveness in legal negotiations subjectively rather than based on objective criteria, and that their subjective perception of client satisfaction is the most important factor in their determination of overall effectiveness. Both the reputations of practicing lawyers, as well as the relationships between the parties involved in legal negotiations including the relationship between the lawyers themselves, were identified as being particularly important to practicing lawyers in relation to how and what they perceive as being effective. The effect of these factors appear to be related directly to the size and structure of the legal market with the findings suggesting that smaller legal markets populated by specialist repeat player lawyers such as is found in Scotland may act to heighten the influence of both reputations and relationships. This study also suggests that lawyers differentiate between the tone of negotiation behaviour and the content of the behaviour and that this distinction is important to their perception of effectiveness. The lawyers involved predominantly perceived themselves to have a negotiation behavioural style characterised as 'reasonable' and more 'cooperative' in nature than 'competitive', with the analysis suggesting the nature of their style is likely to be in the nature of a 'reasonable/compromiser' with little evidence found of any true interest based value creating types of behaviour being dominant. Finally, although the motivations in relation to legal negotiations held by practicing lawyers in the study appear to be linked to perceptions of effectiveness, no evidence was found that suggests specific motivations are linked to any particular negotiation style.

This thesis explores how self-employed barristers responded to the reforms that have reshaped the profession in the last 25 years, to assess if and how their professional lives and perceptions of Bar identity and culture have changed as a result. The loss of its advocacy monopoly, cuts to legal aid, the liberalisation of the rules governing the Bar’s working structures and external regulation go to the core of the reforms. It is a qualitative study, based on semi-structured interviews with barristers and chambers staff, together with observation in chambers, at court and at informal and formal Bar events over a period of 18 months, triangulated by in-depth reading of the trade press, the national media, social media and official pronouncements from the profession’s representative and regulatory bodies for the same period. The study takes into account the literature on the sociology of the professions and tests its applicability to the Bar’s distinct and idiosyncratic structures and ways of working. It considers Abbott’s (1988) professional development thesis, which focuses on jurisdictional battles between professions for control over tasks and the attendant changes that emerge as a result of such conflicts. It further considers a range of studies on the concept of professionalism and, with reference to the legal profession, how it has been developed in the light of commercial, regulatory and managerial reform. It concludes that much of that literature focuses either on other professions or on the solicitor branch of the legal profession, which are different in structure, governance and professional culture and is thus not always applicable. The findings develop existing research on the Bar or create new knowledge and point to a more commercially oriented and management driven Bar. The chambers model has evolved significantly, as have practitioners’ views and methods of seeking work, in an effort to be more customer-centred and competitive. Regulatory reforms have reshaped chambers’ organisation and accountability, as well as entry, selection and training processes. Pupillage numbers are down, obliging prospective new entrants to be even more highly qualified, motivated and entrepreneurial to get in. The dramatic reduction in legal aid, together with a decrease in work has resulted in a two-tier profession, with something of a winner/loser dichotomy. Although interviewees share a strong sense of professional identity and culture, there are those that feel the profession has fragmented.

The objective of this research is to evaluate the effectiveness of the development of professional judgement during the two year work-based pre-admission training period (PEAT 2) required of Scottish solicitors so as to identify a model that allows them to respond to the changes the UK legal services sector is experiencing. The methodology adopted throughout reflects an emphasis on researching knowledge in the context of its application (Flyvbjerg 2001). Professional judgement is described as the ‘heart of professional practice’ (Fish and Coles 1998) and is therefore selected to provide a holistic method of evaluation. The UK legal profession is fragmenting in its response to market pressures, including the introduction of external regulation and ‘alternative business structures’ under the Legal Services Act 2007 and increased globalisation, specialisation and commoditisation. It is therefore important to identify the traditional method used by Scottish solicitors to develop their judgement as there is a risk that what was previously implicit and assumed in this ‘community of practice’ (Wenger 1998) becomes dissipated. As a result, the relevance and application of judgement is considered in the context of professional practice and solicitors in particular. The effect of external influences are interpreted, including in relation to the job of a solicitor, the future development of judgement and implications for legal education. The research method adopted enables confidential data to be obtained about the development of professional judgement and the PEAT 2 processes through completion of semi-structured interviews with a number of Scottish law firms, the Law Society of Scotland and related regulatory organisations, supplemented with Scottish trainee focus groups and comparative data from illustrative law firms and regulators in England and Wales. This allows 10 detailed case studies of law firms to be developed and analysed using Eraut’s (2007) model of early career learning and Fuller and Unwin’s (2003) model of expansive and restrictive apprenticeships as well as providing commentary from experienced solicitors and regulatory sources on the development of professional judgement. This allows 10 detailed case studies of law firms to be developed and analysed using Eraut’s (2007) model of early career learning and Fuller and Unwin’s (2003) model of expansive and restrictive apprenticeships as well as providing commentary from experienced solicitors and regulatory sources on the development of professional judgement. This data enables an analysis of the effectiveness of the current Scottish pre-admission training processes and the identification of methods used to develop the judgement of novices. Findings indicate that elements of the formal requirements of PEAT 2 are limiting the experiential and reflective learning of trainees and, in the wider context of work-based learning, that professional judgement is developed through exposure to reflective practice in a ‘community’ that provides an expansive apprenticeship and establishes parameters of acceptable choices. Recommendations include adjustments to pre-admission legal training and the introduction of a specialist qualification, accredited by the Law Society of Scotland.