The Making of Lawyers' Careers

"[The Making of Lawyers' Careers] disputes law firms' explanation for why women and minorities disproportionately leave law firms before partnership consideration. . . . [their] data provides important insight into why current efforts to improve diversity in the legal profession are plateauing." * Trial Magazine * "The Making of Lawyers Careers is essential reading for lawyers, law students, and anyone interested in the practice of law, lawyers careers, and the impact of law and lawyers on American culture and politics. Every chapter is a gem . . . In recent years, some law schools have supplemented the required legal ethics or law governing lawyers class with various offerings about the legal profession, law practice, and lawyers careers. The Making of Lawyers Careers should be a required reading in these types of classes. Indeed, it ought to become a cornerstone of every lawyers library." * Jotwell * "This in-depth examination of diverse attorneys career journeys presents a remarkably nuanced analysis of data, individual narratives, and the patterns that emerge between them. The result is a textured map that allows leaders to holistically identifyand addressthe mile markers and roadblocks that propel or impede a diverse lawyers career." -- Robert Grey | president, Leadership Council on Legal Diversity This massive study of lawyers careersthe most ambitious and comprehensive ever undertakenis marvelously revealing, not only of the structure of the profession but of the felt experience of being a lawyer in 21st century America. -- Robert W. Gordon | Stanford University

Robert L. Nelson is the MacCrate Research Professor at the American Bar Foundation and professor of sociology and law at Northwestern University. Ronit Dinovitzer is professor of sociology at the University of Toronto. Bryant G. Garth is Distinguished Professor of Law Emeritus at the University of California, Irvine. Joyce S. Sterling is professor of law emeritus at the University of Denver College of Law. David B. Wilkins is the Lester Kissel Professor, Vice Dean for Global Initiatives on the Legal Profession, and Faculty Director of the Center on the Legal Profession, Harvard Law School. Meghan Dawe is a resident research fellow at the Center on the Legal Profession at Harvard Law School. Ethan Michelson is professor of sociology and law at Indiana University.

Note on Authorship Part 1 Introduction 1 Introduction: The Making of Lawyers Careers 2 From the Golden Age to the Age of Disruption: Setting the Context for Lawyers Careers in the New Millennium Part 2 The Structure of Lawyers Careers 3 Change and Continuity in the Legal Field: From Walled-Off Hemispheres to More or Less Mixed Hierarchical Sequences 4 Race, Class, and Gender in the Structuring of Lawyers Early Careers 5 Two Hemispheres Revisited: Fields of Law, Practice Settings, and Client Types Part 3 The Narratives of Lawyers Careers 6 Moving Up and Moving On: Careers in Law Firms 7 Rethinking the Solo Practitioner 8 Moving Inside: Practicing Law in Business Organizations 9 Commitment, Careerism, and Stratification: Careers in Government, Nonprofits, and Public Interest Organizations Part 4 Inequalities of Race and Gender 10 White Spaces: The Enduring Racialization of American Law Firms, with Vitor M. Dias 11 Student Debt and Cumulative (Dis)Advantage in Lawyers Careers 12 Hegemonic Masculinity, Parenthood, and Gender Inequality, with Andreea Mogosanu Part 5 Public Roles and Private Lives 13 Dualities of Politics, Public Service, and Pro Bono in Lawyers Careers, with Ioana Sendroiu 14 Lawyers Satisfaction and the Making of Lawyers Careers, with Ioana Sendroiu Part 6 Conclusion 15 Conclusion: Structure and Agency in the Making of Lawyers Careers Acknowledgments Notes References Index