The Independence of Lawyers

Abstract

In this article, I want to sort out, in a preliminary and tentative way, what lawyers historically have meant by professional independence and how they have pursued their vision of independence in their practices. I will try to figure out how we may assess the very frequently made claim that lawyers' professional independence has declined. If the independence of lawyers is something desirable-though in fact it may not always and everywhere be so-we need to discover the conditions under which it flourishes, and ask how we might create or recreate those conditions. This is an awesomely large subject, but all I want to develop here is a survey-a sort of schematic catalogue raisonne-of some of the main issues, and some preliminary ideas about them.