INTRODUCTION

For centuries, the legal profession constituted an exclusive club of white, middle-class men. Although the last few decades have seen a dramatic increase in female and ethnic minority entrants, research shows that a successful legal career is far from being equally open to all. This raises the question whether affirmative action should be introduced by the legal profession.

A positive answer has implications extending beyond legal practice. This is because the advanced educational qualifications, and the intellectual and other skills required of entrants, which are thought to guarantee high quality services to clients, mean that appointing and promoting on merit is regarded as particularly important in professional and other skilled occupations.

Indeed, it can be argued that legal academics have a special duty to ensure that those they purport to admit to law school on merit and prepare for practice do not later find their career prospects hampered by their social background. In addition, for those wishing to ensure a more general acceptance of affirmative action, persuading the legal profession that it is just and practicable is a useful starting place, since lawyers are better placed than most occupational groups to secure an end to the current legal prohibition on `strong'1 forms of affirmative action.

The legal profession is morally and, as far as gender and race are concerned, legally obliged not to discriminate in distributing jobs and promotions. Currently the legal profession does so discriminate. Existing measures are unlikely to eradicate such discrimination even in the medium term. If appropriately designed and implemented, quotas and decision-making preferences can reverse patterns of exclusion. Consequently, unless there are strong countervailing considerations or insurmountable practical problems, they should be introduced into legal practice.

In the rest of this article we will speak about current situation and the existing problems in the legal profession and legal system in the USA.

LEGAL PROFESSION IN THE USA

THE LEGAL SYSTEM OF THE USA

CONCLUSION

There was a time, long ago, in the USA when lawyers were illegal. All persons in court had to represent themselves and have a decent grasp of the law.

This had several effects:

1. It kept legal action short. You could only keep a case going as long as you could afford to be gone.

2. It kept the law simple. When everyone is forced to know the law you don't end up with the million page monster that USA current laws are. This is, I think, the biggest bonus. How can you keep the law when you don't even know the law? It became a big problem currently in the USA, and corrupted or greed lawyers and judges make money on it.

But at the same time if you kill the lawyers then the criminalities will be in an even better place than before. One problem with the current legal system is that it's believed that two lawyers, both fighting hard for their clients, can after much muckraking and slander finally uncover the truth and find justice. And I come back to the same question: what defines justice? How can a lawyer knowingly fight on behalf of guilty man and demand for his client what is not justice? What defines justice? Is it money?

As one can notice there are a lot of problems in the modern American legal system: corruption, untruly revenues and often unequal access of citizens to the judgment. The system is sophisticated and uncontrolled.

Analyzed all the previous information I can state with very much confidence that American legal system needs reforms in the area of organization.

LITERATURE

1. Acheson, Patricia C., Our Federal Government, How It Works, Dodd, Mead & Co., New York, 1984.

2. Burke, Thomas F. Lawyers, Lawsuits and Legal Rights. California, 2002

3. Carp, Robert A., Stidham, Ronald, Judicial Process in America, Congressional Quarterly Inc., Washington, D.C., 1993.

4. Curran, Christopher (1993), ‘The American Experience with Self-Regulation in the Medical and Legal Professions’. Regulation of Professions, Antwerpen, Maklu, 47-87

5. Gillers, Stephen; Simon, Roy D. Regulation of Lawyers: Statutes and Standards. New York, 2001

6. Hazard, Geoffrey C. Jr.; Rhode, Deborah L. The Legal Profession: Responsibility And Regulation Westbury, 1994

7. Lee, Katherine J., Courts & Judges, How They Work, Halt, Inc., 1987.

8. M. Thornton, Dissonance and Distrust Women in the Legal Profession (1996)

9. Morgan, Thomas D.; Rotunda, Ronald D. Problems and Materials on Professional Responsibility New York, 1995

10. Rhode, Deborah L. In the Interests of Justice- Reforming the Legal Profession . USA, 2000

11. Vago, Steven Law and Society. St.Louis, 2000

12. Wasby, Stephen L., The Supreme Court in the Federal Judicial System, Nelson-Hall Publishers, Chicago, 4th ed. 1996.

[1] from the preamble to Supreme Court Rule 4

INTRODUCTION

For centuries, the legal profession constituted an exclusive club of white, middle-class men. Although the last few decades have seen a dramatic increase in female and ethnic minority entrants, research shows that a successful legal career is far from being equally open to all. This raises the question whether affirmative action should be introduced by the legal profession.

A positive answer has implications extending beyond legal practice. This is because the advanced educational qualifications, and the intellectual and other skills required of entrants, which are thought to guarantee high quality services to clients, mean that appointing and promoting on merit is regarded as particularly important in professional and other skilled occupations.

Indeed, it can be argued that legal academics have a special duty to ensure that those they purport to admit to law school on merit and prepare for practice do not later find their career prospects hampered by their social background. In addition, for those wishing to ensure a more general acceptance of affirmative action, persuading the legal profession that it is just and practicable is a useful starting place, since lawyers are better placed than most occupational groups to secure an end to the current legal prohibition on `strong'1 forms of affirmative action.

The legal profession is morally and, as far as gender and race are concerned, legally obliged not to discriminate in distributing jobs and promotions. Currently the legal profession does so discriminate. Existing measures are unlikely to eradicate such discrimination even in the medium term. If appropriately designed and implemented, quotas and decision-making preferences can reverse patterns of exclusion. Consequently, unless there are strong countervailing considerations or insurmountable practical problems, they should be introduced into legal practice.

In the rest of this article we will speak about current situation and the existing problems in the legal profession and legal system in the USA.

LEGAL PROFESSION IN THE USA

REGULATION OF THE LEGAL PROFESSION

The legal profession is regulated at state level (and not at federal level) by the highest court of each state. A US attorney can practise and appear in the courts of the jurisdiction/state in which he/she was admitted.  Attorneys may have rights of practice and audience in other States by virtue of rules which allow for admission pro hace vice. In addition, the rules of a number of State Bars in the US allow for "Admission on Motion", i.e. admission to another state without examination in the case of attorneys already qualified in other US states. The criteria for such admission differ from state to state, but usually involve minimum periods spent in practice.

The interim report, which was presented to the House of Delegates some years ago, makes recommendations easing the practice of law by US lawyers in states other than their state of admission. It also eases the position on the temporary practice of home law in the U.S. by Foreign Lawyers with a proposed amendment to its Model Rule for the Licensing of Legal Consultants. US State Bars fall into 2 categories:

1. Unified State Bars: membership is compulsory in order for an attorney to be able to practise; membership, therefore, serves the purpose of a practising certificate.

2. Non-Unified State Bars: membership is voluntary and as such, these bars have no regulatory powers.  

On a national level, the profession is represented by the American Bar Association (ABA). Membership of the ABA is not compulsory, although it does have approximately 400,000 members. The ABA holds an annual meeting, which is the largest annual gathering of lawyers in the world, and is attended by approximately 12,500 international lawyers. The Law Society organises a programme of events at the ABA's annual meeting in order to raise awareness of the solicitors' profession and to facilitate contacts between English and Welsh solicitors and American attorneys.

Most states require a three year American law degree (Juris Doctor) in order to sit the State Bar examination. Some states recognise equivalent foreign legal qualifications or admittance to a foreign bar in an English common law jurisdiction but may require the applicant to take further courses in U.S. law at an ABA approved law school.

In some US States it is possible to practise as a Foreign Legal Consultant under home title (for instance as a solicitor). As a Foreign Legal Consultant, it is possible to advise on home country law and international law, but not to appear in court. The ABA commission on Multijurisdictional Practice referred to above has recently strongly encouraged those US States without a foreign Legal Consultants regime to introduce one.

One more type of regulation of the legal profession is self-regulation. Often self-regulation is seen as arising from the social institution of trust: a social contract between society and the profession mitigates the moral hazard problem arising from the information asymmetry. However, they recognize that safeguards are required, particularly to ensure that the profession does not operate as a cartel. They also feel that the various professions will act as watchdogs on each other.

Self-regulation may reduce the cost of the regulator acquiring information and makes adjustments to regulations easier. These benefits need to be compared to the potential efficiency losses due to the potential for cartel-like behavior. Even where regulation by a professional body is deemed an appropriate solution it has been argued that the public interest would be protected best by having a number of professional bodies in competition with each other.

Regulation may not be the only solution to the information asymmetry problem. Independent rating agencies have been suggested as a solution or the use of repeat purchasers to perform the agency function on behalf of infrequent purchasers. Competition can also generate its own quality signals.

The current state of the discussion in the conceptual literature is such that although some authors recognize the potential problem arising from the asymmetry of information between client and professional, considerable skepticism remains on whether traditional self-regulation is a solution to the problem or a source of even greater welfare loss.

Scientists have identified a number of instruments typically used by self-regulators of the legal profession which may work against the public interest:

(i) restrictions on entry;

(ii) (ii) restrictions on advertising and other means of promoting a competitive process within the profession;

(iii) restrictions on fee competition;

(iv) restrictions on organizational form.

A separate although connected literature has developed on restrictions on the nature of fee contracts between lawyers and clients.