1. Legal Education as a Professional Socialization Process: An Analysis from the French Perspective.
- Author
-
Zimmermann, Hélène
- Subjects
- *
LEGAL education , *SOCIOLOGY , *SOCIALIZATION - Abstract
The socialization of law students is a classical issue in the sociology of the legal profession. Major contributions originate from North America, and especially the U.S. As far as France is concerned, few is known about the impact of years spent in law school on professional values and occupational future. In such matters, national culture and history cannot be ignored, in spite of a trend towards globalization. Consequently, I propose to draw some conclusions from empirical studies (especially case studies) I conducted amongst law students and lawyers, especially in France and, to a lesser extent, in Toronto (Canada). More specifically, I will first point out the main results mentioned in the scientific literature about legal education as part of a process of professional socialization. Then, I will stress on the common points and differences between both post-secondary and professional contexts in France and in North America in order to better understand the issues that are at stake in France regarding the relationship between legal education and the legal professions. Finally, I will focus on some of the main results I found out with my data. This will lead to understand to what extent analyses mentioned in the literature apply to the French case. More generally, this paper aims at contributing to the analyses of the interaction between post-secondary education and the legal professions, their changes and their social reproduction. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2008