Incorporating and Selling Legal Services Plans:  The Declineof Solo Practice
{'Code': '04050200', 'Directorate': {'Abbreviation': 'SBE', 'LongName': 'Direct For Social, Behav & Economic Scie'}, 'Division': {'Abbreviation': 'SES', 'LongName': 'Divn Of Social and Economic Sciences'}}
{'SignBlockName': 'Lisa Martin', 'PO_EMAI': None, 'PO_PHON': None}
Solo and small-firm lawyers face increasing competition                    today from the for-profit and not-for-profit law firm.  The                     marketing strategies of these "new providers" of legal services                 are varied but each has met with considerable success.  The                     impact of this tier of the legal profession on the practice of                  law, however,has not yet been systematically examined.  This is                 the task of the present pilot or planning study.  Four new modes                of private legal services have been identified: (1) "clinical"                  law firms with a walk-in practice, (2) "mass" market law firms                  which offer walk-in service and legal insurance programs, (3)                   "traditional" law firms which receive insurance referrals, and                  (4) non-profit law firms attached to labor unions.  The pilot                   project will include open-ended interviews with new providers of                legal services as well as on site observation of each of these                  work settings.  Because they appear to be replacing attorneys in                solo practice, the latter also are in included in this typology                 to develop a control group for comparison.                                           The success of for-profit new providers rests on the                       incorporation of a business model into the delivery of a                        professional service.  But each of the requirements of the new                  model undermines traditional notions of professional work.                      Marketing a legal commodity contradicts the passive, service                    orientation of traditional law practice.  Standardization                       challenges the tradition of individualized treatment.  And                      comparing the output and productivity of lawyers throws into                    question the professional's control and autonomy of work.  While                the not-for-profit firm does not operate in a competitive market                environment,  attorneys are treated as "employees", with                        analogous erosion of the old professionalism.                                        These ongoing changes in the delivery of private legal                     services raise descriptive and analytic questions that are                      germane to socio-legal research, organizational theory, and the                 sociology of the professions.  The project investigates how                     attorneys have responded to these changes in the fabric of their                practice and addresses the implications of these developments for               understanding the nature of professional work in the late                       twentieth century.
{'FirstName': 'Carroll', 'LastName': 'Seron', 'PI_MID_INIT': None, 'PI_SUFX_NAME': None, 'PI_FULL_NAME': 'Carroll Seron', 'EmailAddress': 'seron@uci.edu', 'NSF_ID': '000472559', 'StartDate': '07/01/1988', 'EndDate': None, 'RoleCode': 'Principal Investigator'}
{'Name': 'CUNY Baruch College', 'CityName': 'NEW YORK', 'ZipCode': '100105585', 'PhoneNumber': '6463122211', 'StreetAddress': '1 BERNARD BARUCH WAY', 'StreetAddress2': None, 'CountryName': 'United States', 'StateName': 'New York', 'StateCode': 'NY', 'CONGRESSDISTRICT': '12', 'CONGRESS_DISTRICT_ORG': 'NY12', 'ORG_UEI_NUM': 'CBKYNSMGNDD5', 'ORG_LGL_BUS_NAME': 'RESEARCH FOUNDATION OF THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK', 'ORG_PRNT_UEI_NUM': None}
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{'Code': '912000', 'Text': 'CROSS-DIRECTORATE PROGRAMS'}
{'url': 'https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/download?DownloadFileName=1988&All=true', 'xml': '8808754.xml'}