Lawyers in society: a celebration of the work of Philip Lewis and his legacy

This paper begins by explaining Philip Lewis’s key contribution to the development of legal professions studies, culminating in the three volume comparative work Lawyers in Society to which he contributed and co-edited with Rick Abel [(1988a) Lawyers in Society: Vol I The Common Law World (Berkeley, University of California Press); (1988b) Lawyers in Society: Vol II The Civil Law World (Berkeley, University of California Press); (1989a) Lawyers in Society: Vol III Comparative Theories (Berkeley, University of California Press)]. We discuss how this project led to the establishment of the RCSL International Working Group for Comparative Studies of Legal Professions–http://rcsl.iscte.pt/rcsl_wg_professions.htm–and, thirty years later, inspired our current work: Lawyers in 21st Century Societieshttps://www.bloomsburyprofessional.com/uk/lawyers-in-21st-century-societies-9781509915156/. We outline the parameters of both studies, focusing particularly on their methodology, and summarise some findings from the current study. We conclude by acknowledging the enormous debt this owes to Philip Lewis.