Cheaper by the Hour

Temporary Lawyers and the Deprofessionalization of the Law

Business & Finance, Career Planning & Job Hunting, Labor, Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Sociology
Cover of the book Cheaper by the Hour by Robert A. Brooks, Temple University Press
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Author: Robert A. Brooks ISBN: 9781439902875
Publisher: Temple University Press Publication: March 4, 2011
Imprint: Temple University Press Language: English
Author: Robert A. Brooks
ISBN: 9781439902875
Publisher: Temple University Press
Publication: March 4, 2011
Imprint: Temple University Press
Language: English

Recent law school graduates often work as temporary attorneys, but law firm layoffs and downsizing have strengthened the temporary attorney industry. Cheaper by the Hour is the first book-length account of these workers.

Drawing from participant observation and interviews, Robert A. Brooks provides a richly detailed ethnographic account of freelance attorneys in Washington, DC. He places their document review work in the larger context of the deprofessionalization of skilled labor and considers how professionals relegated to temporary jobs feel diminished, degraded, or demeaned by work that is often tedious, repetitive, and well beneath their abilities.

Brooks documents how firms break a lawyer's work into discrete components that require less skill to realize maximum profits. Moreover, he argues that information technology and efficiency demands are further stratifying the profession and creating a new underclass of lawyers who do low-end commodity work.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Recent law school graduates often work as temporary attorneys, but law firm layoffs and downsizing have strengthened the temporary attorney industry. Cheaper by the Hour is the first book-length account of these workers.

Drawing from participant observation and interviews, Robert A. Brooks provides a richly detailed ethnographic account of freelance attorneys in Washington, DC. He places their document review work in the larger context of the deprofessionalization of skilled labor and considers how professionals relegated to temporary jobs feel diminished, degraded, or demeaned by work that is often tedious, repetitive, and well beneath their abilities.

Brooks documents how firms break a lawyer's work into discrete components that require less skill to realize maximum profits. Moreover, he argues that information technology and efficiency demands are further stratifying the profession and creating a new underclass of lawyers who do low-end commodity work.

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