Abstract
This stuy is about hierarchj within the legalprofession - how itpresents itself, how it is retained, and how it is combated. The soio legal literature on this subject is rich, with many roots tracing back to Professor Marc Galanter famous early 1970s article on the Haves' and Have-Nots.' Galanter'spiece and the work of those influenced by him rghty suggest that resources - institutional, financial, and demogr'phic - contribute to whether lawyers are, and remain as, part of the Haves.' Yet, while resources of course greaty matter, as this studj will argue other forces are sgn fcant as well. One set, in particular, relates to what the socialpschology literature has termed mobbing aphenomenon that contributes to the reinforcing of hierarchy through certain aggressive and passive tactics that those withpower use to consolidate their reigns and hinder the upward mobility of the emploees beneath them. In the setting of the legal profession, the result can be an environment where Have-Not' lawyers within an ofice are commonly left to feel insecure, powerless, and stuck in the legal emploment positions in which the find themselves. To evaluate how resources and mobbing interact, this stuy returns to the place from where Galanter's original inspiration for the 'Haves' article came: India. The results of a multi-year ethnography are presented on th Indian crporate bar. Since India liberaliZed its econom in 1991, numerous Indian corporate lawfirms have thrived, even post-2008. But often steep professionalpyramids exist within these firms -_perpetuated by those wnith power exerting a combination of resource-advantages and mobbing-techniques - that can leave lower-level lawyers eeling excluded from this success. To combat this hierarchical status quo, unhapp layers are increasingy peeling-of to start their own new law firm enterprises. Peel-off lawyers are thus seeking to become the new Haves.' However, the goal forpeel-of lawyers is not solely to earn higher incomes but also to create environments that are more democratic, transparent, and humane. As this studj argues, such opportunities are now possible because of a more liberal, globaliZed economy, and given the commitment to greater egalitarian norms, this development is indeed welcome, especialy as the next generation of corporate lawyers emerges within India.
Custom Citation
Jayanth K. Krishnan, 'Peel-Off Lawyers: Legal Professionals in India's Corporate Law Firm Sector' (2013) 9(1) Socio-Legal Review 1
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.55496/THRJ6406
