Learning to be a lawyer in transnational law firms: communities of ...

Table 3: National variations in the institutional ensembles that define best practices, attitudes and
values – i.e. the identity - of legal practitioners
Source: Authors’ research and Morgan and Quack (2005)
Regulation or norm
forming institutional
ensemble
UK Germany Italy
Length of formal
education associated
with qualifying as a
lawyer
Between 2 and 4
years
Between 6 and 8 years
7 to 8 years on average
Legal code and
informal ethos
attached to it and
promoted in education
Common law –
precedents and
interpretation of
statues to resolve
client problems
Civil law – application
of scientific principles
of the law should be
used to advise clients of
legality of actions
Civil law – application of
scientific principles of the
law should be used to
advise clients of legality
of actions
Norms of lawyers’
relationship with
clients, as promoted
by defined role of
lawyer in a country
Lawyers as client
service providers;
meeting clients
needs whilst
maintaining
standards defined
by regulators
Lawyers are civil
servants; primarily duty
is to the court not the
client and regulations
strictly enforced
Lawyers as independent
arbiters of law; clients
needs are paramount in a
system where
manipulating the civil
code for a client’s benefit
is seen as standard
practice due to lax
enforcement of
regulations
Norms in terms of
mode of corporate
legal practice
Firm- and large
team-based practice
dominates as in the
common law model
lawyer provide
‘consultancy’
services to big
business (also
known as megalaw)
Until recently
autonomous individuals
dominated as lawyers
were civil servants
providing scientific
advice on the law and its
requirements (firms with
more than 50 lawyers
did not exist until 1990
in Germany)
Small firms as lawyers
seen as scientific advisors
manipulating legal
technicalities to meet the
needs of business.
Powerful partners
dominate firms as all
firms must be named after
a practicing partner
Relevant national
business system model
Arm’s length Collaborative Particularistic
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