Working Group on the Comparative Study of Legal Professions

William L. F. Felstiner

The International Sociological Association (ISA) works through research committees, one of which is the Research Committee on Sociology of Law (RCSL). Adam Podgórecki (1925–1998) and William Evan founded the RCSL during the Cold War to bring sociology of law to the heathen—that is, to countries in which it did not exist, and to support the sociology of law in states in which it was threatened by government, predominately the countries of Eastern Europe. Though the RCSL had limited success in those endeavors, it has acted in Europe, Latin America, and Japan as an antidote to the threat, real or imagined, of the cultural imperialism of the American Law and Society Association. Politics aside, sociolegal scholars actualize the RCSL intellectually through working groups. One of these—in fact, the largest and most productive—is the Working Group on the Comparative Study of Legal Professions. The Working Group was the brainchild of Philip Lewis ...

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