Defining Professionalism in the Bar: Comments on Landon's Article: [Comment]

Abstract

Professor Landon is to be commended for his recent article,' which takes a first systematic look at rural lawyers-a group about whom we have little data. But his study raises a number of issues concerning the American bar as a whole. The primary problem I have with Landon's article is not with his descriptive data. My difficulty centers on the generally unexamined standards his analysis assumes. I will explain why I feel these standards are problematic for the bar, even, in light of long-term trends, for the elite urban lawyer. They are particularly unfortunate when applied to lawyers other than those in large law firms in a handful of major cities.