Practicing Lawyers and Professional Legal Competence - An Articulation Episode

Abstract

What do practicing lawyers think about issues of competence? Do they have a lexicon or a vernacular which allows them to describe professional competence and to use this in a didactic way to raise levels of competence? How does any such approach of practicing lawyers match up with what has been written by researchers or professional course trainers on this subject? The work of Peer Review has provided an important set of opportunities to begin considering these questions. In this paper we address the content of the Guides written by peer review panels as a means of describing to their peers what would be the ingredients of good work in their subject areas.

Keywords: Legal Profession, Professional Competence, Peer Review, Legal Serivces, Legal Aid, Lawyers, Quality