Document Type
Article
Publication Date
6-1978
College/Unit
WVU College of Law
Abstract
The legal profession offers little opportunity for the practitioner to analyze the fundamental constructs underlying the legal system or the dynamics of the lawyering process. Jurisprudence and legal education traditionally have emphasized the external aspects of law, implying that man is a rational decisionmaker who freely controls his life and shapes societal institutions., This approach is unrealistic because it neglects the psychological dimension of man and the complexity of man's behavior. Jurisprudential scholars and legal educators should recognize that a growing body of sophisticated literature in linguistics and anthropology as well as social psychology and psychiatry is also relevant to the study of the lawyer in society. This essay adopts a socio-psychological frame of reference and explores the images and guises of the lawyer as a professional in an attempt to add a new perspective to contemporary philosophy of lawyering.
Original Publication Title
Virginia Law Review
Digital Commons Citation
Elkins, James R., "The Legal Persona: An Essay on the Professional Mask" (1978). Law Faculty Scholarship. 15.
https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/law_faculty/15
Source Citation
James R. Eklins, The Legal Persona: An Essay on the Professional Mask, 64 Va. L. Rev. 735 (1978).
Comments
The copyright of this article is owned by the Virginia Law Review Association and it is included in the Research Repository @ WVU with their permission.