Year
2023
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy
Department
School of Law
Abstract
This thesis examines the central question of how the responsibilities of being a director of an incorporated legal practice (ILP) may impact upon the lawyer’s ethical professional identity. It investigates how the participants construct their director identity and explores the motivations behind the decision to become an ILP director. Additionally, it considers how these lawyer directors view and manage the ‘duality’ involved between the roles of lawyer and director, particularly in relation to their ethical obligations owed to their clients, the administration of justice, and the legal profession.
This research seeks to fill a gap in empirical study investigating a new site of professional community, the ILP director. Through analysing the two different professional identities that the lawyer director inhabits, this thesis considers whether the individuals are able to readily integrate the two, perhaps even leverage them to perform more effectively in each role, or whether they find it problematic, managing competing aspects of being both lawyer and director.
Recommended Citation
Murray, Karina, The ethical professional identities of ILP lawyer directors: Integrated, leveraged, or problematic?, Doctor of Philosophy thesis, School of Law, University of Wollongong, 2023. https://ro.uow.edu.au/theses1/1751
FoR codes (2020)
4804 Law in context, 4899 Other law and legal studies
Unless otherwise indicated, the views expressed in this thesis are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the University of Wollongong.