SOCIOLOGY OF THE LEGAL PROFESSION WITH RESPECT TO PUBLIC INTEREST LAW
This research examines the sociology of the legal profession in the United with respect to public interest law. Conceptually, public interest law tends to be perceived both as the advocacy of a social cause, such as human rights or the welfare of children, and as the extension of legal services to persons otherwise unable to afford such services through public defender programs or the provisions of services pro bono through major law firms (Becton, 1991, pp. 58-62; Lee, 1992, pp. 16-23). At times, these two conceptions of public interest law meld into a single activity, such as the Children's Defense Fund (CDF), through which the interests of children as perceived by adults operating the organization are pursued through the legislative and legal systems (Shoop, 1991, pp. 83-84).
The Pursuit of Public Interest Law Through Advocacy of Social Causes
Public interest law is by an large a manifestation of the pursuit of social causes. The very name public interest law tends to create misconceptions of public understanding related to the justness or desirability of the causes pursued and the motivations of the people pursuing those causes. One case in point with respect to the justness or desirability is the Children's Defense Fund. Promoting the protection and welfare of children certainly appears on it face to be a noble objective to most people (Kaus, 1993, pp. 21-25). When CDF founder and guiding light Marian Edelman attempts to promote the idea only children have real problems and that problems such as they are that confront adults should not be addressed if such action means curtailing any CDF objective, as she frequently does, however, support for the CDF public interest group tends to wane (Kaus, 1993, p. 22).
Equally misleading are the factors that motivate individual lawyers such as Marian Edelman to pursue public int...