Blackstone's Tower: The English Law School - College of Social ...

Appendix
few of the deviations are large or likely to be particularly significant.
34 Nor is this convergence particularly surprising. In respect of
pay, promotion, terms of service and in many other ways they have
been treated much the same as other academics. 35 This may be a
reflection of the broader thesis that since the Second World War
nearly all major public changes and decisions affecting the discipline
of law in universities have been much more part of changes in
higher education than of developments in legal practice and the
legal system. 36 By and large this evidence suggests that academic
lawyers are generally integrated into the academic profession.
There is clearly a need for further research into the academic
legal profession over and above the current work by Professors
Sugarman and Leighton. Becher and Halsey are almost unique in
providing a basis for comparing academic lawyers with colleagues
in other disciplines. Both samples are small and relate to different
times (1980 and 1989) in a rapidly changing context. It is possible
that by using a questionnaire technique that dealt with attitudes
and context Halsey's work would tend to encourage convergence;
Becher suggests that academic culture is fragmented, but this is
related more to ideas.
As Becher acknowledges, sub-disciplines may be a better unit
for comparison than whole disciplines 37 (commercial lawyers, legal
theorists and public international lawyers belong to different clans,
if not tribes) and it is probably also the case that comparing lawyers
with other applied or soft disciplines would also be illuminating. A
specific study would need an appropriate theoretical framework.
This is clearly just a modest start.
Notes
1 For more substantial essays on academic lawyers see "The Law Teacher as a
Superstar", ALLD and "Good-bye to Lewis Eliot", (1980) JSPTL (NS) 2; see also
the ILC Report, op. c/fc, paras 217-37 and Chap. 4, n. 31-34.
2 op. cit, at p. 30.
3 T. Bergin, (1968) 54 Virginia L. Rev. 637; a useful survey of the American literature
on the theme is Douglas D. McFarland "Self-images of Law Professors"
(1985) 35 J. Legal. Educ. 232.
4 Above, Chap. 2.
s Halsey's main sample was larger, but this was weighted and included Scotland.
The population used here covers academics in universities and polytechnics in
England and Wales. This is a preliminary analysis, comparing the responses of
law teachers (hereafter L) to the rest (hereafter R) in response to Halsey's questionnaire
(Halsey's questions are referred to as q.1, q.2, etc.) which is printed in
Decline of Donnish Dominion (hereafter DDD), Appendix 1. The figures are
expressed in percentages, e.g. L 70 / R 65 means 70% of lawyers compared to
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