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ERIC Number: EJ1366038
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2022
Pages: 22
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1359 6748
EISSN: EISSN-1747-5112
Available Date: N/A
#Mypathtolaw: Understanding Access to the Legal Profession through a Ricoeurian Analysis
Flanagan, Ruth; Mountford-Zimdars, Anna; Channon, Matthew
Research in Post-Compulsory Education, v27 n3 p478-499 2022
We investigated the narratives of enablers and barriers to entry into law communicated through 650 UK tweets posted under the twitter hashtag #mypathtolaw in 2018. Law students, solicitors, barristers and legal academics used this hashtag for sharing their personal paths to a legal career. We use Ricoeur's theory of dialogues between the archaeology (past) and the teleology (future) of the self. This has previously been applied to legal ethics, but never before to understanding access to the legal profession. Our findings show that tweeters had a strong narrative of agency and ability to succeed against adversity -- perhaps underplaying structural barriers. Notable through its absence is the reference to structural barriers, such as class, school, and university type and the converse individual narratives of perseverance. We find that poor or discouraging careers advice had been a significant barrier. We conclude with recommendations for schools, universities and the legal profession around diversifying the narratives used to showcase legal careers and suggest that universities engaging in training for careers advisors may further widen participation.
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: United Kingdom
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A