Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2002

Abstract

Larry Mitchell's book describes the movement toward share price maximization by corporate managers. More intensive market competition both domestically and abroad has led managers to believe that their corporations have little choice but to focus on short-term profits. This practice leads to greater instability for corporate workers and efforts to externalize other costs on third parties. It also intensifies the erosion of "local" cultural practices that are seen as impediments to profit maximization, whether they are associated with countries abroad, communities in the United States, or within the corporation itself. In this process, the norms of the market gain increasing influence as the impetus for the rhythms of daily life even beyond the formal institutions of the economic system. Professor Mitchell has done an admirable job of laying out the implications of this development for many aspects of modern life both here and abroad, thereby indicating the wide impact of corporate behavior. In this essay, I want to focus on how the changes in the corporation that Professor Mitchell describes have prompted similar shifts in another important social institution: the large American corporate law firm.

Publication Citation

70 Geo. Wash. L. Rev. 931-943 (2002)

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