Both advocate and activist: The dual careers of cause lawyers

Using data from in-depth interviews with activist lawyers, this dissertation addresses the role of lawyers in social movements. Activist lawyers are a subculture within the legal profession who work to reconcile the multiple identities that they experience as "professionals" and "activists". The data illuminates the ways in which lawyers enter into activism, how they manage their personal and professional identities, and what the consequences of activism are for them professionally and personally. This work challenges the assumption that lawyers act according to their professional roles and have a "deradicalizing" impact on movements. With the exception of the hired gun, who may in fact act as a lawyer, most activist lawyers compare to other activists in their range of behavior, identity processes, and consequences of activism. Activist lawyers are not limited to legal roles, and being a lawyer is not always a factor in their activism. Those that are characterized as "core activist lawyers" are embedded in activist networks that allow them to maintain both work and activist roles and identities without much conflict. They have successfully negotiated their professional identities and roles so that they correspond with their activist roles and identities. Findings also contribute to our understanding of professionals in social movements, provide rich data on the role and identity processes in movements, and broaden our understanding of one segment of the legal profession