Globalization
How has the globalization of economic activity and the movement of a significant amount of that activity from the traditional centers in the Global North to the emerging economies in the Global South, impacted the legal profession?
Research Projects
Globalization, Lawyers and Emerging Economies (GLEE)
The project on Globalization Lawyers and Emerging Economies—or GLEE—is designed to conduct original, empirical research and to examine how globalization is reshaping the market for legal services in important emerging economies around the world.
GLEE India
The GLEE India research team is pursuing the first comprehensive set of studies examining the changes in the Indian corporate legal sector and its effects throughout the legal profession. This includes studying Indian and foreign law firms, in house counsel, legal process outsourcing, trade law capacity and capacity building, senior advocates, legal profession regulation, legal education, the role of gender, small town lawyers, diversity concerns, and pro bono and public interest lawyering.
GLEE Brazil
GLEE’s research in Brazil represent the most extensive work done to date on the intersection between the Brazilian legal profession and globalization. The research covers GLEE’s core topic areas including: law firms, in-house counsel, gender and the profession, legal education, legal capacity building, regulation of the profession, public interest, and political economy.
GLEE China
With China’s modernizing legal system and the increasingly important roles that Chinese companies play in the global economy, Chinese lawyers face both strong challenges and great opportunities in the age of globalization. GLEE China research is the first comprehensive empirical study that examines all sectors of the Chinese corporate legal market, including domestic and international elite law firms, corporate counsel, legal education, inbound and outbound investments, and public interest lawyering.
GLEE Africa
Many countries throughout Africa are developing a new corporate legal sector, including large and sophisticated law firms and in-house legal departments. Yet, there is very little systematic information about how this sector is developing, and how it is likely to affect the ability of multinational companies and other transnational actors to work with institutions to help countries within the region develop the stable legal institutions essential to the continent’s economic, political, and social development. GLEE Africa seeks to fill this gap.
GLEE Comparative Project
In this project, we utilize data from an unprecedented set of empirical studies to document the rise of this new corporate ecosystem in India, Brazil, and China, and to develop grounded theory about the forces that have produced this transformation, and that help to explain differences among the three jurisdictions.
Opportunities
Want to get involved in our work? Check out our opportunities.