Partners with Power : The Social Transformation of the Large Law Firm

## xv xvi Acknowledgments dation's Program in Law and the Social Sciences (Grant no. SOC 79-20246) also provided helpful support. Four other institutions must be thanked anonymously. To the four firms who opened their doors to an unprecedented degree to a young sociologist, I owe an immense debt of gratitude. They had the courage to look at themselves from a new and potentially disturbing perspective. I am especially thankful to the lawyers who acted as my contacts within the firms. Had it not been for the respect they commanded in their organizations and their commitment to the worth of the project, the study would not have been possible. The list of colleagues who helped in various ways runs to embarrassing length. The other members of my dissertation committee, Bob Bell, Howie Becker, and Kent Smith, provided useful comments and encouragement throughout the project. Other friends at Northwestern University and the American Bar Foundation made helpful suggestions at various stages of the research and writing, including Ray Solomon, This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press's mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1988.