Brotherhood of Barristers
A Cultural History of the British Legal Profession, 1840–1940

A critical investigation of masculinity, the gentlemanly professional, and the exclusionary culture of the British legal profession.

Ren Pepitone (Author)

9781009456746, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 18 April 2024

236 pages
23.5 x 16 x 1.5 cm, 0.489 kg

'With careful research, an impressive grounding in existing scholarship, and great clarity, Ren Pepitone beautifully illustrates the ways in which the Inns of Court not only cultivated a certain brand of professional gentlemanliness but simultaneously balanced a reverence for history with a sometimes-ambivalent embrace of modernity in a changing Britain.' Paul Deslandes, The University of Vermont

How did ideas of masculinity shape the British legal profession and the wider expectations of the white-collar professional? Brotherhood of Barristers examines the cultural history of the Inns of Court – four legal societies whose rituals of symbolic brotherhood took place in their supposedly ancient halls. These societies invented traditions to create a sense of belonging among members – or, conversely, to marginalize those who did not fit the profession's ideals. Ren Pepitone examines the legal profession's efforts to maintain an exclusive, masculine culture in the face of sweeping social changes across the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Utilizing established sources such as institutional records alongside diaries, guidebooks, and newspapers, this book looks afresh at the gendered operations of Victorian professional life. Brotherhood of Barristers incorporates a diverse array of historical actors, from the bar's most high-flying to struggling law students, disbarred barristers, political radicals, and women's rights campaigners.

A Primer on the Bar
Introduction
1. The Metropolitan Inns
2. The Culture of the Bar
3. Gentlemanliness, Etiquette, and Discipline
4. Overseas Students
5. Women and the Bar
Epilogue
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: 20th century history: c 1900 to c 2000 [HBLW]