Sheldon Krantz begins The Legal Profession: What Is Wrong and How to Fix It by saying that the legal profession is in trouble, and should be. He then covers what is wrong by describing the current state of the legal profession, the emergence of BigLaw, the changing nature of law practice, and the access to justice crisis. This is followed up by addressing what needs to be done and setting forth a specific agenda to address its deficiencies:

•   Make the legal profession more responsive to client and public service needs;
•   Resolve the access to justice crisis;
•   Involve law schools more directly in legal profession reform; and
•   Create a new organization with a mandate to promote necessary changes in the legal profession on an ongoing basis.

He points out both promising developments as well the forces resisting change and identifies ways to overcome resistance to change and to transform the legal profession into the noble calling it should be.

Author Sheldon Krantz is a Distinguished Visiting Professor of Law at the University of Maryland Carey School of Law. For close to two decades, he was a litigation partner at DLA Piper, one of the world's largest law firms, where he founded and headed New Perimeter, its award-winning international pro bono nonprofit affiliate. Previously, Krantz served as dean of the University of San Diego Law School and as a law professor at the Boston University Law School, after working as a Massachusetts criminal justice agency director and federal prosecutor.