abstract: 'This article examines the quality of part-time employment for solicitors

  in private practice in Australia. Although full-time jobs based on long

  hours are dominant in the legal profession, part-time jobs, primarily

  taken by women, have attracted attention in recent years. The article

  seeks to answer fundamental questions about the extent and quality of

  these jobs, and how well they serve the needs of the increasingly

  diverse workforce. The article draws on recent surveys and in-depth

  interviews, as well as Census and other secondary data to describe the

  features of the part-time workforce and to explore aspects of poor

  quality such as limited access, inferior job content, stalled career

  progression and narrow schedules. It suggests that the major barrier to

  improving the quality of part-time jobs is the dominant model of

  full-time work in law firms, centred on heavy workloads, high targets of

  `billable hours'' and long working hours.'
affiliation: 'Campbell, I (Corresponding Author), RMIT Univ, Ctr Appl Social Res,
  GPO Box 2476, Melbourne, Vic 3001, Australia.

  Campbell, Iain; Malone, Jenny, RMIT Univ, Ctr Appl Social Res, Melbourne, Vic 3001,
  Australia.

  Charlesworth, Sara, Univ S Australia, Hawke Res Inst, Ctr Work Life, Adelaide, SA
  5001, Australia.'
author: Campbell, Iain and Charlesworth, Sara and Malone, Jenny
author-email: 'iain.campbell@rmit.edu.au

  sara.charlesworth@unisa.edu.au'
author_list:
- family: Campbell
  given: Iain
- family: Charlesworth
  given: Sara
- family: Malone
  given: Jenny
da: '2023-09-28'
doi: 10.1177/1440783311408970
eissn: 1741-2978
files: []
issn: 1440-7833
journal: JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY
keywords: gender; job quality; legal profession; long hours; part-time work
keywords-plus: WORK
language: English
month: JUN
number: '2'
number-of-cited-references: '40'
orcid-numbers: Charlesworth, Sara/0000-0001-6975-9283
pages: 149-166
papis_id: 38cce87b8cd46c305674486ea67922a7
ref: Campbell2012parttimewhat
researcherid-numbers: Charlesworth, Sara/F-1098-2011
times-cited: '15'
title: Part-time of what? Job quality and part-time employment in the legal profession
  in Australia
type: article
unique-id: WOS:000304662800003
usage-count-last-180-days: '7'
usage-count-since-2013: '26'
volume: '48'
web-of-science-categories: Sociology
year: '2012'