This paper presents the findings of the first empirical study of the experiences of young lawyers who have entered an increasingly uncertain profession following a highly competitive education and recruitment process. These ‘millennial lawyers’ are framed by a narrative of ‘difference’. This ‘difference’ is commonly articulated negatively and as a challenge to organisational and professional norms. However, our findings suggest a more complex reality. In its synthesis of work on structure and agency, with the temporal focus required by generational sociology, this paper advances an original approach to the analysis of organisational and professional change within contemporary legal practice. Drawing on new empirical research, it demonstrates that although our sample shares many field-level expectations, there is also considerable stress, unhappiness and discomfort. This is generated by a complex interaction between the lawyers’ expectations of practice, and the structuring properties of the field. Thus, the capacity for organisational and professional change is more comprehensively understood within a temporal frame. This paper challenges academic and professional paradigms of generational change within the legal field. It concludes with recommendations for legal educators and the profession which foreground the complexity of millennial lawyers’ expectations of practice.

中文翻译：

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远大的期望：千禧一代的律师和当代法律实践的结构

本文介绍了第一次对年轻律师的经验进行实证研究的结果，这些年轻律师在竞争激烈的教育和招聘过程之后进入了一个越来越不确定的职业。这些“千禧一代律师”被“差异”的叙述所框定。这种“差异”通常被消极地表述为对组织和专业规范的挑战。然而，我们的研究结果表明了一个更复杂的现实。在对结构和代理工作的综合中，以代际社会学所要求的时间焦点，本文提出了一种分析当代法律实践中组织和专业变化的原创方法。借鉴新的实证研究，它表明虽然我们的样本有许多领域层面的预期，但也存在相当大的压力，不快乐和不适。这是由律师对实践的期望与该领域的结构属性之间复杂的相互作用产生的。因此，在时间框架内更全面地理解组织和专业变革的能力。本文挑战了法律领域内代际变化的学术和专业范式。最后，它为法律教育者和职业提出了建议，这些建议突出了千禧一代律师对实践的期望的复杂性。本文挑战了法律领域内代际变化的学术和专业范式。最后，它为法律教育者和职业提出了建议，这些建议突出了千禧一代律师对实践的期望的复杂性。本文挑战了法律领域内代际变化的学术和专业范式。最后，它为法律教育者和职业提出了建议，这些建议突出了千禧一代律师对实践的期望的复杂性。