This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by LIVELY, K. J. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Client Contact and Emotional Labor

Upsetting the Balance and Evening the Field

Indiana University kalively{at}indiana.edu

This article examines the effect of client contact on the emotional labor performed by paralegals employed in both consumer- and commercial-oriented law firms. Consumer-oriented law refers to specialties that deal primarily with the interests of corporations. The consumer-oriented paralegals in this study identified three themes in their interactions with clients that increased their likelihood of engaging in emotional labor: the clients' emotional states, clients' lack of knowledge regarding legal proceedings, and their own roles as organizational buffers. Whereas consumer-oriented paralegals are held to a higher standard of emotional labor performed for the benefit of clients, their increased level of substantive involvement may, in fact, release them from the emotional labor that commercial-oriented paralegals are required to perform for the benefit of attorneys.

Work and Occupations, Vol. 29, No. 2, 198-225 (2002)
DOI: 10.1177/0730888402029002004


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				M. Blair-Loy Work Without End?: Scheduling Flexibility and Work-to-Family Conflict Among Stockbrokers Work and Occupations, November 1, 2009; 36(4): 279 - 317. [Abstract] [PDF]

				S. Hald Andersen Unemployment and Subjective Well-Being: A Question of Class? Work and Occupations, February 1, 2009; 36(1): 3 - 25. [Abstract] [PDF]

				S. Bolton and D. Muzio The paradoxical processes of feminization in the professions: the case of established, aspiring and semi-professions Work Employment Society, June 1, 2008; 22(2): 281 - 299. [Abstract] [PDF]

				S. Timmermans Professions and Their Work: Do Market Shelters Protect Professional Interests? Work and Occupations, May 1, 2008; 35(2): 164 - 188. [Abstract] [PDF]

				M. George Interactions in Expert Service Work: Demonstrating Professionalism in Personal Training Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, February 1, 2008; 37(1): 108 - 131. [Abstract] [PDF]

				R. Hodson, V. J. Roscigno, and S. H. Lopez Chaos and the Abuse of Power: Workplace Bullying in Organizational and Interactional Context Work and Occupations, November 1, 2006; 33(4): 382 - 416. [Abstract] [PDF]

				M. M. Sloan The Effects of Occupational Characteristics on the Experience and Expression of Anger in the Workplace Work and Occupations, February 1, 2004; 31(1): 38 - 72. [Abstract] [PDF]

				M. V. Boyle and J. Healy Balancing Mysterium and Onus: Doing Spiritual Work within an Emotion-Laden Organizational Context Organization, May 1, 2003; 10(2): 351 - 373. [Abstract] [PDF]