The document summarizes preliminary results from research on Legalit, an online discussion group for Italian lawyers. It finds that most participants are male, self-employed civil lawyers in their 30s-40s, with a small number of clients. They use Legalit primarily to exchange information and opinions, and build technical competence. While it functions as a community, most members do not socialize or join professional associations offline. They develop a stronger affiliation with the online community than with their profession as a whole.

1. XVII ISA World Congress of Sociology
Professional communities online: the
case of Legalit
– preliminary results –
Ivana Pais – University of Brescia (pais@jus.unibs.it)
Angela Palmieri – University of Calabria
(angie.ap@libero.it)

2. Agenda
• Theoretical background
• Research questions
• Empirical setting
• Methodology
• (Preliminary) results
• Discussion
• Next steps

3. Theoretical background
Online
Sociology professional Sociology
of professions communities of new media

4. Theoretical background
Sociology of professions: profession as communities?
A profession, as a whole, cannot be defined as 'community',
unless you consider only the superior layer, for social origin
and for position in the stratification.
Reasons: processes of inside stratification tied to different
opportunities of career, forms of exercise of the profession,
specializations, professionals associations, colleagues and -
particularly for the lawyers - clienteles.
(Hughes 1958; Freidson 1983, 1984, 1986; Abbott 1986, 1988;
Tousijn 1987; Speranza 1999)

5. Theoretical background
Sociology of new media: online communities
• They are a way of accessing an open and frequently
democratic group of peers dealing with similar knowledge
issues, even if geographically distributed (Ahuja et al., 2003)
• They are ‘communities’, even if virtual: sharing of common
interests (Lave, Wenger 1991); sharing of a space, even if not
physical; pact of trust; sense of belonging; collective identity
(Rheingold 1993; Stone, 1991).
• Imagined communities (Anderson, 1991)
• Personalized communities embodied in me-centered
networks (Wellman, 2000); privatization of sociability
(Castells, 2001)

6. Research questions
Online communities of practice can be considered as
‘professional communities’?
RQ1. What are the distinctive characteristics of the
professionals who participate?
RQ2. What is their functioning logic?
RQ3. Do the members develop a sense of stronger affiliation
with their profession or with the community online (van
Knippenberg, van Schie 2000; Levin 2005)?

7. Empirical setting
• The first (and most active) Italian discussion group for jurists,
founded in 1993
• In the last year, it has differentiated its online presence
through various platforms:
▫ a Google Group (Legalit), opened in April 2007, 439
members;
▫ a Facebook Group (Avvocati italiani), opened in February
2009, 724 members;
▫ a LinkedIn Group (Avvocati italiani), opened in March
2009, 128 members.

8. 1200
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Apr 07
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Messages posted on Legalit – April 07 to June 2010
Apr 10
May 10
Jun 10

9. Methodology
Case study
• Semi-structured interviews to key-informants
• Online questionnaire (28 May – 10 June 2010): 93
respondents out of 427 (22%). The interviewees wrote 9,828
out of 14,955 messages (66%).
• Social Network Analysis (Ucinet and Netdraw)
• Content Analysis (Automap and Ora)

10. (Preliminary) results
RQ1. What are the distinctive characteristics of the
professionals who participate?
• 69% male
• 49% in their 30’s, 39% - 40’s, 8% - 50’s e 4% - 60’s
• self-employed (89%) and, on average, sharing office space
with less than 4 colleagues
• 67% deals with Civil Law; only 3% with all the other
aspects (civil, criminal, business)
• clients: private (53%) or small businesses (31%); yearly
average 28 clients and 1.1 case per client
• income: 68% less than 60K €

11. (Preliminary) results
• Reason for studying Law: 29% genuine interest in the
science of law, 19% to be self-employed and independent,
12% to be of help to others
• 11% father already lawyer, 5% partner
• Only 18% socializes with lawyers in their free-time
• Only 14% is member of professional associations
• 80% is victim of unethical practice
• 80% professional referral system (Freidson 1960)
• 48% registered with other online professional
communities, 63% is gamer

12. (Preliminary) results
RQ2. What are their functioning logics?
• E-mail address when registering: 40% private, 40%
business, 11% has only one e-mail, 9% dedicated address
• How they knew about Legalit: 80% via internet , 20%
word of mouth, 10% introduced directly by the
administrator
• 82% knew no other member when registering; 13%
contacts members through e-mail; 6% has met other
members

13. (Preliminary) results
• Choosing a message
▫ To read: 53% because of title, 24% read all, 21% when time
permits, 2% rarely
▫ To reply to: 63% topic in which they feel skilled, 15% topic of
interest, 2% posted by a colleague, 20% never
• Lurkers: 57% lack of time, 29% does not believe to be
competent, 14% fears of making mistakes
• Prerequisites for building a reputation on Legalit:
technical competence (54%), accuracy of posting (39%),
attention to editorial aspects (15%), charisma (13%), time
on Legalit (11%), group role (6%), external crediting (5%)

14. 10
40
25
5
15
35
45
20
0
50
30
exchange of
information
exchange of
opinion
problem solving
(Preliminary) results
looking for
collaboration
looking for
friendship
goal
result

15. 20
0
50
10
30
40
60
aspects with which
I'm involved
regularly
questions which I
only occasionally
meet
questions I don't
deal with, but like
(Preliminary) results
to be informed
questions
regarding
profession
goal
result

16. (Preliminary) results
RQ3. Do the members develop a sense of stronger affiliation
with their profession or with the community online?
• Comparing competence: on average 15% feels less
prepared than colleagues, 67% the same, and 18% more
• Strong point: managing communication
• Weak point: preparedness with regard to their
specialization

17. 60%
90%
20%
80%
0%
50%
70%
10%
30%
40%
100%
competition
conflict
helpfulness
ease of reaching an
agreement
quick at getting
information
wide range of views
(Preliminary) results
control
fun
informality
familiarity
less
same
more

18. (Preliminary) results
Sense of belonging
100%
80%
very much
60%
somewhat
40%
not much
20% not at all
0%
legalit italian layers legal
lawyers professions

19. Discussion
Sameness + sense of belonging
In contrast to the profession as a whole, the online discussion
group of Italian lawyers can be considered a community of
professionals

20. Next steps
• Social network analysis + content analysis
SNA: test March 2009

21. March 2009: network by message content

22. Exchange of advice

23. Requests for collaboration

24. Legalit Group

25. Lawyers

26. Next steps
Comparing:
• Other platforms (Legalit in Facebook ans LinkedIn)
• Other online communities (lawyers in other countries, other
legal professions, other professions)

27. Professional communities online:
the case of Legalit
– preliminary results –
Ivana Pais – University of Brescia (pais@jus.unibs.it)
Angela Palmieri – University of Calabria
(angie.ap@libero.it)