| The dissertation explores the correlation between human rights law and public interest lawyering in Israel through three case studies: advocacy to recognize pluralism in religious conversion, the struggle for equality of Palestinians in Israel and advocacy to outlaw torture. In all case studies Israeli public interest lawyers utilized legal measures to advance a public cause in the area of human rights. The underlying theoretical assumption of the thesis is that in order to better understand and evaluate the development substantive law---in this case human rights law---one must explore the input of lawyers within its formation. Legal advocacy, in turn, is influenced by transnational, universal and local forces that shape the way lawyering develops in a certain place and time. Situated within the context of Israeli polity and social fabric, and through the examination of the professional praxis of the lawyers who advocated for these causes, the thesis demonstrates the interdependence between jurisprudence and professionalism on the general as well as the particular level. Generally, both law and lawyering are semiautonomous fields, they embody core distinctive elements but are also characterized by indefinite boundaries and indeterminate margins that allow for the input of various contingent factors. In the thesis such concrete factors are identified, and their impact on the formation of law and the shaping of professionalism is demonstrated. They include the substantive subject matter underlying legal representation, the institutional ideology within which representation occurs, the identity (national, religious) of the lawyers and the clients involved, and power disparities between lawyers and their professional communities as well as between lawyers and clients. The thesis demonstrates how these factors influenced both substantive legal doctrine as well as the professional and ethical dispositions of the lawyers that advocated for these causes. The thesis contributes to the evolving research on the legal profession in Israel and through this angle---to research on Israeli law and the legal system. |
