Law, Legal Services, and the Postcommunist Transition in Germany's New Bundesländer

Abstract

One of the key features that culminated in the collapse of Communism in the late 1980s and early 1990s was a growing demand from within the societies affected that the state and the people be seen as separate, and that there be explicit recognition of the role of civil society—distinct and separate from the state. A key element in this transformation has been the creation and establishment of independent legal systems; the authors analyse the evolution of legal services in Germany's New Bundesländer since 1989, assessing the extent to which access and social justice have been achieved. The analysis is based on data from a survey of lawyers in the former East Germany, which formed the major part of a three-year research project. The authors first look back to the former East Germany and show how independent lawyers ( Rechtsanwälte) were progressively eliminated and marginalised as the Communist state became established, with dire consequences for the creation of an indigenous legal service after unification. In the second section they examine the evolution of the service provided by lawyers in private practice since 1990, concentrating on the growth in numbers, the composition of the profession, and its geographical distribution within the New Bundesländer. Third, attention is directed at changing attitudes to the law and legal services through the eyes of the lawyers who chiefly provide them. The authors conclude that given the magnitude of the task, progress has been encouraging and that very few people in the New Bundesländer are completely denied a local legal service, even if it may not be as attuned to their needs as they would ideally wish.