What do clients want? What do lawyers do?

Mather offers an invaluable survey of the literature on the desires of clients that builds on description in order to achieve prescription. For Mather, all the familiar debates about authority, discretion, and professional independence need factual content if they are to get past the platitude level. As it turns out, this factual content varies: experiences with clients vary pivotally depending on who the clients are and what kind of work the lawyer does. Mather also cautions the legal community to look past the overbroad labels of the lawyer and client relationship, which she argues encompass too much divergence to support unitary duties or even conclusions, and move to smaller categories where generalizations can be pertinent.